daydreamer
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I was just interested in people's opinions on this. Yesterday I was riding a horse i sometimes ride for a friend and he was acting a bit odd, forward going at first but after a while he started to come behind the bit and feel like he was going to throw a strop. I did some work with trotting poles to see if a change of activity would work, he was fine for a bit but then the same happened. I waited until we had a bit of nice work then got off, untacked and let him wander around the school. Up until now he has always been fine with me but i know he has a bit of a checkered past and can play up.
My theory is horses don't play up to be spiteful/awkward, if they are misbehaving it is usually because they don't understand or are in some sort of pain. I usually give the horse the benefit of the doubt and think they might just be a bit stiff or have tweaked something etc and don't push things.
However, sometimes I wonder if I should be more assertive. I also wonder if the difference between professionals and non-professionals is the ability to tell when a horse is taking the p!ss and then the willingness to have an argument about it?
I was just interested in what other people think?!
I was just interested in people's opinions on this. Yesterday I was riding a horse i sometimes ride for a friend and he was acting a bit odd, forward going at first but after a while he started to come behind the bit and feel like he was going to throw a strop. I did some work with trotting poles to see if a change of activity would work, he was fine for a bit but then the same happened. I waited until we had a bit of nice work then got off, untacked and let him wander around the school. Up until now he has always been fine with me but i know he has a bit of a checkered past and can play up.
My theory is horses don't play up to be spiteful/awkward, if they are misbehaving it is usually because they don't understand or are in some sort of pain. I usually give the horse the benefit of the doubt and think they might just be a bit stiff or have tweaked something etc and don't push things.
However, sometimes I wonder if I should be more assertive. I also wonder if the difference between professionals and non-professionals is the ability to tell when a horse is taking the p!ss and then the willingness to have an argument about it?
I was just interested in what other people think?!