On behalf of pal - fidgeting at junctions!?!

[Sarah1]

Hi, friend asked me to post about an issue she's having with her new mare, here's her email:

I want to know how people deal with fidget bums at junctions etc when in traffic - B fidgets if you have to stand for more than a few seconds - she will stick her bum out and if you take the reins she will back up but its hard to push her forwards if we are stopped for traffic etc when she really just needs to stand still!

Instructor said transitions and all round schooling will help and just make her listen to you all the time but in the meantime it worries me - she doesnt back up at speed etc just fidgets and takes a couple of steps in whatever direction - shes ok if you are 2 abreast just does it in single file.

All suggestions welcome!
Thanks

 

[Madam_max]

My mare gets the fidgets and I have to cross a very busy A road and she is very well schooled. I even keep her moving i.e circling or if need be I face her in the opposite direction and then she packs it in.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

I wish I knew, my gelding has got worse at this over the 10 years I've had him! He just seems to believe that hacking shouldn't ever involve standing still.

 

[Fransurrey]

Henry used to be terrible for this. I ended up using clicker training to reward standing still, then putting it on cue with the word 'stand'. He's not so bad now, unless we're at a junction where we might have a disagreement over which way to go. In this situation, he goes into 'mission mode' and charges in the direction he wants to go! For these situations I used walk-halt transitions, starting further back from the junction and repeating them closer to the junction. In my case, he anticipates the next stop and does it with the lightest touch. It doesn't always mean he'll stay stood still, but if I'm ready for a move, I can repeat the halt aids the moment I feel a leg lift, whereupon he stops what he's doing.