How to tackle this ... arghhh awful weekend :'( feeling soo down

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Horsekaren

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It's seems the weather turned and so did my attitude of trying to keep it all together :(
I decided to lead my boy in hand around the track as it was to icey to ride in the school.i never let him graze in hand but thought it would be a bit of a treat for him. All of the other horses started running about , my horse took off, after an hour of trying to catch him we finally managed to keep hold of him and get him in the field. If I could turn back the time I would never had gone for the damn walk. My boy now knows he is was stronger and now keeps trying to pull off when being lead in and out. The damage has been done :(
How to i correct this :( I have a dually but he is to quick by the time I react he is gone.

I especially don't want him taking off on the snow and ice and breaking a leg :'(
I will add he has been 100% to lead through lots of dually training but now since this incident it's all gone to *hit.

This is exhausting been worrying about my boys health now this :(
Today I don't want to own a horse, I just want to curl into a ball and cry :'(

Sorry a wo wit me post just all to much at the moment! I know there are much sadder things happening but sometimes it's just soooo hard !
 
First things first, ditch the dually and get him in a bridle and lunge line for walking in hand. My saint of a gelding turned into Satan on box rest and the bridle meant I had far better control of him while the lunge line gave me enough distance to avoid the odd flying hoof if he lashed out. Just keep on top of him - when walking, do all the in hand training stuff: walking, halting, standing, turning - remind him who is in charge. He will only learn his own strength if he keeps being able to get away from you. One time should be fixable.

Second, pick your moments to walk him. Only go out when the yard is quiet or everyone is going about their business normally. Don’t give him an excuse to get excited and try to get away. Walking in hand needs to be businesslike, with purpose, like a schooling session. So you need his mind kept focussed on you, not what’s going on around him. Again, keep making sure he is listening to you by mixing it up a bit with asking him to stand, walk on, turn, walk back etc.

Third, dry your eyes, and chalk it up to a lousy day but a great learning experience. This is how we find out how to do things better. Sorry you had to find out the hard way!
 
did this all happen today?

I'd use a bit and a long lead rope, I'd also carry a whip if you think he's going to try it on!!

sure it could have just been a one though? he might have been a bit wound up today!
 
My sec D is an absolute beast, mostly he is sweet but when loading, or hand walking for exercise I use a 'be nice halter' personally I find it brilliant, they quickly learn that when they stop pulling the pressure releases. Mostly I can walk him with a slack lead but the control is there if I need it - I always use a long rope in case he tried to gather speed!

If i've got him in a headcollar and he catches me unaware I will "assume the position" aka sortof crouching low to anchor and using my weight to turn him in towards me which also works well to get him off the straight line of pulling and running away.
 
I have to agree with flicker - my mare is a demon if i don't use a bridle when i am doing any in hand work with her unless she is on the hardstanding in front of her stable

I do also think there is something in the air at the moment with them - twice in three days my mare has barged me coming out of her stable which is not like her at all. She is easy to catch though so she doesn't get away with it and is promptly shut back in her stable then walked out and made to back up until she settles.

Brush yourself off, have a large vino and try again tomorrow armed with bridle and whip
 
It's all a learning curve. We all make mistakes, or have done, but the trick is not to beat yourself up but say "What could/should I have done differently" and use it as experience to learn from. You won't make the same mistake twice.
The 12ft line is the most useful tip, but do make sure you don't get tangled up in it - fold it backwards and forwards across your hand. When he has got to 6ft away you will still have 6ft left to hang on to and try and turn his head.
 
This happened yesterday but the pulling has started today. He did stay in longer and came in earlier because of the snow but I can't let him get away with it one more time. He tried this before in spring and the dually saved me but all of a sudden he knows how to get around it.
He was about ten yards from his stable tonight and then starting charging to the yard gate :( it was just about to get dark and so icey I just got him in his stable as quick as I could.
He is the type of horse where if he gets one over on me he will try in every other area to be more dominant so i need a quick fix. He was literally perfect! Overnight beast! Serves me right for trying to give him a treat arghhhh

Bridle it is then tomorrow after the vet and will look into a be nice halter.

My worry with the lunge line is if he goes he could get tangled and trip.
 
Just a thought, I am fortunate to have an extremely mannerly horse,( he came to me like that so I can't claim credit). However, if I am late getting him in and it is starting to get dark he can be very jumpy and spooky which is quite unlike him. He's not the only horse I've had that has been more difficult to handle when it's getting dark. My old tb was 100% to handle 95% of the time but when he got himself wound up he was as sharp as a tack. I also used a long line with good effect.
 
One of mine is usually very good but when he gets the evil in him then his bridle goes on with a lunge lone attached that is also wrapped over his nose - this is the only setup that holds him.
 
JillA said:
It's all a learning curve. We all make mistakes, or have done, but the trick is not to beat yourself up but say "What could/should I have done differently" and use it as experience to learn from. You won't make the same mistake twice.
The 12ft line is the most useful tip, but do make sure you don't get tangled up in it - fold it backwards and forwards across your hand. When he has got to 6ft away you will still have 6ft left to hang on to and try and turn his head.
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Agree with this - there isn’t a single person on this forum that hasn’t thought at some stage “why the bleeding hell did I do that!”

Agree about bridle and long line/ lunge rein. Also make sure you’re wearing a hard hat and gloves. Don’t set yourself up to fail set yourself up to succeed. Some days it’s just not the day to do things so don’t, it’s too wet or windy etc. There is always tomorrow.

