I think young horse is bored in the school - any ideas?

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saddlesore

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The past few times I have ridden my 5yo in the school he has been SERIOUSLY lazy
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He will walk, trot, canter but keeping him moving forward within each pace is a total nightmare! I try my best not to kick, and then give him a reasonable 'dunt' with my legs when he slows down to stop him becoming dead to the leg. He is the same ridden alone or in company and pole work is doing little to wake him up. Obviously I'll try to hack more but at 5 he is still needing to go in the school!
At the moment he does about 1/2 hour in the school 5 days a week - mixture of riding/lunging/ free schooling etc and then a wee hack along the road to finish.
Any suggestions to stop him 'switching off'?
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cnt u do ur schooling out on hacks and just put them into practise in the school say once a week?..u can teach him to move away from ur leg from right to lthe eft side of a quiet straight road, u can do transitions, circles round bends or on an open track, and they find it much more interesting and believe it or not, imo they learn quicker..it works wonders for me, i do all the basic schooling out on hacks.
 
TBH I think that is a lot of schooling for a young horse. My horse has probably been in a school about 15 times a year (aside from competing) since I've had him and whilst he's not exactly a grand prix horse, he's nicely schooled. I do schooling on hacks, leg yield, shoulder-in, lots of transitions.

I would not school for at least a month, and be tempted to not do any in an arena til after christmas. I think theres far more important life experiences for a 5 year old out there than going round in circles.
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What is a wee hack? A 10-15min plod? Do you go on the same route each time? I would imagine you horse is totally bored if so. Go on a nice long hack this weekend, somewhere you haven't been before
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Thanks guys, yeah he probably is feeling bored
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I don't think i've explained the situation very well though! We've only been doing more school work since my accident on the road where I broke my ankle as my confidence hacking has really been dented
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I ride him out in company when I can/feel able, and have allowed another livery to hack him out 'properly' in company for a gallop across the fields etc. I usually take him out for a short hack just to keep myself going out and try to repair my damaged confidence!
 
Can you long rein him on the roads? Groundwork is really good for youngsters, although might be better to do it first time with someone else? If not that, can you lead him out in hand on the road? Might be good for your confidence in him?

I would think free schooling might be good - does he jump - could you freeschool him over a jump or poles to keep him interested?
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Hiya, I actually have been longlining him out. He is getting better and better at it but he can be quite 'skittish' so don't want to take him anywhere he is likely to have a 'moment' incase I go skiing lol! I do take him out for up to an hour at a time though (its also helping me lose my plaster cast weight
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). I jump him on line and when he is free schooling. The XC field has just been emptied of horses today so I could maybe take him down and lunge him over some of those?
Its hard trying to find a balance atm whereby I can regain my confidence *safely* and not allowing him to become bored/frustrated. Sigh
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thanks for the replies
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I've tried the transitions thing (two strides walk, two trot etc) and whilst my last horse used to get really excited and forward and think 'ooh i'll be asked to trot soon', current boy is more of a 'whats the point, she'll want to walk again soon anyway!'.
Think I might give the handy pony type things a go and lay off the 'schooling' as such for a while and see how we get on!
I guess there's always oats lol
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(kidding)
 
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