How do you deal with

[arizonahoney]

planting going away from home? Pony has started doing this when going out without company... I use my voice, vibrate my legs against his sides and if nothing happens, a tap with the whip behind the leg to get him to move on - followed by a brief pat when he does move. But I'm wondering if this is the best approach or if there are others to try?

Teeth and saddle have been checked within the last month, so it could just be him being NORTY and testing me.

 

[Steorra]

Sounds good to me.

If he is anxious, give lots of praise and reassurance when he does walk on. Does he stop when he sees something spooky? If so, you could try flexing him towards the scary object and pushing him past in shoulder in. Horses are often better if they can see the thing that bothers them, and asking for a few sideways steps often gets past the planting issue.

Keep him on the aids and ride confidently forward - make sure that you are deciding the pace and direction. Some horses need their riders to take charge in order to be confident, and if he is just being 'norty' then this will remind him not to slack off. If he isn't marching or hints at dropping behind your leg, send him forward in trot. Then make a huge fuss of him when he does as you ask.

Perhaps you should stick to circular routes for a while (even if you have to 'invent' them by looping round some trees etc). That way, there is never a 'turn and go home' option while hacking. If you can persuade someone to walk (on foot) or cycle with you then that can be a good compromise until he is confident about hacking solo again.

Good luck, I hope these ideas help, but IMO you are on the right lines anyway.

 

[Ladylina83]

My mares planting used to be followed by napping so as soon as she stopped dead I would do 2 tight circles pushing her round me leg then a tap on the bum once we were pointing in the right direction again, going forward seemed like a good option at that point !

 

[arizonahoney]

He doesn't feel anxious to me...

It's a strange thing, he arrived about a month ago and was just perfect to hack out on his own and in company. Now that he's settled in, I think he's trying it on a bit (or certainly has been since Thursday).

I guess my resistance to being very positive with the aids when he plants is that it feels very busy / messy... Hopefully though he'll realise that I'm not giving in and that generally when we go out hacking, he gets to do stuff he enjoys (chiefly being 'zooming' and 'jumping')