lazy horse, totally stubborn!

[weesophz]

ive been riding my friend's new welsh D pony for the last week and hes proving to be quite a challenge!

his last owner openly said he has been let away with murder as kids were just faffing about with him so has got some cheeky habits.

he is lazy as anything in the school, it takes so much to get him to trot properly and i dont want him to end up dead to the leg so i cant be constantly nagging him, i dont really like using a stick but when ive used it on him it doesnt make him go any faster anyway! when getting him to canter he does about 2 strides and tries to come back to trot and when i nudge him on he does that daft kicking the back legs out buck and stops. what can i do to get him to go?! we know hes not in pain as he moves forward quite happily out on hacks and its a total stubborn brat act hes got on. hes a cracking looking pony and would do amazing at showing but we cant do anything with him if hes not gonna move!

any advice?
thanks!

 

[ridefast]

He's probably completely switched off. Forget about "good" trot, "good" walk. Ask him to walk, regardless of what type of walk he does, if he's walking then tell him he's a good boy and ask for nothing more. Same with trot, he could be trotting backwards but as long as he's trotting then he's a good boy. He's probably been given lots of no and not good enough so far, so give him lots of yes and well done. You'll almost see the wheels turning in his brain, he will want to offer you more because it's nice to do so. (It may not happen instantly) If he only wants to do 2 strides of canter, ask for one stride of canter and reward him.

 

[JillA]

I have (hopefully) sorted this sort of problem with my horse, who is a big idle WBx. I have had instructors who have tried to get his rear end engaged and him better balanced but that is such har work forboth of us and the problem isn't in his balance its in his head.
Sooooo, following on from hearing a top classical rider say you need them to think forwards and if they are being sluggish, get forwards, and remembering a horse I knew years ago who would jog everywhere because he was only ever ridden at trot, I used my grey matter.
So. I have a response to my leg - kind of - but it is much much sharper when it is backed up by a tap from a whip, as hard as it needs to be. And I don't ask for faster walk - we have walk, there is only one walk in my book and that is a good one. So if he dies on me at walk, I change up a gear (leg on ONCE then tap with whip). He would rather give me an active walk than a trot so we have a good walk and my legs can remain passive - and he is at a constant state of readiness.
Same at trot - if he dies in trot, go up to canter. If he bucks at you, ignore it and sit tight - he will soon give up that one, probably only need a couple of transitions to remind him. It is working really well for me - I can now do shoulder in on a circle without constantly having to wrestle with a reluctant horse. Give it a go, and as Ridefast says, make sure you reward his tries. For me, too, a walk isn't a reward, that's when you get sloppy walk (for now anyway). I reward him with a halt and a wither rub.
It works for us and it makes sense, to me anyway.

 

[highlandponygirl]

As you say he has probably become dead to the leg.If he will quite happily go forward outside of the school then use this as a positive starting point, do transitional excersises out hacking. JillA's advice is good and as ridefast says he probably just needs a good dose of encouragement. Where using a stick is concerned it's probably kinder to give the odd sharp shock than to keep nagging with the leg, what I sometimes do if I feel I need to use my stick is I'll smack the top of my boot first and the noise is usually enough to get his attention. I've also in the past carried a long schooling stick in each hand that way you can back up each leg aid at the same time if needed.

 

[Megibo]

Just sold one like this lol. Lovely and forward on a hack, backwards as hell in the school-unless you were jumping. She's a sec D too
She improved toward the end of her time with me, it was a case of ask nicely with leg once and if there was no response SMACK. It worked for her, got to the point I'd ask with leg and if she didn't respond I'd move the hand with the whip and she'd go before I smacked her.

 

[ladyt25]

I would suggest doing some groundwork here - get him to understand what the aid is (by using a schooling whip tapping on his side - where the leg would be - until he moves forward).

I would also lunge him and establish what his paces and rhythm are so then you are aware and don't push him to a level of becoming unbalanced. If he's more forward going out on a hack, then ask for the work then, don't just allow him to go along as he pleases. Make sure you are still asking for walk, trot, halt etc so he knows what the aids mean.

I will never forget a fantastic pony I tried many years ago. He was amazing out in the paddock, moved brilliantly and was a superb jumper. I took him in the arena and it was like a switch flicked. He would not go off the leg, and was in fact quite miserable. Back in the field - fine. It was very odd and something wasn't right so we didn't buy him. Turned out he had stifle problems so I can only assume working in the softer arena was not comfortable for him. Looking back, I am not sure but it certainly was odd behaviour!