Lorrie66
Well-Known Member
Schooling in arena help please - Hello all you great horse experts, Ive an idea & wondered if this a good one & what else I could do...
I have written on another post about my horses naughty behaviour in more detail, but basically I have a 9 yr old Andy who is so sweet natured he is adorable Ive had him only 5 months. I have recently moved yards as our previous yard had virtually no hacking & we could only school.
BUT his behaviour in the school ranges from very occasionally perfect , mostly annoying/frustrating & sometimes downright really BAD ( lots of pretend spooking & sometimes napping & very rarely a tank across the school). He has had teeth done, back checked ( no problems but slightly stiff left hind hamstring), eyes checked etc & a new custom fit saddle is on order.
He lives on Fast Fibre only and has recently gone onto haylage with no change so far ( only a week though) & besides the bad behaviour happened on hay anyway.
Now after having the physio out she suggested more work in straight lines due to hamstring. Now that Ive moved yards I can hack out & school that way for a bit. Ive been in the school once where we are now (lovely big 30x 60) and he did his usual pretend spooking but then settled a bit.
I am rambling a bit but my question/idea is ..........if we hack only for a while & give the school a bit of a rest , how long shall I leave it before re-introducing working in the school? AND when I do re-introduce, is it feasible to do say 5 mins & then hack out & slowly over a few weeks increase the time in the school always ending in a hack? Then hopefully eventually we could do a session of say half an hour in the school and be happy without a hack if need be???! He tends to start of worse & then settles when he realises he has to work.
My worry is that he has perhaps had bad or boring experiences in the past & I have unwittingly exacerbated this initially by not being able to hack out very far or very often. He is a different horse out hacking. We only moved last week & weve been out nearly every day & he seems so happy . he does still spook very slightly but at acceptable things , like a bird flying out etc etc. But then happily goes on his way.
I now intend to hack out more often than be in the school, but I am still a dressage wannabe ! So would like him to be happy , content , listening & concentrate without a battle. If it ends up that he is never happy in the school then so be it ¬ hes stuck with me Im afraid so I wont be selling him on  He does appear to have been passed from pillar to post & I am his 3rd owner since he came here in 2008 from Spain. I now think that his bad attitude to the school is why. Do you think he hates it or is uncomfy or both? His new saddle I am hoping will help but not sure it will solve things overnight however is current saddle is badly fitting & I have had it adjusted twice but it still sits badly on him, hence why I have now forgone a holiday this year & had him measured for a lovely new saddle ......... but I think he may have got into a habit of bad behaviour now which I need to break. Shall I leave any work in the school until we have the new saddle ? It will take about 4 weeks. How do I build his happiness & confidence ?
Many thanks for reading !!!!
I have written on another post about my horses naughty behaviour in more detail, but basically I have a 9 yr old Andy who is so sweet natured he is adorable Ive had him only 5 months. I have recently moved yards as our previous yard had virtually no hacking & we could only school.
BUT his behaviour in the school ranges from very occasionally perfect , mostly annoying/frustrating & sometimes downright really BAD ( lots of pretend spooking & sometimes napping & very rarely a tank across the school). He has had teeth done, back checked ( no problems but slightly stiff left hind hamstring), eyes checked etc & a new custom fit saddle is on order.
He lives on Fast Fibre only and has recently gone onto haylage with no change so far ( only a week though) & besides the bad behaviour happened on hay anyway.
Now after having the physio out she suggested more work in straight lines due to hamstring. Now that Ive moved yards I can hack out & school that way for a bit. Ive been in the school once where we are now (lovely big 30x 60) and he did his usual pretend spooking but then settled a bit.
I am rambling a bit but my question/idea is ..........if we hack only for a while & give the school a bit of a rest , how long shall I leave it before re-introducing working in the school? AND when I do re-introduce, is it feasible to do say 5 mins & then hack out & slowly over a few weeks increase the time in the school always ending in a hack? Then hopefully eventually we could do a session of say half an hour in the school and be happy without a hack if need be???! He tends to start of worse & then settles when he realises he has to work.
My worry is that he has perhaps had bad or boring experiences in the past & I have unwittingly exacerbated this initially by not being able to hack out very far or very often. He is a different horse out hacking. We only moved last week & weve been out nearly every day & he seems so happy . he does still spook very slightly but at acceptable things , like a bird flying out etc etc. But then happily goes on his way.
I now intend to hack out more often than be in the school, but I am still a dressage wannabe ! So would like him to be happy , content , listening & concentrate without a battle. If it ends up that he is never happy in the school then so be it ¬ hes stuck with me Im afraid so I wont be selling him on  He does appear to have been passed from pillar to post & I am his 3rd owner since he came here in 2008 from Spain. I now think that his bad attitude to the school is why. Do you think he hates it or is uncomfy or both? His new saddle I am hoping will help but not sure it will solve things overnight however is current saddle is badly fitting & I have had it adjusted twice but it still sits badly on him, hence why I have now forgone a holiday this year & had him measured for a lovely new saddle ......... but I think he may have got into a habit of bad behaviour now which I need to break. Shall I leave any work in the school until we have the new saddle ? It will take about 4 weeks. How do I build his happiness & confidence ?
Many thanks for reading !!!!
