New part loan charges!! help?!

[merlo89]

Hi,

I was just wondering if I could have any advice. I have recently got a part loan (3 weeks ago) for two days a week. The reason I am struggling is I have recently started riding her without the owner and the first time I was stupidly all alone as I thought I could mange her unfortunately I was proven wrong as we had got to a few strides before the grass arena and she suddenly turned and cantered back to the yard which was roughly 100m away (just a guess) and onto the concrete past another arena with a spooking horse in. The reason we believe she charged was because the younger horse had been left in the field by herself and it was just next to the yard.

Then, I was walking her back from the arena but took the long way to cool her off and had to get off as she was backing up and acting like she had done previously when she bolted with me. I was then walking her and we got to the point where e had to walk between two paddocks (one with her friend and another horse on the other side) she then attempted to canter off with her friends but as I was on the ground I just turned her and she went into an electric fence but don't think it shocked her. After this she was fine.

In the arena she is quite laid back and just slow. She has a unique canter but never canters fully around the arena and breaks into trot as we go near other people or horses. She can't do circles as she has arthritis in her back legs so does a funny run. Also, she enjoys jumping and is apparently very fast at shows but with me she just plops over the jump with no enthusiasm or energy.

So, my questions are ;how can I prevent her from bolting? Is there any tips on being firm as I'm turning into a nervous wreck? How can I get her to go more forward in the canter? How can I get her to enjoy jumping with me and make it more fun then just jumping over a single jump?

A lot of questions I know but I just want to get the best out of both of us.

Thanks in advance

 

[Doormouse]

First thing I would say is that if she has arthritis in her hind legs and can't do circles etc, why are you doing them? I assume if she is unable to do something it is because mechanically she can't and it probably hurts her. I don't think she should be jumping either especially not in a grass arena with the ground as hard as it is now. I do think you need to establish with the owner the severity of the arthritis and work her accordingly.

Most horses will take advantage of someone if they think they can. Horses are herd animals and will always try to return to their friends and usually know when they can get away with it. You need to distract her from this by doing plenty of exercises, lots in walk like bending, leg yeilding and so forth. These exercises will help her to loosen up apart from anything else and will keep her mind away from wanting to go home. Make sure when you are near the gate you keep her full attention with you and when going home if she starts be difficult, circle her, leg yield etc to distract her again.

 

[merlo89]

Hi, I don't do circles just didn't want anyone to suggest it for me to her attention. Also, she's best being fully worked as it keeps her looser and generally in better health and prevents her getting stiff. She also regularly goes show jumping with her owner every week. It's difficult to keep her attention the way there and back as on either side are live electric fences so its hard to turn her. I will try doing different exercises with her in the arena to keep her attention and also learn about her.

 

[Doormouse]

Ok, so her problems are managed which is good.

I would suggest you lead her down the track with the live electric fence as it is an accident waiting to happen and your distraction options are limited.

Once you get on her in the arena, do lots of walk work which as I said will loosen her up anyway and help her to concentrate on you. Gentle bends and leg yields should not make her uncomfortable but will get her listening. Stay in walk until you really feel she is listening. From the point of view of canter, even if you are going large round the school that is still a circle, albeit a big one and she may find it too hard to balance herself, hence dropping back to trot. Try lots of transitions from trot to canter, few strides of canter, back to trot, back to canter and so on until she is responding to your leg. As you get stronger in your seat and she listens more you may be able to keep the canter for longer.

 

[Clodagh]

Cantering in a cirlce, and going around a school is a circle, or a square or a rectangle! I mean it has corners. So she may not physically be able to canter around them, if her hocks hurt. My boy can't canter a circle with his hocks but can do a nice one in a straight line.
She can probably still jump at shows as her adrenalin is up which means she feels the pain less. That is truly a long range diagnosis though. Does her owner jump her at home as well?

 

[Barnacle]

Is this a problem other people have with her too?

My initial response, to be entirely honest OP, is that you need to find a different loan horse. This one sounds like it's a bit outside your capabilities at the moment and you will inadvertently reinforce the bad behaviour. For example dismounting when the horse acts up is going to teach the horse that acting up = lighter burden.

Have you told the owner about all this happening? If this were my horse I'd probably look for someone else out of concern that its behaviour would deteriorate. Not to mention that it sounds like it's really just dangerous for everyone involved, horse included.

 

[merlo89]

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately, I cant get on at the arena as there is no mounting block and she is a fidget and the electric fences cant be turned off. She can canter round the arena fine (Sorry I had a moment) its just small circles (20m, 10m etc.) that she cant do in canter and struggles with. Her owner use to jump her at home but now that I ride her, the jumping is my responsibility apart from when she goes to her weekly shows. The only reason is dismounted was because I had taken a different route and its very narrow and over grown with a sharp turn at the end, also in between a massive fence that had a football pitch on the other side and an electric fence, so I felt like I had no option for both of our safety as I normally don't get off and react to the behaviour with a telling off. I've told the owner and she tried to solve it by putting a horse in the field but it was only temporary. Another women on the yard did get on her after the first time and she was a pain so the yard owner told her to get off; then her owner rode her a few hours later and she was fine. It's never been as bad as that since and no one had heard of her do that before on the yard and was out of character.

Hope this helps

 

[Wiz201]

No reason why a mounting block couldn't be put in the arena? You can get small ones that can fit in a corner so not too conspicuous.
Dismounting when she's acting up is not a bad idea, it doesn't teach the horse its getting away from work and it can be safer to do that. Perhaps you could ask the owner to come and watch you ride a couple of times just to be there if things go wrong?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Perhaps you could have lessons on this horse but really imo no-one should be jumping an arthritic horse on any surface. That will not help to keep the horse moving but instead will exacerbate the condition and its effects.
If I were you I would not want to share a horse with such a careless owner.

 

[concorde]

If the poor horse is too arthritic to canter circles how on earth can it go showjumping every week !
OP you sound a little over horsed. Can the owner come and help you again ?
If not it may be worth you looking for a more suitable share horse.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Perhaps you could have lessons on this horse but really imo no-one should be jumping an arthritic horse on any surface. That will not help to keep the horse moving but instead will exacerbate the condition and its effects.
If I were you I would not want to share a horse with such a careless owner.

I tend to agree, this is not a suitable loan for you, to be honest I thought at first you were a troll, so many difficulties.
You need a safe and sound horse which you can have lessons on and learn to jump on, this is far from ideal.

 

[Fiftyshades]

I would suggest finding a decent instructor to have weekly/bi-weekly lessons with to work with you keeping her schooling up (as it seems her restrictions regarding circles ect. You are at a bit of a loss)

I also wouldn't be hacking her out at the moment as your confidence is shaken, get to know her a bit and have some lessons. Some groundwork would also be beneficial and just spending time. Then perhaps see if you can take a walk out with someone else on the yard for the first time you are going to hack out, once you have more confidence in your ability to handle her.