Problem with forward momentum

[Cassy]

My new cob is fine at walk but reluctant to move up into trot and bucks if you try using a schooling whip. With voice and lots of leg my daughter has managed to get the trot but she has her ears back and looks very grumpy and is very stop/starty. Any ideas please as I dont want to get bucked off.

 

[Goldenstar]

Get the vet to take a look .

 

[Shay]

Yes absolutely - but cobs can also be like that. You need to know how to push their buttons. Vet check and lameness work up first. If nothing - Get out of the school onto a hack - ideally with others. Keep them interested and engaged. They are bright bunnies - and as stubborn as heck. Keep them engaged and motivated. Don't ever nag with leg or whip (They'll go dead to it and you've lost a tool). Hunt. Never do the same thing twice - even if you are in the school don't stop or turn at the same points. Don't ride on the track. Really mix it up - but mix it up with something they enjoy. They go school sour very quickly.

 

[JFTDWS]

Get the vet to take a look .

This. I've known a lot of cobs reluctant to move due to physical issues, poorly fitting tack (which can be a nightmare with some cob conformation and poor saddle fitters), and some due to poor training. I don't really agree that they get school sour more quickly than other horses - in my experience, they're more likely to be ridden by riders who aren't able to keep them engaged in the school, but if they're ridden well, and sound and happy in the first place, all the cobs I've owned / loaned / borrowed / known have been as happy in the arena as out and about.

 

[Cassy]

Thanks for your input. She passed a 5 stage vetting a few weeks ago when I bought her. I will certainly have her saddle checked. The person I bought her from had only hacked her in company and had bought her as a confidence giver after a bad accident. Prior to this she had been used at a RDA centre for 5 years. I have tracked down an instructor who rode her a few times at the centre before she was put up for sale and she said that she was very hard to get going and bucked when asked to go forward with a whip, something she worked through. She also said she took her out for a hack and she ground to a halt and refused to go any further! So it seems my new mare has a few issues. As an older less confident rider I have not attempted the trot yet but my daughter has ridden a couple of times in the school and managed some forwardness plus a couple of bucks. I hacked her out in company at the walk and she strode off in front quite happily. My daughter took her out with me on foot and she refused to go past some barking dogs and did lots of backing up and turning in circles before she let me lead her past. Unfortunately our hacking is very limited so I do need to get her happier at being ridden in the school. Any ideas?

 

[Teajack]

This. I've known a lot of cobs reluctant to move due to physical issues, poorly fitting tack (which can be a nightmare with some cob conformation and poor saddle fitters), and some due to poor training. I don't really agree that they get school sour more quickly than other horses - in my experience, they're more likely to be ridden by riders who aren't able to keep them engaged in the school, but if they're ridden well, and sound and happy in the first place, all the cobs I've owned / loaned / borrowed / known have been as happy in the arena as out and about.

^^ This. I had a small cob and the saddle I got to fit her cost more than she did. She had been VERY nappy/angry in her previous 'fitted' one. There are plenty of cobs doing dressage!

 

[Red-1]

I have helped people with 2 cobs like this.

The first one had also been a RDA horse, and she had a very bad back. She came with the saddle that they had been using, and the gullet was far too narrow. It took a lot of care and attention (including from the vet/physio/saddler/work in hand to get her back right, and even then it was a bit of strong riding forward irrespective of buck to have her realise that the previous stand and buck tactic was no longer valid.

The other one did not have a back problem, was just the widest and strongest mare you could know. The owner could walk and trot, but not necessarily stop or steer, and any request to canter she just stood and flung her back legs around. Due to her beautifully fitted tack and total disregard for people even on the ground, we tackled that as a habit that she had found had worked, as when she had bucked the rider had backed off, so had unintentionally taught the mare that to buck means not to have to do anything she did not have to.

We cleaned up the aids/response at the slower gaits first, so halt/walk and walk/trot was off a reasonably light aid, and the steering worked. With the canter though, when push came to shove, I had to ride her myself, ask her to canter and not stop asking, whatever shapes she threw, until she was in blasted canter. The rider paid me to do this. For a few months the rider had a lesson in walk and trot and at some point in the lesson I would mount and canter. It was sometimes ugly, but did not last long before she realised that her previous tactic did not work.

In the end the rider was able to canter the horse herself, to jump too, and do some pleasure rides, including a calm canter.

It is hard in your position as you have to evaluate weather the horse is merely repeating a tactic that has worked in the past, or is actually in pain. I reckon at least 85% of them are in pain. You need to have help with this, including an equine vet, saddler and possibly physio too. I do not think physios know more than a vet, but I do think that if a vet gives the OK, a physio can tell you that there is some issue and the vet needs to look again.

 

[be positive]

Red has given a lot of useful advice much of which I would have put, my additional thoughts are what was she like when you tried her and if she was 5 stage vetted did someone actually manage to get her moving for that?

In all honesty I think you have bought a horse that is set in it's ways and may require an awful lot of work to get right whether there is an underlying physical reason or not, she is probably a perfect hack in company but probably doesn't really know anything else.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

I have 3 friends whos horses passed 5* vetting and have issues.

Did she have full body x-rays? I'd suspect something physically wrong, a normal horse would trot when asked and when trotting not be so grumpy or wanting to stop, that isn't normal and they don't misbehave on purpose. I'm guessing she wasn't cheap to have a 5* done, I'd get the vet out for a work up.