I know others will disagree but I’ve found in the short term in a dodgy situation a pocketful of Baileys fibre nuggets to be exceedingly useful as a distraction technique.
 
Do as TFF says, she helped me with DP when he got very dominant and pushy. I followed her instructions to the letter and it turned him around in days. No more barging, charging off, pushing his way out of the stable etc. I can now take him in and out with my other pony and he responds to voice commands like a pro even if he wants to explode. He listens because I'm in charge and that's the key.
 
Thanks everyone, feeling a lot more positive about this challenge. Being out of control is sooo hard for me and him pulling off is a real stonker.
Will find my big girl pants for the morning! Fingers crossed!
It's funny how my darling 15.3 cob turns into a 18h stallion when he plays up! Come back lovely little cob!
 
dont panic - once he got off he was likely to be excited. I would in this weather definitely not be doing any in hand walking - either keep in or turnout (preferably turnout ) and go back to leading once this weather is improved and he'll probably be back to himself.
 
it is all a learning curve and all about gaining experience. You mention quick fix, him getting dominant over you and being out of control being so hard for you. It is not about control but working with the horse and most importantly thinking ahead. There is no quick fix.

When you led him out and he took off I would not see it as about control but about the fact that you had not read the situation and that means you had not set yourself up for success. With the weather at the moment many horses are high. Horses in a nearby field are likely to charge around at the slightest excuse. Your horse was simply the excuse. Many people would not have been able to hold onto him if he took off but he wasn't challenging you for dominance. He was simply being a horse and reacting to a situation. Very many horses have pulled ropes out of their handler's hands and run off. It doesn't mean they are going to always be difficult. In your situation all you could probably have done was see the horses in the field thinking about getting excited, turn you horse sharply away from them and led him away very firmly and making sure you instantly turned or backed him when he even thought of disobeying.

Don't go back tomorrow with the idea of being dominant or having a battle. You won't win over half a ton of horse. Wait until the weather improves which it is not going to do in the next couple of days. Then when the ice has gone lead him out in hand after you have checked the conditions, state of the other horses and chose a walk that will set you up for success. Don't think about control instead think about keeping his attention so he is constantly listening to you for cues. Read the situation before he does something. Don't wait until he is about to pull give him another cue a few seconds before so the pulling doesn't happen. it is all about you reading his body language not you exerting dominance.
You mention a treat. I would not either treat or let a horse like this graze. Bridle/headcollar on means training and behaving.
 
I ended up in A&E 2 weeks ago after I caught a kick at turnout. Plenty of time while waiting for an x-ray to think of what I should have done differently - & that's 40 years of handling horses. We all make mistakes, so try not to dwell on it.

My saint of a companion horse took off when my cold hands dropped his leadrope at the gate yesterday. Normally he'd just use the chance to eat - not bomb off and take a line of electric fencing out!

Both mine are being brought in with their bridles on this week. I have no idea why they are being ridiculous, but bridle = mum means it.....
 
Sussexbythesea said:
Agree with this - there isn’t a single person on this forum that hasn’t thought at some stage “why the bleeding hell did I do that!”.
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Absolutely! Last week I was lunging my new horse for the first time, little ba$tard took off at a canter with me behind skidding on the tarmac! Had to let go and he was cantering and slipping round the yard like a stallion.

Don’t beat yourself up. We’re human, we make mistakes and they’re horses, not robots.

Word of advice, if you don’t want him eating grass in hand, forget letting him do it once in a while for a treat. You’re setting him up to fail as he’ll have no clue when he can and can’t snatch for grass.

For the next couple of times stick a bridle on him to lead.
 
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When my dope on a rope turned into a dragon while In hand walking when on box rest the only thing that worked was a stallion chain under his nose on the head collar. He pulled once and it shocked him so much he never did it again. You don’t have to react as they do that for you. A bridle has little effect and a lunge line almost ended up with me being kicked.
 
Your horse is feeding off you. You're scared, handling him differently and he's picking that up. Mine does the same, occasionally my dad would begin to lose his confidence with her and she would then start to play up. I would tell him that I've trained her over the weekend, having done nothing with her, and they would be back to normal. All mind games.

I don't quite understand the in hand walking when he could have gone to the field, I imagine horses would prefer equine company rather than ours. Try to think like a horse and if it's really parky out and slippy underfoot, get him into the field.
 
Never set them up to fail. I have 5 well behaved horses here, but all of them can have their moments, especially my young mare. I am very experienced in handling horses both ridden and on the ground from birth to old age and everything in between. But would I have taken even the quietest of them for a walk in hand yesterday rather than allow them into the field in the snow and ice? Absolutely not. It would have been a recipe for disaster, even for the quietest of them. But you will grow in experience and will learn to just sense when things could go wrong. You will learn to read him. Sometimes you have to do something in less than ideal conditions. For example, if it's windy and rainy and you have a lesson, you just have to get on with it, but in your example, you did something you did not need to do, in far less than ideal conditions.

Having said all that, I wouldn't worry too much. Remember, this weather is not typical and it creates a great deal of excitement for horses. Just because he behaved badly under those conditions, does not mean he will behave badly in more favourable conditions. I can ride my mare one day and she'll be a leaping nappy pain in the @rse. Then I could ride her another day and she'll be foot perfect. It depends on her mood. Got to love her!
 
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