How many people on here free school?

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smanf

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I will never do it again. how my new horse didnt break his leg last night is nothing short of a miracle. :( I feel completely irresponsible and foolish.

Having been to see monty Roberts I got reasonably proficient at doing join-up on my previous horse (who I ended up moving on as he needed a lot more bringing on than I could offer). I have had my new horse for a week and yesterday he had something done to his tooth so spent the day in his stable. He is so well behaved that he really doesn't need to join up but I thought I'd take him in the lunging pen and let him have a jog round with no pressure to stretch his legs.

Being so laid back, I never in a million years expected that he would jump the 4ft gate from a standstill, think better of it mid-flight, land on it on his belly, get his hind leg stuck through the railings, eventually falling right over and thankfully freeing himself.

By the grace of god the vet said his injuries are pretty superficial and did a couple of stitches, but i could have been having him pts last night. He deserves better than that :(
 
Nope ! never have done it.... personally i have never seen the point in chasing the horse round the school with a whip.... A friend does it all of the time she is to lazy to lunge so shoves horse in there and chases her round and round and round.
 
Sorry, just to clarify, I didn't have a whip. Only the line gathered up in my hand to coax him forward, and the lunging pen is square so they can't just run up and down.
 
I have done it but in indoor school. Must admit do like watching them move without the rider hampering them. Do loose school daughters mare over jumps and it great to watch. She loves it. Lands up doing it herself. You've actually got to be careful as she will change rein herself and try coming in opposite way.
Shes beautiful to watch going over fence on her own! You can practically se smile on her face.

Must admit to not doing it in outdoor as scared they would jump out esp youngster!!
 
smanf said:
Sorry, just to clarify, I didn't have a whip. Only the line gathered up in my hand to coax him forward, and the lunging pen is square so they can't just run up and down.
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Fair enough its your horse do as you wish :) Just not something i have ever seen the point in :)
 
It's ok, I didn't take offence, can't feel any worse than I already do. (Not sympathy seeking) but i am Gonna sell him when he's better, to someone with a bit more savvy than me
 
No as it requires the right kind of arena and a certain amount of skill to make it worthwhile and non-dangerous. I did do it once because I did do some work on freeing up my horses back with a trainer but when I tried to repeat it at home he just went a bit nuts and fell over as he did the wheel of death so never again. Mostly all I see is stupid kids chasing their ponies over jumps.
 
smanf said:
It's ok, I didn't take offence, can't feel any worse than I already do. (Not sympathy seeking) but i am Gonna sell him when he's better, to someone with a bit more savvy than me
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It was an accident don't beat yourself up over it ! If you need some help ( think we all do at times !) perhaps ask round for someone like an instructor to come out. Don't give up just yet, especially if you have only had the horse a weeek ! it takes months for them to settle
 
I don't free lunge. I prefer to do the in hand exercises to get horse used to leading ; stop, start, walk, jog, back up and step away. It usually results in their doing it without the lead though once they realise what's expected of them.
No point beating yourself up about it now. Perhaps it was due to him being new and not knowing what was expected? :)
 
so far he has been a diamond, no problem with handling or riding him at all, only did it to get him out of the box for a bit. Not blaming him, just so angry with myself for not having the foresight that he might do that. Once he got free, he just walked back to his stable as if nothing had happened
 
smanf said:
so far he has been a diamond, no problem with handling or riding him at all, only did it to get him out of the box for a bit. Not blaming him, just so angry with myself for not having the foresight that he might do that. Once he got free, he just walked back to his stable as if nothing had happened
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Well then he sounds like a little cracker :) We all make mistakes, learn from it and move on... the horse certainly will have :D
 
smanf said:
It's ok, I didn't take offence, can't feel any worse than I already do. (Not sympathy seeking) but i am Gonna sell him when he's better, to someone with a bit more savvy than me
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Why on earth would you do that on the basis of this one event? We've all made mistakes (by the grace of god go I -many a time!) just learn and move on :)

I was on a yard with professional show-jumpers and their homebreds and one of them jumped a five bar gate out of the school when doing loose jumping - it happens.
 
I wouldn't think about selling him just maybe not free schooling again. You are in shock it was probably a horrible thing to witness plus you are feeling guilty. It was an accident and you will both move forward from it. I do it with my mare but I can get her working on a circle around me and she listens clearly to my commands and will stop, walk, trot and canter on my command on both reins. The most she will do is a buck and a fart :)
 
A friend of mine was loose schooling in the indoor school at my old place years ago, and her horse jumped the 6ft gate out of the school onto the concrete!

The 3yr old I'm breaking at the moment had a phase of jumping out of her field onto the main road over a five bar gate.

Things happen - move on and certainly don't beat yourself up. Accidents happen all the time around horses, you could have put him in there a different day and he would have been fine. :)
 
Exactly, I've only had him a week and have already managed to nearly kill him! It's not him I'm giving up on, it's myself, I am a complete disaster zone.
 
