My hoss is being a tw@t again

[vivhewe]

Yep, he was brilliant for a few weeks but then tonight I rode him in the field and in the bottom he was fine until I made him go across to the hedge (further down from his paddock) and he started napping and trying to rear again

He wouldn't go near the hedge the other day but yesterday after our hack I made him, but today he's being a total w*nker of a horse and he's pissing me off

He was going so well and now he's being a dick again

 

[B_2_B]

Are you not being a bit hard on him?
Does he have something wrong with him?

 

[Louiseskinner]

hmmmmm, well how old is ur horse?? i mean if hes an older horse then its an ireversable streak of nappiness that shines when u least want it. if hes young then question urself are u asking him to do these things in the right fashion, or does he need a brake, a youngster mental strenght is very weak and its like a sponge make every experiance as good as u can.have u lead him to the hedge???

 

[eohippus]

thats the nature of horses Im afraid

go home and chill, tomorrow= breath count to ten and try something you know he can do. Be patient and take one step at a time. Frustrating but it sounds like you are having a battle of wills and I am afraid the horse will win one way or another.
have a large drink

regards
Dawn

 

[vivhewe]

I don't think I'm being too hard on him - I rode him on wednesday and then it rained on thursday and I ended up riding someone elses horse on friday so I didn't get to ride until yesterday when we went for a long hack and he was the perfect gentleman! Then i rode today and he was a little sod - I haven't jumped him since last weekend and we've just done nice stuff so I don't think I'm being too hard on him at the moment, no!

He's fine in the rest of the field until I make him go towards the hedge on the far side - he'll go near the others without a problem! It's just when he decides he doesn't want to do something that he misbehaves. He's got away with it before I bought him and the girl ended up losing her confidence so she sold him. Some days he's fab but then others he is a little get i.e. today. He's had all his stuff checked out i.e. saddle teeth since I got him.

It's just upsetting when you make so much progress and then tonight it feels as if I'm back to square one

- if it was cow kicking or something silly I'd ride through it but when he's wanting to rear up I'm not having it as it's dangerous and ill-mannered.

I managed to keep him moving forward most of the time but I just wish he'd go back to being the horse that I can ride around in walk on a loose rein without sitting on edge all the time

 

[piaffe]

Ahhh dont be to hard on him, or yourself. its really frustrating some times; they go so well and then you come accross a stumbling block or you hit a brick wall and it sets you back again. keep going.

 

[chestnut cob]

As someone else said, it's the nature of horses unfortunately.

Mine can be a little git when he wants to be and has a real nappy streak that thankfully is showing its head less often now. He takes dislikes to particular things and it can be a real struggle to overcome that.

How long have you had him?

If it was me I would do some long reining. Get him going forwards that way, take him over towards the hedge he doesn't like in the long reins. Make sure you're consistent with him so he doesn't get confusing messages. The worst thing you can do is get angry with him, I know from experience that getting angry with a napping horse will make it 10x worse. You need to stay calm. I know a lot on here would disagree with me here but if I can't get a horse past something and it's safe to do so, I will get off and lead past. To me the important thing is that the horse goes where I asked it to.

Definitely start long reining him, I think it will help.

 

[vivhewe]

He's 10 - old enough to know better imho! It is just in him as he's got away with it - had he had someone on him who was more confident and knowledgable he'd not be a problem

 

[vivhewe]

Cheers piaffe!

and chestnut cob - I was planning on longreining him tomorrow afternoon whilst contemplating my options

 

[chestnut cob]

I'd be tempted to do quite a bit of long reining, get his going for you on the ground before getting back on. I had some issues with my horse about 15 months ago (he was days away from going to the sales!) and long reining really helped me out.

 

[vivhewe]

He was being a bit of a bolshy lad about a month ago - he was in a french link snaffle and tanking off so I changed him to a full cheek waterford and did lots of longreining then and he really settled himself down and was loads easier to ride afterwards.

I think he just needs a reminder of what respect is, and longreining worked last time so lets hope it will again!

I'm calming down now - he'd just got me mad after we'd improved so much and then now it's like he was when he was playing up all the time!

Thanks cc for the advice tho hun

 

[parsley]

He sounds like my son's section C and the jumps by the side of the arena - he has selective worries about them - sometimes he ignores them and sometimes they are bogey horses in disguise. When they are scary we just work for a while circling around in trot, getting closer and closer to them - it generally works but the truth is he is always going to be a bit silly near them if the fancy takes him. (hes 13 btw!)