Problems with sidereins, help!

[JessGingerfred]

Hope i am posting this in the right place!!

I have a 6 year old Welsh Section D who I rescued last year (so he obviously had trust issues etc).
I backed him myself and he was foot perfect, but due to him being driven he had a few issues with the trot, so I sent him to a friend who successfully managed to get him trotting under saddle, but only in sidereins.

When I brought him home, I was able to ride him in the walk and trot with the sidereins (only on very loosely!!) with no problem, so took them off one day. As soon as I got on and sat in the saddle, he freaked out. Bronced, bolted, spun and reared until I was on the floor. As soon as I put the sidereins on again, he was fine.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I can do... He is due to come back into work in may of next year after being turned away, but I don't particularly want to have to use sidereins when I ride him for obvious reasons, yet he seems to rely on them! Help!!!

x

 

[wench]

Will he lunge with out then?

 

[JessGingerfred]

Will he lunge with out then?

Yep, he lunges with or without!

 

[Pigeon]

Think it's a comfort thing! Will he lunge with someone on board without them on?

 

[JessGingerfred]

Nope! He won't lunge happily with a rider on at all, if he is just lunging he will go without quite happily!

 

[khalswitz]

Think it's a comfort thing! Will he lunge with someone on board without them on?

This. Get someone to lunge him with the side reins on and you on, then remove them whilst on the lunge. If he's good with that, then get someone to lead you round without the side reins. If that works, get someone to ride and lead, and get him out of the school.

 

[Allover]

Have you considered sending him away to be re backed when he comes in from his break? It sounds to me like he has had gadgets used to make him do what is required rather than setting up the basics for him to go on in his ridden life.

I am of the opinion that side reins should never be used for ridden work and certainly never in walk work (they are known to compromise a horses movement in walk).

 

[JessGingerfred]

I backed him myself without gadgets and he was perfect! Just when i sent him away that he started relying on them and I hate them... doesn't matter if someone's walking with him if he doesn't have them on, he freaks! Someone suggested elasticated reins, anyone have any experience?

 

[WellyBaggins]

That is quite a big issue that needs addressing by a professional before you have a serious problem! Given the time of year I would leave him for the winter and then send him away to be restarted in the spring. Good Luck

 

[Fat_Pony]

Consider Jason Webb in goudhurst if you are down south

 

[Allover]

I backed him myself without gadgets and he was perfect! Just when i sent him away that he started relying on them and I hate them... doesn't matter if someone's walking with him if he doesn't have them on, he freaks! Someone suggested elasticated reins, anyone have any experience?

You said you sent him away to a friend because he had problems with his trot and that he came back worse. In my experience this is not a "perfect" start to any horses ridden life. Because he has had a less that perfect start in his ridden career he has to go back to basics and learn how to handle himself correctly. If you start using gadgets on horses to make up for a lack of training then you are not achieving anything other than helping him learn bad habits. I find that people will use gadgets because they do not know how to deal with the issues in front of them and it makes it easier to control the horse and make them submit to what you want through having no other choice and not because they want to work with you. When you take them off you have to start over and retrain them correctly to go without them.

 

[the_nag]

i would leave for the winter then bring back in and start again taking things slowly.

 

[Cortez]

What was the "problem" with his trot that caused you to send him away to be trained?

 

[JessGingerfred]

I never used gadgets on him- I backed him in the walk with nothing but a simple snaffle and he was foot perfect.

As I don't know his full history, I'm not sure what made him so nervous about the trot but he would just get panicky. I sent him away to my friend (retrains ex racers) and she used side reins in the trot, so now I can't take them off!

Someone suggested elastic reins as he may like the moving contact but I'm not sure where to turn, I definitely don't want to bring him back into work with gadgets as I don't like it.