Planting feet any tips

[gailt]

Right, well i suppose having your first foal is such a learning experience...i never stop, hes 18mths old now, dancer is teaching me so much...anyway..the little sod! as you know he now has is bestest bestest friend, gypsey here...they get on so well that dancer gets stressed if they are apart...i have been seperating them for periods of time during the day for work and building the time up...ie to walk out dancer or even just groom him, or to ride gypsey etc...what the monkey has started to do now, cos he wants to go to the paddock with her, is to plant his feet and refuse to go into the stable...i have tried backing him up into it, he backs up really well but there is a small step in which always gets in the way and sends him forward....any tips, he is not frightened of rustling bags at the rear of him, my daughter has even slapped his backside, to which he just sighed! lol...any tips how we can stop this fight before it really gets into a bad habit, you dont stand a chance if you are on your own...at night he plants but is fine if gypsey is bought in first...thanks guys

 

[Zebedee]

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my daughter has even slapped his backside,

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Erm I'd be thinking in slightly stronger terms than slapping his backside!
To put it in very simplistic terms you need to make going forward with you the 'comfort zone' as opposed to staying with his pal. You can either be more forceful with sending him forward from behind & I'm not talking about beating him up, but shooing him on with a soft rope, or a bristly broom. The key is that as soon as he moves forward you stop shooing him, but re-start it if he looks like stopping again, & try to keep him moving.
The other way would be to employ a pressure halter such as a 'Be Nice'. As you pull him forward pressure will be applied to points on his head & face. Its not very comfortable for them so they move forwards. The moment they do that the pressure releases so that the 'reward' (ie release of pressure) is instant.
You do need to resolve this quickly though because he's basically napping.

 

[GTs]

I would be careful about getting your daughter to smack his behind - if he did not like he could well kick. A kicked daughter is generally not a happy one.

 

[jemima]

Instead of trying to drag him straight forward, pull him over to one side so that he's off balance and has to take a step, then straighten him up whilst he's getting his balance in that direction and get him to take another step.

If you are going to use a pressure halter then you neeed to teach him how it works in a situation he's comfortable with before using it to try to overcome a problem - otherwise he won't understand what he's meant to do.

 

[gailt]

grrrrr, this is getting a pain now, i bought him in tonight, to another refusal, so i thought id show him i can move his feet if i want...he happily obliged to move sidewards, backwards in circles very quickly, but still refused point blank to walk forwards....just what you want to be doing when its peeing down...grrr

 

[Lucy_Ally]

Spring can do this when she decides not to do something. I have had to reverse Spring the entire way out of a field once!
A lunge whip is a handy thing as you can encourage them forwards without being in kicking distance, however for me I feel that you have to start getting him to think forward on his own. I am an advocate of the pressure halter as it ends up being their decision when to walk foward rather than trying to bully them from behind which again focuses the horse on being backward rather than forward. With Spring it has all been about training and the pressure halter has proved invaluable. Good luck, its very frustrating I know!