Starting a young horse, again....

[runaway]

Hi,

I'm working with a youngster (somewhere between 6-8!) that was broken, ridden out, had a BAD experience and got turned away for 3+yrs. She's come on brilliantly and we have got what I feel is a good relationship.

I'm not a novice rider but have no experience of riding young horses so am looking for help. We have reached the stage where I am able to mount her from the mounting block and sit.

Where do I go from here?

Should I walk her into the field with someone walking by her side or on the lunge? We don't have a school unfortunately. If she walks on nice and quietly how many times would you do this, with basic transitions and turns, before hacking out? Would you hack out accompanied by another horse or alone? She's obviously done all this before but I'm not sure how much of it she will remember or how she will react as it's taken quite some time to get her to accept standing at the mounting block with someone on it!

Sorry for all the questions but this is unknown territory to me, am confident I can continue her "education" but need guidence as to the what and how's.

Look forward to your help and thanks for reading.

 

[kerilli]

i'd make sure you have a neckstrap, they're an absolute godsend!
i'm at this stage with 1 i'm riding at the moment, and am taking it very much step by step, depending on how he feels. as long as you are calm and consistent, and the mare is comfy (saddle etc) there's no reason why it shouldn't all go totally smoothly.
i always lunge first, even if it's only for 3 mins, just to see what kind of mood they're in, see if there's any bucks in there, etc. they get used to the feel of the girth, the stirrups moving, etc etc, all useful before you get on.
i'd have someone walking at her head, ideally with a small bucket or pocketful of pony nuts... this can save you if she gets a bit tense about something, just distract quickly with food! lots of praise, obviously. have the helper stand in the middle so you can circle around them, leave them and come back to them, etc.
if she's quickly bored in the field, i'd hack her out sooner, but if she's naturally nervous then i'd wait until she feels totally relaxed and happy under you. you can make it more interesting by having poles to walk over, for example.
one of mine i hacked out on after about 6 goes in the arena, because she was getting bored and looking for trouble (but she's very confident), the other is still in the arena as she's an utter wuss and it has taken her months to get calm and confident in there.
very best of luck!

 

[tangotime]

Not having a school obviously makes things a bit more difficult, assuming this time of the year fencing of a corner of a field to lunge and school in isn't an option either.

Can you take her (safely) for walk around the roads in hand? If so and you have a second horse I would lead and ride and see if you can establish halt, walk and trott when lead from another horse.

If that's working well, I would find a quiet area to hack (not an big open field that invites sillyness) and try hacking with a chaperone, first just following the other horses and two abreast and if thats working playing "frogleap", meaning having one horse overtaking the one infront and then changing positions again.

The other thing to bear in mind, don't try and rush things. Reschooling takes as long as it takes, especially something that's not just rusty but had bad experience in the past.

 

[breezing]

Treat her as you would an unbroken yougster and take one step at a time,make sure she understands each new thing you do and repeat over and over until she has accepted it completely and is looking bored and then move on to the next ,when you can get on and off with no reaction get someone to lead you in a school and then progress to letting lunge rein out gradually .The youngster I have just broken took 6 weeks to get to this stage ,before you start trotting make sure halts are understood! When you are confident with walking off the lunge in the school I like to finish with a short hack (5 minutes ) always with someone on the ground in case of emergencies ,it gives the horse confidence too .Be very patient and reward lots .Best of luck with your mare

 

[runaway]

Thank you everyone found your ideas a great help. It's good to get advice like this because there are so many angles to come from, one is bound to suit.

Going to definately add a neck strap and other half is cued up for walking with me. Weather permitting we are going to continue tomorrow. It's just a poo that it's winter and the light disappears so quickly.

Thanks again.

 

[Kallibear]

I started a young horse last winter with no facilities at all (not even allowed to ride in the field - we had a private road to work on). He too was a bit older. He hadn't had a bad exeperience but he'd done nothing at all for years.

At home (well, outside the field) we started off wearing tack and walking about.

We then practised getting on and off until he was happy with it.

We also did as much long reining (stop, start and turn) as the space would alllow, intially with a friend walking at his head.

I then walked him out in hand, tacked up, all over the place for weeks to see the world. There's no way I was going to ride a not-yet-broken horse out into the big bad scary world until he's seen it all first!!!!

Once he was happy enough with seeing the world, and he understood the longereining at home, I long reined him out. At this point i roped in friends well behaved horses to go out with. To start with we went behind and just followed but once he was more confident we started to take the lead.

At the same time, before we set out, and once we came back, we did a bit of ridden work at home, learning to go, stop and turn, again intially with someone leading him.

Once he was long reining out well AND he was completely happy with me 'riding' at home, we started to ride out with a friend's horses, again intitially folowing then going in front.

Once he was happy stopping, starting and turning with friends we went out for little walks by ourselves and started some trot work in company.

I took nearly 6months (the whole winter) to get to the stage where we were walk trot and cantering on our own and in company but I now have a horse who is fabulous to hack alone and in company. In the spring I started to get him fitter and in May we went to our first Common Ride

He has bugger all knowledge of schooling or jumping but now we've moved to a new yard with a lovely school that'd being retified. And he has the basics and progressing quickly.

 

[runaway]

Thanks Kallibear. We did a bit more work at the weekend but the weather is against us at the mo. Gales are not conducive (sp?) to a calm and concentrating youngster! However she was good again. I have found that you have to wait for her to accept you're going to get on and then she stands as solid as a rock and isn't phased. Try it before she's happy and you get the typical baby reaction! It's sort of Parelli connected, although I'm not a Parelli follower a friend I know is and I've seen her working her youngster and this was something you have to do with him.

I always make sure we finish on a positive note and praise and I think we're getting there.

Thanks again everyone.