Horse with split riding personality!

LaurenM

LaurenM

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Does anyone else find that there horse acts completely different in riding paddocks/ outdoor schools?

Everyone on my yard tend to avoid our riding paddock because the horses go bonkers in it. My boy tends to bolt alot in it so I tried lunging him in there today with the help of a very strong friend. He still bolted quite abit but soon got bored and started behaving.

He's completely different when hacking, 100% when with other horses.

I know he's taking the mick out of me in said paddock but I feel slightly clueless as to getting him to work well without taking the mick first. Any ideas?

Got our first fun ride tomorrow - so excited!
 
When you say bolt, do you mean he tanks off? Real bolting is when they run blind and are unstoppable. If all the horses are strong in said paddock, is there something really spooky in there? Or is it near pigs etc..? Is he ok on his own in other arenas/paddocks? As you say he is ok hacking with others, is he maybe insecure on his own in the paddock?

Have fun on your ride tomorrow!
 
riding in paddocks/field is one of my many phobias... my accident took place in a field and i was told by a number of people afterwards that i shouldn't have ridden in my horse's field, as that sends them loopy.

i don't know if there's any truth in that, but i've added to my list of things i'll never do... just in case.

x
 
mine's the opposite. he's a good boy in our paddock, altho he's naturally fwd going so canter can be fast, but i'm working on that. he's fab on the roads, doesnt bat an eye at traffic of any sort, its the unknown such as funeral carriage horses or sudden hidden noises that make him silly. its when we hit open spaces hacking. he wants to go go go no matter what. i'm working on that too!
 
We have a (now retired) safe as houses ride & drive mare. She was a nightmare to ride on grass at home, although you could ride her anywhere else without incident and she was not even particularly forward going.
 
Yep...

I only have my field to work in and they seriously do not like it, which is fair enough, its their home, out hacking they are totally different.
 
Tanks off. He's so strong that it can be hard to hold on and get him to back down. I managed to get rope burn/cuts from him today - my fault as I forget to put my gloves back on.

I don't know whether its better to work him until he's lost some energy or just to hack first and work after.

My friend and I worked him until he was tired today and he still managed to get himself worked up through tanking off and being caught a few times.

No pigs, sheep have been moved next door recently but before they were there he was playing up so it's not made things worse.

My friend reckons that if I lunge him in there once a week and don't back down he'll calm down after a few weeks.
 
I would try hacking first and then going in the field after, try doing that every day until he gets used to it.
 
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