I free school my mare in the winter as she cannot be lunged, otherwise I would lunge. Only once a week max for a bit of variety and to get her to get rid of some energy. I don't chase her around with a whip, she goes off voice commands now and I use it as a type of gorund work with her to get her thinking when we are stuck with the cold winter evenings instead of just riding in the school everynight.
She enjoys it, so I am quite happy to do it with her occasionally!

OP don't beat yourself up, it was an accident plain and simple! If you have only had the horse a week then just try and relax and have fun building a bond with your horse, its all a learning curve and happens to the best fo us!! :)
 
smanf said:
Exactly, I've only had him a week and have already managed to nearly kill him! It's not him I'm giving up on, it's myself, I am a complete disaster zone.
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Kill him ? Nonsense... did you make him jump out ? did your force him over the fence ? give him a leg up ? No :) Dont be silly pull yourself together and breathe. Horses are stupid at times... my foal tried to strangle herself last week ! they are animals and at the end of the day we cannot help accidents.
 
I free school, specially with new horses so I can get a feel of what they are like temperament and movement wise before I try anything. I use to do a lot of meat horses though so it was about the only way I could see them being them before working with them. I think if done safely it was teach you a lot about your horse that lunging can't. Don't beat yourself up about something your horse just decided to do. It could have happened out in the field with know one around.
 
Sorry, my last reply was a bit out of sync cos I lost signal on the train. Thanks for the reassurance everyone. He was trotting round me beautifully, as if on an invisible lunge, then he just saw the gate and decided to jump it, more or less from a standstill! Lesson definitely learnt.
 
smanf said:
Sorry, my last reply was a bit out of sync cos I lost signal on the train. Thanks for the reassurance everyone. He was trotting round me beautifully, as if on an invisible lunge, then he just saw the gate and decided to jump it, more or less from a standstill! Lesson definitely learnt.
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This could have happened anywhere, I've seen horses take fences when know one is there. Please don't worry yourself, these things happen.
 
You are not a complete disaster zone. New horses are worried, and with your boy being confined to barracks, it's totally understandable that he decided to make his own decision.
In hindsight, you probably realise it wasn't the best time to introduce such an opportunity. Lesson learnt eh ? You feel bad, but take a deep breath and move on.
If your confidence has been knocked, get some help during the 'getting to know you' phase.
FWIW, one of mine did exactly the same as yours. Normally the most laid back horse ever, he thought it was quite reasonable to ignore the handler who had gone on for far too long and had used up all his good will. So he took himself back to his stable to await his tea. He tweaked his shoulder in the process but instead of sympathy from me, he got laughed at, silly old sod.
 
Woah OP.
It was an ACCIDENT.!!! As Tessybear says..you didnt exactly give the lad a leg up over the fence did you..?? :p
He will be fine and so will you. Its just having some confidence in yourself. I know exactly how you feel. I just have a whole thread askng if the farrier should have smacked my horse when cleary the git deserved it, its simply a lack of confidence in my own judgement.
Deep breath..and reeelllaaxxxxx ;)
Hope horse is ok very soon...and seriously. .dont beat yourself up, lesson learned, just move on to things you are more confident with. :)
 
I like the 'idea' of freeschooling my boy over some jumps ... Lord knows he needs the help getting it right! :rolleyes: But he is a bit of a ******** so i couldnt trust him not to do something stupid!

Hope your feeling better, DO NOT sell that horse. Get a grip, move on and promise to be the best owner for him ever :) Animals live in the now, you need to do the same. The accident has happened, its over and in the past, he didnt seriously injure himself or worse so its over for him now and it should be for you to. Move onwards and upwards, lesson learnt xxx ;)
 
EEErrm i can offer to give you a kick up the backside! Might give you a jolt so you can stop thinking your a disaster zone. :) Your horse lives in the moment, so its all forgotten with now. How's he doing today? When can you ride him again? If i were you i'd be booking some lessons to help you both build your confidence.
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
Woah OP.
It was an ACCIDENT.!!! As Tessybear says..you didnt exactly give the lad a leg up over the fence did you..?? :p
He will be fine and so will you. Its just having some confidence in yourself. I know exactly how you feel. I just have a whole thread askng if the farrier should have smacked my horse when cleary the git deserved it, its simply a lack of confidence in my own judgement.
Deep breath..and reeelllaaxxxxx ;)
Hope horse is ok very soon...and seriously. .dont beat yourself up, lesson learned, just move on to things you are more confident with. :)
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Lol, you are very right, I never imagined it would be this difficult. I am not used to the livery yard scene, my twenty year boy (had him since I was ten) lived out in his own part of the yard that we were at (he wasn't isolated, there were police horses on the yard too, and he had a field companion during the day), but we were totally self sufficient and we got on just fine! I suppose I feel a bit under pressure now suddenly having people around all the time and end up questionning myself a lot more and worrying about what people think of me. When Lloyd died, I had to leave the yard we were at which meant livery was the only option and I made a promise to myself when i got my new horse that I wouldn't worry about other peoples' opinions, but I can't help it!
 
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