keeping horse in front of the leg help pls?

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minniemouse

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my 5 year old cob was very nappy and not forward going AT All when i bought him a 6 months ago,(i bought him knowing he wasn't going to be easy) i have been working very hard on him and he now trots and canters when asked as i went back to basics and did lots of lunging and long reining with him. first couple of months were spent just hacking out to get him going forward.

Before i bought him he had been kicked and smacked with a whip and he was dead to both the whip and the leg. He is very nappy and used to do little rears if any pressure was put on him but is now tons better. I try to ride him with my leg off as much as possible as the more you squeze him he used to just tense up shake his head and go backwards. I also use my voice a lot during transitions so he understands what i want and he has come on a lot, he also gets plenty of praise and rest periods as rewards when he has done well.

my problem now is that although he trots when asked and canter when asked now straight away he won't maintain the momentum and i end up nagging him to keep him going forward. This is very tiring for me as you can imagine! Its no good tickling him with my schooling whip to keep him going as he's not bothered about the whip, has anyone any suggestions/ exercises to keep the forward momentum? To sum it up he just gives as little as he can possibly get away with and i am finding him very hard work, i do understand he is still young but i just want him to be more forward going.

I have had his teeth checked and he is fine in the mouth and no soreness in his back. He is definatley not overweight, he is fed on slow release cubes, speedi beet a balacer and oil. He gets turned out for 10 hours a day and is in at night.
I think he is just a tad lazy and boy does he have attitude!

I only school him twice a week so he dosn't get bored in the school, he is alot better on a hack out but can still be nappy if he dosn't want to do things. I lead him out on his own to get more confident but he can be spooky.

Any suggestions appreciated
Thanks
 
Hun, you don't want to keep your leg OFF him, regardless of what he likes or dislikes. You need to have your legs gently steady on him at all times. Then you aim for an extra squeeze to change pace. I'd recommend a few things. 1) Transitions, transitions, transitions, transitions. On a circle, out hacking, on the long side, on the short side, being led in hand, everywhere. The idea is he never knows what you're going to ask for next so he needs to keep his attention on you. 2) Teach him half halts that alert him to a request coming up. 3) Ask politely once, wip-*** rope him the 2nd ask, the 3rd ask, do whatever it takes to get him moving. If you do this absolutely every single time, and that means every single time, then he will learn that if he ignores the polite ask, all hell WILL break loose. 4) Wip-*** rope. Richard Maxwell swears by this and Michael Peace uses the same technique. If the horse ignores the leg and the whip, slap him (wip, ***) either side of his neck with either a specially purchased Wip-*** or the end of the reins. Don't be a nellie about it either. 5) Don't forget you MUST reward his efforts, however small or half hearted they may be, or he won't know he's got it right. Ask yourself: if your mum/boss/OH asked you quietly and politely to eg do the washing up you might not feel like it and just ignore them. After all, the worst that will happen is they'll ask quietly again in a bit, but hey, so what, just ignore them again. But if the 2nd time, they came and stood an inch in front of you and yelled in your face I'VE ASKED NICELY ONCE, NOW COME AND DO IT PLEASE!!!, then it would give you food for thought. Might surprise you into leaping up and getting stuck in. And for sure, if you ignored the shouting-in-the-face and for the 3rd ask you got a saucepan thrown at you from across the kitchen along with the command GET YOUR BACKSIDE OUT HERE NOW!!!!! then you'd jump to it. And if this happened every, every, every single time then you'd soon be jumping to it at the 1st polite ask (or leaving home lol), especially if you got £5 each time you responded on the 1st ask!

And finally, I'm assuming you've checked him carefully for teeth, back, tack, pain. And be honest with yourself, does he only do this with you or can a different rider get more out of him????? It could be your riding x
 
Thank you v much for your reply box of frogs, i have had a proffesional rider out to him a couple of months ago and he was even worse with her and in the end she came back a couple of days later with a helper and got him going with the helper chasing him with the lunge whip from the ground but she did say he was really hard work and was a bit stumped with what to suggest and he switched off when she kept pressurising him with the leg and the whip again did nothing but antagonise him to threatening to rear. obviously i cant rely on someone chasing him with a lunge whip all the time.

I have had a full health check done by my vet even made him take blood tests to check all was ok and he came back with a full clean bill of health! i then decided to give him a couple months of to chill out so i have only started riding him again last week, after lunging him for the previous fortnight.

well tonight i tried what you suggested and......... omg it worked!!!! took him in the school on a loose rein with very light contact, asked him to trot which he did straight away but as usual after 3 or 4 strides he started slowing down and coming back on me, i gave him a light squeeze to increase the pace which he totally ignored as usual........so i gave him a almighty pony club kick and whooped loudly at the top of my voice and slapped the reins on the side of his neck.....well he shot forward in total surprise in fact he went into canter he was that shocked!LOL so i let him canter for a few strides and praised him, then i brought him back to walk and retested the episode again asking with a light squeeze and again he ignored me so i whooped/yelled on top note again and he shot forward same thing.

Tried it for a 3rd time and he went smartly into trot when asked and then when he started to slow coming past the gate i gave him a little squeeze and he WENT STRAIGHT FORWARD at a lovely pace and we did another 3 circles with no nagging and no slowing down, it felt brilliant, his back came up he was nicley rounded and he was actually carrying me forward on a light contact it felt brilliant, a different horse!! I was so pleased with him he got loads of praise and we ended on such a good note! Thanks again...after months of frustration i think he has seen the light! fingers crossed this is a new beginning for us !x
 
Oh and i whooped that loud one of the girls came running from the yard thinking there had been an accident and then when she stood watching him motor round she was laughing saying wow he looked fab and was trotting like a proper welsh cob, is that the same horse?!LOL
 
Oh I'm so pleased hun! Bet he's a real sweetie and you adore him, but sometimes clever horses think adoration = weakness. As long as you keep explaining the boundaries to him, hassle him EVERY EVERY EVERY EVERY time if he tries to step outside those boundaries, praise him as if he's just won the Grand National when he gets it right or even half right, then you and he will go far. Get your friend to video the whooping and post on here he he he!

One last thing, he WILL occasionally try to slop back into his old ways just to see if you've forgotten. Stay on your toes and ALWAYS ask for his best. Well done you for helping him x
 
Minniemouse, we own the same pony!!!! lol
Have had our 16 yr old 6 months, and am finally winning. ^^^^ This works with him too, & though he ignores whip *** completely the pony club kick/growl is effective. He will still be nappy out on his own, but we do have forward motion at long last, its a nice feeling isnt it!
 
Yes thanks it was great! looking forward to repeating the test on Friday, id got a bit despondant and started to not enjoy riding him after trying the nicely nicely approach with him for months and then bullying him with the lunge whip and still not getting anywhere, but i am really looking forward to working with him again, think the rest over the winter has also done him good.

I just think maybe he had been started to soon and asked to much in the school by his previous home so i am planning on only doing 2 sessions a week with him so he dosn't get bored and the rest of the time i will carry on hacking out to keep him thinking forward. people will think ive gone mad when they hear me whooping but i dont care as long as it works!LOL
 
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