how do you get your horse to free school?

[Tiarella]

following on from a post moneypit said earlier on my post about free schooling, how do you do it?

i tried earlier, doug just stood at the side of the menege eating the grass from the side, i used a lunging whip and everything, he just stood there like "wtf are you doing"

any ideas?

i must sound so stupid and know nothing about horses. i do really, i just havent brought on a naughty little pony before

 

[BackInBlack]

I just get out lunging whip and mine are off around the field no probs. perhaps if you can section off a smaller area at 1st so you can reach all areas with whip and follow ponio around and then gradually increase area. just so's they get an idea of what they are supposed to be doing! good luck

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

I end up free schooling by accident. I lunge but can not canter him on it as he finds it too hard and then tanks off with me on the end. so lunge in trott, which he then gets all bolshy about, unclip and he legs it at high speed. then change the rein with little persuasion and off he goes again.

he is very good to come back though suprisingly. I just crouch in the middle of the school and back he comes

x

 

[dwi]

is there anyone on your yard who can show you. it's all about body positioning and body language. I started doing it after I had a professional out to help me with catching problems because it uses alot of the same techniques and its a handy way to exercise when you don't have time or are too ill to ride. I've shown several friends how to do it now but its not something easy to explain.

 

[Hanz]

I agree with DWI, it isn't easily explained so you need somebody to show you, I would make sure you are competent lungeing with him and he knows what he needs to do on the end of a line before trying loose schooling.

 

[Ziggy_]

When I free school I use body language and a lunge whip as a kind of extension to my arm. To ask the horse to move around me on the right 'rein', I would make sure she was facing the right way, and position myself where I would be if I was lunging, then take a few steps toward her back end (out of kicking distance!) - imagine the position you would be standing in if long reining on a circle.

The whip would be in my left hand and I would use my voice/the whip to get her moving. To change direction Iwould first use my voice to bring the horse to a walk. Then I swap the whip into my other hand and move toward her front end. You may have to be prepared for your horse to accelerate towards you or wheel round and buck so get well in front of him, arms and whip out to make it perfectly clear that he must go the other way but as long as you ask him to walk first this shouldn't be an issue. To stop, I drop the whip, turn my back to the horse and look at the floor - the horse should come up and stand behind you if he's listening.

If he has a good understanding of what to do on the lunge he should be able to pick it up fairly quickly - perhaps start him on the lunge for 5 mins then try unclipping the line. Be careful to stay out of the way of hooves and take things slowly.

 

[mickey]

Ziggy101 and others on here have good advice. In my view, if a horse thinks it can get away with standing around it will. You need to be sure within yourself (and this will be reflected in your body language) that you WILL get this horse moving. If you have doubt that he will respect you, you will have issues. Distance and angle from horse important as already mentioned. If my horse would not move at all with repeated effort, I might throw some soft rubber or sand from menage up in the air towards him. (Others might disagree). The aim to get him moving and respecting you. Perhaps you could bring another person with whip in as reinforcement, or get an instructor to help.
Personally I am not sure that I like free-schooling anymore. It can be fast and with lots of stops and turns. A poor surface would not help either. Because of the risk of injury I tend not to do this anymore. I would be more inclined to do this in a round pen where you have more control.

 

[Tiarella]

thanks everyone