riders of fizzy ponies

Firehorse

Firehorse

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my boy is generally quite fizzy once we hit the countryside. he's an angel on the road, before hand, but as soon as we hit grass thats it. now i do love a good blast and 95% of the time i know i can stop when i want to. but its just the getting going bit that annoys me. as soon as he thinks its time to go, he will start to lift his head, fight the bit and then prance, try to wriggle his bum sideways and then he puts in little rears which develop into leaps (because i'm holding him back) and basically once we hit that stage there is nothing more i can do, other than let him go.

what do other riders do in this situation? i was thinking perhaps catch him before he starts messing about and ask for canter, so its me in control of the decision, not him.

i dont mind blasting about, he's a pony who was born to run and i love the thrill. but when riding with friends, whose horses are slower, its a pain when Ben starts to mess about and then we leave them for dust. And what's more annoying is that for the first 4 months i had him, i could calmly walk him anywhere. but then i spose he didnt know the routes like he does now.

he doesnt scare me when he starts, it just darned annoys me coz i'd much prefer to be on control 100% of the time!
 
Zoomy is fizzy. She does exactly what you describe!!!! She looks like a sweaty gurning mess and, although I can always stop her, it is very irritating.

She has got much better just by doing lots of transitions on hacks and varying the route a bit. Don't always canter in the same spot etc. I NEVER let her go when she behaves like that and usually ask for a short trot then walk again.

She has improved lots but still does it randomly.....i think some horses are just fizzy!!! However, I can now get her to walk which was impossible before (jiggy-jog-jog-jog ARGH!)
 
Ahh yep my pony does this... you literally can't stop her from taking off.... I try and vary where we canter now so she doesn't learn to bomb off in set places... hasn't worked that well though
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QR, it's simple - you do walk and trot hacks for a few weeks! IF you bomb around on a pony (or cob) they seem to be the worse for deciding that's what they'll always do, thank you very much!
 
My boy was the same because prior before I bought him a lass would canter / gallop as soon as she hit grass.

Like you at first it didn't bother me but eventually it did. So what did I do?

I would ask my boy to walk, nothing more not even trot when his feet hit grass, with this Igot tantrums, spinning, trotting siodeways and even backwards.

If he went sideways or backwards I asked for more than he was willing to give until he asked to stop. When he stopped I waited a few mintes for his adrenaline to calm down and then turn him to walk on, if he went to spin and take off I immediately asked for sideways or backup again.

Eventually he would realise that sideways and backup was too mich like hard work and spinning adn trying to run off didn't get him anywhere, he'd then settle into a steady walk on a loose rein.

I had to continue this every day until he got to where he choose to stay in walk whenever we went onto grass.

It was a lot of work and patience from me but the results speak for themsleves and now I have great rides whether on grass or not.

Don't do any trotting on grass until you have a loose rein walk, I say this as even trotting can get a horses adrenaline up and this will mean that the process will take very much longer or you will remain with the battle of control.
 
Mine's the same, probably my fault, as I bombed him about a lot when I was younger. He'll walk through most fields without TOO much bother, but he will not canter, anything faster than trot has to be a gallop.

Like the OP, it doesn't scare me, it's just bl**dy annoying.
 
[ QUOTE ]
He'll walk through most fields without TOO much bother, but he will not canter, anything faster than trot has to be a gallop.

Like the OP, it doesn't scare me, it's just bl**dy annoying.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had a few just the same, but in their case, it was anything faster than a jog!
 
Lol, by "trot" I meant a two-time pace that vaguely resembled a trot, but is accompanied by giraffe-like head position, much bouncing up and down, headshaking and snorting
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dibbin - love it! thats what i get all the way home if he's in one of his moods. which the last 2 rides, he has been. one soaking wet horse and rider!! cant wait for our school paddock to dry out, so i can start to do some more work with him.
 
My horse was like that when i first got her because she had just galloped every time she hit a field.
For nearly 2months we only walked on hacks (yes boring i know) it was a struggle to make her but now i can ride on the buckle end through fields and she doesn't bat an eyelid.
I then introduced trot slowly then canter.
Now i hack about 3/4 times a week and school the rest but 1 or 2 of those hacks will be walk only.
 
I admit I caused this problem myself in a pony I had on loan - she was such a great ride and safe we used to canter everywhere and I didnt realise we had a problem until one day I didnt want to canter!! it took a lot longer to unlearn the damage. Basically I changed my routes or direction of the rides, trotted her through the strops, schooled her in circles if the fields were suitable, cantered her in other areas i.e. really steep hills so that she got rid of some energy and once she was settled never made the same mistakes again - always varied how often and how far I cantered.
 
my firend rode a fizzy horse who would muck about at a canter spot....

if she was really taking the "p" then she would n't let he canter....made her walk, only when she settled would she be allowed to canter.
 
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