horse help wanted

[delevago]

hi my name is kerrie, im new here. i dont own any horses but i do help out with two very gogeouse horses. i was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.

one of the horses that i help with has a habbit of if he doesnt want to do something he will throw his head about, i will try to give an example:
if there is a pole in the school and he decides that he doesnt want to go over it he will try to walk sideways so he doesnt have to and if that doesnt work he will drop his head to the floor so as to gain the reins then walk away from it.
the question i am asking is, is there anyway to stop him doing this? i did think about using a grass rein or something.

any help will be greatly recieved

 

[Mavis]

You sound like you could use some help from somebody on the ground - do you have an instructor or anything?

To stop him dragging the reins from you, you need to keep your legs on, with a deep seat and a consistent contact. Maybe you could scatter poles randomly round the school, keep him marching on into a contact, and circle round the poles to start with, and once he is going forwards and is responsive and relaxed, walk him over one. Dont make a big thing of it - dont even look at the pole yourself, focus on something straight ahead. He sounds as if he knows how to evade doing the things he doesnt fancy (I have a horse who is very adept trying to avoid certain things, like cantering on the right leg) and it is a matter of persistence and consistency.

I find that having lessons helps me loads

 

[tricksibell85]

He sounds evasive! I ride a horse quite like this, tries anything to get out of doing the job asked when you cant be bothered.

Best thing to with him is to keep him busy - keep asking him to do different things and vary it as much as you can.

Do you hack the horse out a lot? you should vary that as well, don't do schooling all the time.

Sounds like he is taking the p!ss a bit - be stronger with all your adds - as previous post deep seat and leg on. If he is shaking his head make sure you have good hand contact as well.

Sarah xx

 

[delevago]

hi sorry i probly should have mentioned that i dont actualy ride him i give the owner lessons, she isnt the most confident of riders. i have told her to be stronger, sit deep and just push him at it. the problem is that were she lacks confidence she wont push him in fear of him bucking, rearing, taking off etc
he does go out on hacks quite regularly and is only in the school about 2x a week for about 30mins to 1 hr depending on how he is
i think the problem lies in the fact that the horse himself lacks confidence aswell as him knowing that the rider lacks confidence and that makes him think he can get away with things

 

[dieseldog]

Why don't you get on him to demonstrate to her what you mean and to prove that he can go over a pole.

 

[delevago]

i am not a riding instructor im just 'a freind helping a freind' type of thing, i would try it but i also lack confidence when riding due to being thrown off several times

 

[Amys_Babies]

You could always try side reins to see if that makes any difference. There was a very naughty pony on our yard before and she constantly tried to get her way with the young girl who was riding her by throwing her head up n down, she even reared a few times. I rode her for a bit as the pony was only 4 so i thought she may not have been schooled correctly. I rode doing just basic walk, trot and canter in circles for a few weeks with the side reins on and she really improved.