Retraining a RDA horse

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Cassy

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I am looking at loaning an ex RDA horse. How would you go about motivating it to respond to your aids. Also I understand it will only hack out in compainy.
 
My mare is an "Ex-RDA" horse. I've had her since September.

She responds to standard aids as well as voice.

She has hacked out solo without any problems, from Day One; my understanding was that in the RDA Centre, she was ridden out on her own regularly by one of the staff.

Like any "riding school" horse, you'd need to bear in mind that they'll be used to a certain routine and level of work, if you were to have one on loan.

My mare is a real sweetie!
 
I know one who was displaying awful behaviour when a friend bought her. Bucking, planting... but I think sore in the back from having less than optimal fitting saddle and bigger, unbalanced riders (think she was the biggest one on the yard). She did retrain, was better with a treeless saddle, but even some years later would not be a novice ride. One little uncomfortable pinch and wham! Much loved though, full of character, even if she did once kick the mounting block from under me :p

The other one I had gone to see about buying. It arrived onto the yard with handlers in tow, did a trot up but did not stop and took handler back to the stable. If it could not tow you it would run over the top of you. I did ride, it spun in traffic, got all worked up on his own, I did not buy.

But then, both of these horses were for sale as they had become unsuitable for RDA work. Many of the handlers were well meaning but not horse people, the work was not so easy for those horses, and they rebelled. They had got the upper hand. 2 different yards in different towns too.

If this one is for sale as he/she is sweet but simply looking for a step down in work then there may be no issues at all. I would start by hacking in company as the horse will have done plenty of circles.
 
Red-Nose said:
But then, both of these horses were for sale as they had become unsuitable for RDA work. Many of the handlers were well meaning but not horse people, the work was not so easy for those horses, and they rebelled. They had got the upper hand. 2 different yards in different towns too.
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I can see this happening, similar to a RS horse becoming sour except more so. Such a horse may thrive in a new home with 1:1 handing and riding with a knowledgable person, but it would likely completely take the pee with a less confident/competent person.
 
I bought a former RDA horse, who had been 'retired' to a family home (although kept at livery). She ran away with her novice owner. When I got her, she was fabulously bombproof, passing any traffic you could care to mention, including a wind-turbine on its way to its new home and tractors moving big bales. She was strong and I had to teach her that we don't increase the pace every time our feet touch grass. However, she was brilliant in an enclosed space with a beginner rider and she was very good at lunging with a stirrupless/reinless rider. She was one of the most characterful horses I have ever known, even though she was quite 'shut-down' when she came to me but I don't think that had anything to do with RDA. I miss her.
I have known other RDA horses which have also been hunting, showing and sj in the sme home. Those horses/ponies certainly didn't need re-training.
 
teapot said:
A good RDA horse shouldn't need retraining, especially if it's been schooled in between RDA sessions. If it's a horse that's got bored of RDA work, it'll need hacking out, not being put on endless school figures.
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I used to exercise the horses for my local RDA group. Unfortunately, the RDA rules (as interpreted by the group leaders) prevented us from hacking them out, so we did end up with some very institutionalised types. One boy had been in a riding school since he was two and came to us for a 'easy retirement' at sixteen. Anything other than field, stable, school, and he just couldn't cope. Within those three, he was... Well, he was too shut down to show anything.

I'd be even more wary of taking on an ex-RDA horse than an ex-riding school horse. I stopped helping at my group because I wasn't happy with the weights the horses were expected to carry and the effect it was having on them.
 
A close friend purchased what looked to be a lovely ex RDA horse. I went with her to try it and it was lovely in the school just what she was after to get her confidence back. Then it came home total change when not on a lead, very very nappy very alert. It was great walk and trot but canter was a little wilder as she got fitter with the new routine and increase exercise but pop a novice on the lead rein in the school and foot perfect.
 
It very much depends on which RDA group it has been with as to the type of riders, weights carried and variety of work it will have done. Some groups will give their horses a wide variety of work with both able-bodied and disabled riders others may not. My starting point would be a check over by a good chiro / physio type person as many will have developed inbalances due to the type of riders they will have been carrying. It may be that most work has been done in group sessions so the hacking alone may be something they are not subjected to and so will require work.
 
Further to my comment earlier on this thread - and basically ditto the very good advice given by the poster above: IF you are having an RDA horse for any length of time, then HAVE ITS BACK CHECKED!!

Mine came to me having "passed an Irish vetting" - but I know damn well that she'd never have passed my vet not in a million years!

She wouldn't stand up to the mounting block to let me mount her, moved away persistently and consistently. She also was very awkward about lifting up her hind feet, particularly the left hind, so I knew there was a problem somewhere. Got the physio out, who said she was very sore in her lumber/sacro-iliac area. After treatment she was rested for a few weeks, and then the physio returned to check. She was then hacked out slowly to build her up again. No further problems.
 
Some horses just aren't suited to RDA work. It's repetitive, it can be boring and in many places there is nothing else - no or little hacking, not much by way of able, balanced riders or schooling and having to cope with many different handlers, some of whom know less than others about handling horses.

Mine is an ex-RDA (my avatar) on loan. He was sacked for spooking. While at the RDA, apart from the spooks, he wasn't always the most active, although tbh it's accepted for the horses to plod around rather than having active paces. He was considered a weight carrier ride, but the limits at my branch are fairly low and the chiropractor comes termly. I genuinely think he was bored, didn't see enough that was different and that made him over-reactive.

Now he is still a total sweetheart on the ground but a different horse to ride. He's responsive, he can turn on a sixpence, he's got lovely fluid paces, and I have to think when riding to give him enough challenges. The advice I was given to get him that way was to make sure I give very clear aids (rather than the blurry ones he was used to) to go back to basics and be 100% consistent.

I will hack him out on my own as well as in company. He will still spook and pigeons are our usual downfall. Evil beggars.

As a ps, I would definitely consider it, but get the back checked. I had mine's back and saddle checked when I got him - he was deemed sore from poll to tail (this after 9 months off work) and his saddle was flat as a pancake and needed complete reflocking. All now fine, but it took time to build muscle.
 
Horses and ponies from our RDA group would not need training when they leave...... if found unsuitable for RDA they would be schooled and ridden appropriately for their future life. However, ponies and horses who we take in (either bought, loaned or gifted) often need quite a lot of training. We take a fair few to the Championships at Hartpury each year so they have to be spot on with being out in public, therefore they are taken to shows and dressage and go cross country training. Show Jumping is now an established RDA discipline so they get plenty of practice for that too. Favourite outing for all is the beach! Edited to add, the moor is just up the road so hacking is encouraged at the weekends.
 
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