One extreme to the other, with mini and pony,, help please!!!!

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mulledwhine

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He has now decided I am the best thong since sliced bread, and follows me like a little dog, which yes, is very cute, bit now that mini is starting to become more independent , is causing a problem.

Where as before he would just pull me about, when she was completly on, and had the odd mad moment ( have mentioned them here), he now won't go forward, and just follows me around !!!!

All very indearing, and I secretly like it ;), but understandably mini is now getting quite up set , in her words ' he likes you better'!!!!!!

She just wants to walk around and steer him around obsticles, so any advice on howto stop him relying on me?

To to inforce, it has not been a problem before, bit I can't even go with his older rider for a chat, as he is stuck to me like glue!!!

Blessx
 
Ah yes, been there done that with a rather good lead rein pony - she knew that she had to stick like glue to her leader and she felt she was being naughty if she moved away.

Firstly attempt to explain to child that pony knows that it's supposed to stay with you and the child must be extra firm but praise as soon as pony leaves you. Then if you haven't tried it already lunge pony with child on, good chance for child to practise ridden exercises, whilst teaching pony to go away from you. Then you can unclip pony from lunge line (in the fullness of time) send pony away from you with voice and whip and then child should have control.

You can also try walking with pony and child, stopping and saying firmly to pony walk on and then being very pleased when it does walk on and growling if it doesn't.
 
Thank you, had thought about lunging, but normally goes a bit crazy, so was nervous to try with mini on!!!! Will give it a go though :)

Thanks fr the advice, have been praising him big time, when he goes away from me, but it seems I am reinforcing that I am a nice place to be ;)

Will carry on trying though, thank you for your reply x
 
mulledwhine said:
Thank you, had thought about lunging, but normally goes a bit crazy, so was nervous to try with mini on!!!! Will give it a go though :)

Thanks fr the advice, have been praising him big time, when he goes away from me, but it seems I am reinforcing that I am a nice place to be ;)

Will carry on trying though, thank you for your reply x
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Yup, mine used to put in some pretty spectacular moves on the lunge! Never tried it with child up though:)

If you think praising as he walks away is stopping him then just say good lad and let the little one tell him how good he is!
 
I agree with Dee - lunging will get pony going forwards (tho it sounds like its going to be a bit of a trial getting pony going well on the lunge)
Also, whilst re-inforcing the going away on the lunge, re-inforce the commands verbally yourself & teach mini them too..

I used to teach ponies for tinies to stand to the word 'stop' - and that meant stop, right now & stand still. Little shettie at the time was a total star & tho my daughter thought she was doing all the work, it was muggins standing in the paddock giving sly commands. The 'stop' only came in on rare occasions - usually once a session/ride but it helped big time if things got wobbly. Worth thinking about

Good luck :)
 
We had the same issue with knobberpony.She had never been a lead rein pony,but would stick to me like glue.What I found that helped was going out on hacks with me walking alongside,as she was far easier to get going outside of the school.Gradually knobberpony got more confident that the girls knew what they were doing and began to trust them and she decided that she didn't need me next to her.

We are just going through the same thing with B our new pony at the minute,but hacking out seems to be doing the trick with her too.Plus she is smaller so my youngest can tack and untack her and do all the things that she couldn't do when we first got knobberpony,which helps B see her as 'her' person,rather than me.
 
Mirage - we do not have a school, so all our riding is on hacks. I think you may have a point though, could it be whilst I was leading he felt comfortable enough to be strong and silly, but now we have gotten rid of the lead, he is just being safe rather than sorry?

Tbh all this started last week when he bucked mini off in bstyle, ad he was all over her like a rashafterwards licking her andsnuggling, I know it sounds silly, but do you think he scared himself?

I will take in board all you all
 
That's interesting about the bucking MulledWhine.My youngest rode B happily off the lead rein and without me next to her for a couple of days when she first arrived.Then we had our instructor in for our weekly lesson and B decided to try and buck my daughter off,and succeeded on the 3rd attempt.Poor girl was a bit nervous after that so we walked alongside to give her confidence that if it happened again,we were within grabbing distance.

We had 2 episodes of bucking since,but nothing for weeks now [thankfully].I'd put the pony's clingyness to her picking up her rider's anxiety,but your post has made me think that perhaps she scared herself?

Ponies eh? Never a dull moment.:)
 
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