Niggles with youngster

H

Hatts24

Active Member
Joined
10 September 2018
Messages
36
Visit site
Sorry this might take a bit of explaining with the background...In January I bought a 5YO Cob, who was quite backwards and inexperienced due to a lack of time and effort from previous owners. When I tried him out I loved him, he was quirky (one word for it) but felt he had so much potential. Took him home and in 3 months he has achieved so much and I couldn’t be prouder of him but there a couple of reverse behaviours! When he was bought I was warned he would buck in the school. First time I schooled him he was awful, about 30 bucks the first session after just asking him to walk or whatever. I got him out of that and he now just throws the odd one in - which I’m just putting down to his cheeky nature as its not a buck trying to get me off! - so that was a tick. Then he started napping in the school, which with a schooling Whip I can stop him. However when he poos he won’t walk and poo so throws in some tactical pooing to stop trotting or working and I cannot get him to walk while doing this? The frustrating thing is I feel they are tactical as just when I ask him to up the tempo or something he will stop and poo. When he was bought I was told he wouldn’t school on his own, however now he schools brilliantly on his own but will not school with other horses?! The other day I was with 2 others and he planted himself for 25 minutes and we could not move him - obviously this takes the fun out of schooling with friends! Out hacking I must add he is absolutely ace, walks/trots/canters/gallops and is definitely the most forward cob which I didn’t expect entirely. He has been quite spooky recently but we had a bad incident with a black bin bag out the other day and also with the spring grass I am putting it down to that. On the ground he is brilliant, kind mannered but now won’t stand still to mount when he did when he arrived? Saddle/back etc everything checked and all fine. So at the end of this ramble I’d really appreciate some advice on mounting, getting him to school with others and can I stop this tactical pooing or not?!
 
I don't think horses have the ability to think in the way you are suggesting, yes they can be bright, they do pick up habits, both good and bad, but not to the extent that he has worked out that if you ask more he will stop to do droppings and avoid work that is stretching his intelligence too far.
Most that do not walk when passing droppings either find it hard to or they have been trained to stop, when in a field most stand to go and only go on the run if they are in flight mode so it is far more natural to stop than to keep moving.
In my experience working with numerous horses over the years I find if they are truly relaxed when schooling most will keep moving, any that are a little tense will prefer to stop or hold on until work has ended, many that are really tense go on the move and tend to go frequently in small amounts or stop frequently to go, I rarely ask a reluctant horse to keep moving and see no real reason to do so, there are different views on this but it has never caused an issue competing for any of mine.

All the above is a rather long winded way of saying that I would be double checking everything, I would take a different approach to riding him, accept he may need to stop in a schooling session and that once he learns it is fine to stop if he really has to he may become less anxious and inclined to nap, I would also be considering PSSM in a horse showing inconsistent behaviour of this type as it can present in many fairly subtle ways.
 
be positive said:
I don't think horses have the ability to think in the way you are suggesting, yes they can be bright, they do pick up habits, both good and bad, but not to the extent that he has worked out that if you ask more he will stop to do droppings and avoid work that is stretching his intelligence too far.
Most that do not walk when passing droppings either find it hard to or they have been trained to stop, when in a field most stand to go and only go on the run if they are in flight mode so it is far more natural to stop than to keep moving.
In my experience working with numerous horses over the years I find if they are truly relaxed when schooling most will keep moving, any that are a little tense will prefer to stop or hold on until work has ended, many that are really tense go on the move and tend to go frequently in small amounts or stop frequently to go, I rarely ask a reluctant horse to keep moving and see no real reason to do so, there are different views on this but it has never caused an issue competing for any of mine.

All the above is a rather long winded way of saying that I would be double checking everything, I would take a different approach to riding him, accept he may need to stop in a schooling session and that once he learns it is fine to stop if he really has to he may become less anxious and inclined to nap, I would also be considering PSSM in a horse showing inconsistent behaviour of this type as it can present in many fairly subtle ways.
Click to expand...
You’d think but I vividly remember a horse where I learnt to ride called Harry, who would stop for a “wee” every time he was at the front and it was his turn to trot around, so that he’d get overtaken and be at the back again. Legs spread, willy dropped and everything!
 
Michen said:
You’d think but I vividly remember a horse where I learnt to ride called Harry, who would stop for a “wee” every time he was at the front and it was his turn to trot around, so that he’d get overtaken and be at the back again. Legs spread, willy dropped and everything!
Click to expand...

I have know a few of these but in every case I think it has been inadvertently trained into them, usually in a RS environment with inexperienced riders, the most recent was a pony who had been in a RS but he also had some nasty melanomas so we did give him the benefit of the doubt, I cannot think of a privately owned horse that did it or ever knowing one that had learned to stop to do droppings in the same way, most will soon give up if the rider is halfway capable if there is not an underlying reason.
 
I also don't think they can plan and plot to that extent. They learn by repetition and it is very easy to let them do things as babies that then turn into unwanted things in adulthood. Allowing them to stop to poo can certainly become a learned behaviour.

Ted The Twit always had to pee out on hacks, he would veer over to the verge, stop stretch and pee, oh, and fart normally at a poor cyclist. That was fine and we are keen to have horses that will pee away from home. He would normally hack for half an hour before needing a pee and was the same in the school. As he got older the dash to the verge got more frequent, no peeing, just gazing into the distance. We thought he was being crafty and lazy but no, he had sore hinds and as soon as he went into a full set the verge dash stopped. But he does have a party trick, when he is out competing we can ask him if he want to pee, lead him to grass and he will perform on most occasions, we do this just before his test, after all how can the giant cart horse show cadence when he is desperate !
 
Thanks all! The saddler is coming to the yard on Monday so I will get that checked again and his vaccinations are next month so will have a chat with the vet then. They sound silly little things but I really would love to compete him as he is more than capable and don’t want little things to stop us!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top