I despair ...

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pnap

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I'm really struggling to get any enjoyment out of my riding at the moment. Bleedin horse is soooo lazy in the school it's unbelievable. I've tried oats, schooling whip, spurs, pony club kicks, someone chasing me with a lunge whip, varying the routine, not schooling for weeks on end and only hacking, a week off, teeth/back/saddle check etc etc. He lunges well and is a lot more forward going on the lunge and when out hacking. Now I'm not asking for miracles here - and not looking for a Grand Prix horse either - I would just like to be able to have a nice walk, trot, canter in the school and for him to do this when I ask. Does anybody have any ideas what else I can try? I'm really quite down about it and TBH have even (shock) thought about selling him.
 
8 million transitions.... and he needs to go when you ask him to by hook or by crook....... however sounds like you may of tried this already!
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My share was the same, when I first sat on him I could ask him for trot 4 times before he eventually fell into a limp, not going anywhere trot, now 6 months later he knows when I say go I blumming mean it!
 
Amy for quite some time would be like your horse in the school. For me the answer was keep things short and simple.

I would quite often only go in there for 5 or 10 minutes. Canter her around as fast as was safe in a forward seat and then go out for a hack.

Or, I would go out for a shortish hack to warm her up - come back and play over some fences (having put them up before hand). She slowly got to think of the school as being more fun than she first thought.
 
My friend bought a horse like this a few years ago. He had done nothing but dressage for 6 years, and everytime he went into an arena/school or even a marked out patch of grass with no boards he just went dead to the leg and switched off totally which was why he was being sold.
She tried everything like you have, and in the end resorted to hunting him one season to get him thinking more forward, then some hunter trials and showjumping just to keep him interested in life, then hunted again the following season before going back to eventing with him. He was still really hard work in the dressage, but lots better and she resorted to not warming up for dressage, just getting on, doing 2 or 3 transitions in a straight line then down the centre of the test arena. by the time he realised it was a test he was nearly done.
Any schooling she had to do, she would do whilst out hacking, expecting the same obedience, and flexibility as in a school just in a more relaxed environment for him. he would do a beautiful half pass, piaffe and other lateral movements down the side of a field!
When she sold him again 5 or 6 years later he had almost stopped being so dead in a school.
I'm not saying this is the only way forward, just one way of doing things, and it seemed to have worked for this particular horse.
 
I think part of the problem is that he came from the riding school and now associates the school with just trailing round and round etc. To that end I've tried to make things more interesting for him when in there. I do poles, raised poles, a couple of cross poles etc. I even did games once against the kids on him - he wasn't sure what the hell was going on at first and wondered why this mad woman was racing him against wee 12.2hh ponies but got the hang of it in the end - I just had to avoid the races with getting on and off! I try to keep the sessions to 15 mins max so he doesn't get bored but it's just really frustrating getting up there and him just plodding about when I know fine well he can do a nice active trot and a nice canter cause he does it fine out hacking. Ohter problem is he won't go on his own - again I think a throwback from the riding school days of always having company - believe me I've tried but we get so far out of the yard road and he just plants himself and rears everytime I touch anything.
 
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I think part of the problem is that he came from the riding school and now associates the school with just trailing round and round etc.

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You've hit the nail on the head. And is exactly where Amy came from.

As for the hacking. You're going to have to sit that one out. I had to with Amy. Sat on her for 4 hours one day ( a couple of weeks after I bought her) - just pointing in the direction I wanted to go.

She went eventually. I did the same the next day, and the next, and the next. Never having to sit on her for 4 hours - half an hour at the most. And she was cured.
 
Murphy used to be soooo lazy, I couldn't get him in to canter when I first had him, and he'd tank to the gate at every opportunity!!

He's now full of beans in the school...there's been a huge change in him that I honestly didn't think would ever happen - so don't give up!

We've spent nearly a year doing all sort of silly things in the school...pony games, charging round barrels, cantering round like nutters, having trotting races with other ponies, canter poles, little jumps, bending poles, lessons, bareback riding....and a massive amount of giggling!! He never knows what to expect when we go in there (and I ride in the school 5 days a week)! As I'm a fairly hopeless beginner it has done me the world of good too.

The thing is, if you're not enjoying it, nor will he. Maybe if you can have some silly fun together (obv. within the limits of safety) he might start to think differently?
 
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