school-sour ex-ridingschool ponies

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pixie

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Found a lovely little welshie for sale. Ex riding school and absolutely unflappable. Downside is that he is a bit school-sour. Not dead-to-the-leg, but certainly not as forward as I'm used to. Not too much of a problem as I'm mainly looking for something to hack and his unflappable nature will be perfect for when the pheasants suddenly pop up from nowhere (nearly giving me a heart attack!). However it would be good to do some schooling!

Anyhoo... I was just wondering if anyone has had much experience with school-sour ponies, and whether or not they tend to get better after a bit of time off and fun hacks?
 
Yep, I've had one of those.

My best advice to you is keep out of the school and do your schooling elsewhere. It's what worked for us.

After about 6 months I started to re-introduce the school - but for literally 5-10 mins only, then we'd go out for a hack. I'd pop jumps up for when we came back from a hack, to have some fun over (again 5 mins).

I also did as much fast work as I could, once the horse was fit enough - all to get the horse thinking forward. So fun rides, hunting, hacking out fast and furious with friends.
 
my first 2 ponies were from a riding school and both were completely different outside of the school environment, became much more active rides though also less bombproof...
 
Echo everyone else's advice.

However bear in mind that if he has hacked as an RS pony it may have been in company. Check with the sellers if he has hacked alone or be prepared to build his confidence up pretty much like you would with a young horse.
 
You could PM Redmone, she bought an ex riding school pony about a year ago for her daughter.

I'd suggest that you back right off the schooling and get out and about lots as Amymay says. A good break, a change of environment and some fast/exciting work should encourage a bit of a change of attitude.

Also consider changing the aids that he has become dead to. Consider using a whipwhop or if you have a stable lower leg a pair of spurs. I used to ride a fairly switched off riding school cob and she changed into a different animal with a pair of spurs (not used to lay into her, it was just the different feel, so instead of requiring pony club kicks to elicit any forward movement you could give nice subtle aids). I'd also think about a change of tack, depending upon what is used at the moment, again it can signal a change to the horse. Another riding school horse I know would miraculously become forward going when put in a double bridle.......
 
I rode one for a while belonging to someone else, & did it pretty much as amymay did. Also once they are doing less work their energy naturally increases.
 
Yeah, I would just start with gentle hacks round the farm and add in a bit of "schooling exercises" as we went along. He is just in a snaffle at the moment, which I would keep and see how it goes.
Thanks
xx
 
My lad was schooled to hating it (ears flat back, refusing to go forward) when I got him we avoided the school completely to start with, then I started playing with him in there, loose schooling, poles, long lining etc and then started having the odd ten minute session in there usually followed by his hack or just his tea :) - his attitude has altered now, but I always keep sessions short and sweet :):D
 
Definitely check the riding alone thing, I fell into this trap, my first horse was bombproof in company but took and experienced rider to get him out alone whihc wasn't a massive problem for me as the experienced rider taught em how to ride him etc but could cause issues. (A motorbike wheelied past us when I was trying him in company and he didn't bat an eyelid)
 
My YO'S Horse was like this. She gave her a break from schooling and concentrated on jumping and hacking instead. 6 years later she is much better and will happily go in the school. Still safe enough for a beginner to get on, but happy to go forward with the more expeirenced rider. She is however very hard to hack alone and also a handful when seperated from the others.

Not the same as Ruby wasn't a RS Horse. But she was very dead to the leg when I got her. I gave her a break from schooling and went for hacks instead. Got an RI and things really improved. She is much more off the leg now, I school once a week and keep it interesting. Lots of transitions etc to keep her mind switched on. Even a pole to step over gives her a boost!
 
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