lazy horse advice please

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passie

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My horse is very lazy in the school, but as soon as I tap him with a whip he jumps and puts his head up and rushes forward, and then it takes me a while to get him to drop his head and listen to me properly again. I was recommended to try spurs, but am concerned that they will make him jump aswell. He has no laziness problems when hacking or jumping, the opposite actually! Any advice please?
 
Hi! My boy can be lazy too, I think he gets a bit bored of schooling so I try to vary it as much as possible. I try to do lots of changes of rein and transitions and also some polework too to keep his interest!
 
It sounds as if he finds schooling boring which is probably what you need to work on solving as the core problem.

With regard to 'sharpening him up', you need to look at forwardness & working correctly as two separate stages. So, for now, forget about outline or quality of work & JUST work on getting him forward thinking. So, ask with your leg & the MOMENT you don't get a sharp response, apply the same leg aid back up with a LIGHT tap - LET him shoot forwards & don't worry about his head (in fact you should praise his over-reaction), avoid all temptations to 'correct' him by slowing him down. Once he's settled, ask again with the leg & again back up with the stick if you don't get an acceptably responsive reaction. He must learn that if he doesn't respond to the leg, the stick will be used.

Once he's sharpened up, then you can go back to your normal work - he should only require a very occassional reminder...
 
I'm sure the saying is 'Forward, straight and calm'...so wouldn't worry if he takes a moment to settle after a tap.
Or - school outdoors on hacks...in fields...avoid the school for a while then do mad things like loose jumping, pony club style games to cheer him up.
I think spurs are more refining the aids than re-inforcing them....
S
 
try something different to your normal riding eg. trotting poles rigure of eights and serpentines or you could just lunge?? if i was you id lunge for about 10-20 mins to get the horse going forward then when you get on he will be going forward already
smile.gif
 
Thanks guys for all the advice. Yes I jump. If I put a jump in the school he perks up but all his attention is focussed on when he's going to go over the jump not on what we are doing now.
 
I have ridden for years a horse that I have always considered to be lazy (see my post about new instructor). In fact if she was any slower she would go backwards. But, in just and hour and a half of lessons, my new instructor has shown me how to ride her and now she is practically whizzy!

It was my own fault, I was blocking her movement with tension in my body that I didn't even realise was there, but that my instructor spotted. In effect my legs were saying speed up but my bun, back and shoulders were saying slow down. No wonder I have always chosen to ride forward going horses - I was acting as a massive handbrake!

Now, my constantly focussing on relaxing every muscle in my body I am allowing her the freedom of movement she needs to speed up and work in an outline.

So it might be worth you double checking that you are not tensing up without even realising. It is exceptionally easy to do when you are at your wits end trying to get a lazy horse to move forward.
 
How old is your horse? Is he stiff in the hocks and finding the work hard? My old ex event horse will not work on the bit in a school, it hurts her stiff old legs.

I would be looking to see if there are any physical reasons the horse is resisting and not wanting to work, just in case.
 
Sounds interesting - and definitely possible. on a hack if I was any more relaxed i'd fall off and he's very forward going in the school i'm thinking quite hard about my position and what i'm asking him to do and would therefore be more tense. I'll work my way through all the advice starting tomorrow hopefully something will work well. Thanks very much for all the help and advice.
 
He's 16 and on a hack he's very forward going and I always have to stop and wait for others to catch up, and he'll work in an outline going down the road nicely so I don't think it's a physical reason.
 
Solving my tension is proving very tricky; I think it is made worse by the fact that I'm quite toned so I have a naturally high body tension.

After half an hours lesson focussing on relaxing I am completely exhausted which suonds daft but true because the mental effort involved in not letting my bum tighten, especially around corners, is massive.

I don't think I would ever have found out it was happening, and certainly never solved it had it not been for my new instructor who is truly excellent and very highly qualified.

If you can I would get yourself to a reputable instructor - mine was taught by Kate Sivewright of Talland Equestrian Centre. However I know this is not always possible.

My instructor is making my focus on my own body and more or less ignore what the horse is doing. Actually I'm surprised she hasn't lunged me but I suppose the effort of controlling the horse is where the tension creeps in so it's interlinked.

But if you do spot the babiest bit of tension spend some time forgetting outlines, forgetting straight lines, forgetting what your horse is doing other than fast and slow. She makes me relax my whole body and take my knees away from the saddle pointing outwards so my thigh isn't touching the saddle. Then I focus on just wiggling my heel against the horses side as if I were giving a massage to speed up - no tension in knees, thighs or anywhere else. If when you do this your horse speeds up then your problem is probably similar to mine and please feel free to PM me and I will pass onto you what I am doing in lessons as it may help.

Good luck!
 
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