Non ridden activity ideas.

Tifferss

Tifferss

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My boy is currently unsound when being ridden so Ive spent every day going up and grooming him and messing with him (he's very happy about this!!) Does anyone have any little techniques i could be doing with him that could be more "educational" for him rather than a day at a spa lol
 
How about teaching him some tricks. Lucy used to do loads of tricks and i'm currently teaching Herbs to bow. It's great fun and a good way of bonding. Also you could do some spook training. Like getting him to walk over tarporlin etc... getting him used to anything he is normaly scared of. These are great bonding and trust building excersises to. :D
I hope he comes sound and you are able to get back riding soon. :)
 
Lunging is out - hes unlevel on the cicle. and im HOPING he wont be lame for very long so showing in hand is a bit long term.
 
Tifferss said:
oooohhhhh.....tell me more
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I am rubbish at it so not the best person to tell you but I'm sure others can. Someone at my yard is doing it with her horse who is having to have 12 months off ridden work. He loves it, she has him doing all sorts of things. Mine hasn't responded particularly well to it but it's more than I am crap at it than anything else!
 
My horse has recently been diagnosed with a multitude of problems and degenerative bone conditions, and his future is quite bleak to be honest. I've made the decision to retire him from riding, so I'm looking for non ridden things he can do too (but for long term). He's only 9, but he's quite a highly strung ex-racer, so gentle hacking (which is all he's going to be fit to do, after treatment) would be dangerous on this horse, and I value my own life too.

A lot of people on my yard practise Parelli, (I KNOW, I KNOW It's like a swear word on this forum, but bear with me!)
I do know where to draw the line, and I'm, not going to be pushing my horse into doing anything ridiculous, or anything that will upset him - like some of those awful you tube videos show, but I will be teaching him to respect me on the ground, and he'll hopefully learn to channel his energies into the games he'll learn to play. The types of things he can do, all have to be in walk, as he is not allowed to be lunged either.

I'm still open to suggestions, and I want to be able to give him something to do which he has to think about. The Parelli followers at my yard are keen to get me started, which is why I thought I'd give this a go first.
 
clicker training is fun..clicker ony costs around £1.99 if that, off Ebay or think you can get them from some of the larger pet type places. theres a good book I have about it but cant remember the name offhand...if your interested I can dig it out and let you know what its called. or howabout some in hand games involving poles on the floor etc,. i have a book about groundwork too. can you tell i read a lot
 
I agree that clicker is great fun. Used it with my long term box rest horse a few years ago and it was a real turning point for him ingetting his brain enagged and keeping him happy :) Get yourself a copy of 'Clicker training for your horse' by Alexander Kurland. I've got a short 'essay' on getting started if you want it PMing?
 
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