Schooling advice being sought...would appreciate your thoughts.

[sleepingdragon10]

Hi guys

i'm looking for some advice about my daughters loan pony. Pony in question is 6, and has had very little formal schooling. The problem is his laziness in the school...he is just so backwards thinking it's untrue

Out hacking he is very forward going, so it's really frustrating for my daughter, and knackering too! I need some ideas on motivating him in the school which is where you lovely people come in. He is a little overweight, but i don't believe that this is the crux of the problem as it certainly doesn't stop him when he's out! My daughter is a what i would call a competent novice. All ideas/thoughts etc welcomed. Thanks x

 

[cellie]

What about trying some poles maybe hes bored and it would get him thinking forward.You can arrange them in fan shape or zig zag them down the middle to do lots of turns .I always feel instructors make world of difference with lazy issues as they can see things from ground and they have dealt with so many similiar issues.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Thanks

She has fortnightly lessons, although circumstances have conspired against her of late and she's not had one for 6 wks. We've put jumps out, but unless she really gets after him he just ignores her

Due to his lack of previous schooling, when he does go he leans very heavily on her hands and just ploughs on.

 

[cellie]

Not sure what size pony is but could small adult have go at re schooling to make things little easier for your daughter.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Sorry, should have mentioned it...pony is 14.2 so plenty big enough for me to get on. I'm just running out of ideas That'll help her to get him motivated herself. At the end of the day he's her pony, and she needs to be able to do it herself.

 

[cellie]

I had to take on my daughters horse this year as she had bad back (shes 15) and having different rider has made huge difference to this horse.I had oppposite problem to you as ours is too motivated and fast I now have sane mare lol.I would get on him myself if you are good rider as this will transfer into better schooled pony which will boost her confidence and his skills .Good luck

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Thank you

frustratingly he's lost a shoe so can't do anything til farrier can come...which also means she'll miss out on her lesson

ho hum, that's horses for suppose! X

 

[chestnut cob]

Is she brave enough to take him hunting, even if only for an hour a couple of times? That should really perk him up and get him thinking forwards.

I'd try schooling out on hacks for a while - that's what I do with mine to sneakily school him as he doesn't think he's working! On the road he will do a perfect leg yield on both reins but in the school, when he associates it with hard work, he's a bugger for trying to evade and going like a crab instead. Also try schooling on a field if you can get access to one - again, mine doesn't really associate schooling on a field to actual work, so is more forward.

I think it might be a case of you getting on for a while to teach him about going forwards. When you say backwards thinking, do you mean he's lazy and ignores the aids, or just generally disinterested?

 

[sleepingdragon10]

He's just completely disinterested and she ends up having to do pony club kicks to get him into trot. Keeping him in trot takes a lot of effort, and canter takes an age to get, then keep. He can be very bloody minded...he's tried scraping me off on the arena fence before now which he got told off for( he was trying to avoid canter at the time). My daughter is becoming very disheartened, and we're wondering if he really is the pony for her