'That' side of the arena

[somethingorother]

Every horse i have known, has had a 'bad' side of the arena. Granted, some have just been more lazy on that side, or just had a look. One wouldn't even go near it, i used to spend the first 20 min of every session trying to convince him to go down the side with the hedge.

Oscar's 'side' is more sensible, as it is the one with the lane which CARS and sometimes PEOPLE and even DOGS! go along

It doesn't help that the lane is about 6ft lower than the arena. So i can sort of understand him. But more often than not there is really no good reason for them to avoid 'that' particular side.

Is this usual? Or do i just seem to have nut job horses? What do yours do at 'that' side, and what's there which must be avoided at all costs, even though they've seen it a million times before and nothing bad has ever happened??

 

[hadfos]

My TB is absolutely fine down any side

,he has his stiff side as they all go better one rein than the other!He may see something that wasnt there the day before and go "WTF is that"lol,but 2nd time round it like "OH YOU still there then?"lmao

However,my friend has a warmblood that seems to have an issue with A Side of the school,this changes on a daily basis,lol,but if there is something on that side that he didnt like 1st time he wont forget about it and he can be a pig

Not tarring them all with the same brush but have known a few warmbloods like this,lol!

 

[somethingorother]

The one who wouldn't go near the hedge side was a Belgian WB, so he adds to that conclusion! We had major major fights about it. I had muscles like Arnie and a seat like superglue

Osc is an Arab though, and can be pretty stupid about it too.

 

[hadfos]

[ QUOTE ]
The one who wouldn't go near the hedge side was a Belgian WB, so he adds to that conclusion! We had major major fights about it. I had muscles like Arnie and a seat like superglue

Osc is an Arab though, and can be pretty stupid about it too.

[/ QUOTE ]
He he he,arabs can be as bad

They are sooo opinionated and over sensitive it is scary,would hate to meet a person with warmblood/arab qualities,lmao

Arabs are like marmite

lol,i love marmite but cannot stand arabs,no offence intended to anyone that owns an arab,just not my cuppa,as TB's probably are not others cuppa

Sadly you will probably have to sit and have a cuppa with him

 

[spookypony]

I think it's pretty common...and apparently happens to Olympic riders too: Klimke describes a longish period when Ahlerich wouldn't go anywhere near the side of the arena with scary doors...

 

[hadfos]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it's pretty common...and apparently happens to Olympic riders too: Klimke describes a longish period when Ahlerich wouldn't go anywhere near the side of the arena with scary doors...

[/ QUOTE ]
Warmblood??

 

[Kallibear]

Drama Queen Toby had two sides he hated - it was walled on two sides and just slightly too high for him to see over properly- when he was bored/anxious/feeling naughty he'd crab sideways at it, or go along with his head as high as he could possibly manage, trying to see over.

And annoyingly the other sides were unfenced and he loved them a bit TOO much and would shot out those sides as much as he could get away with.

He's half arab, half welsh cob, and LOOKS like a mini warmblood so hasn't got a chance

 

[quirky]

I think many people sub conciously or otherwise think that their horse isn't going to like something and transmit that 'worry' to the horse

.

 

[Alimac19]

Mine is a WB also and hates the gate. Thats where the walkers, dogs and offroaders appear. But even if there arn't any there he still hates it. He has thrown me off before now because a dog has appeared!!! They seem to do it more at home though than at shows.

 

[Blackwijet]

He he, we have a scary corner where the boogeyman resides on cold windy nights. guaranteed if one horse decides during a schooling session that the boogeyman is out and about he/she will whisper it to the next one in the arena. Cue lots of snorting, half passing eyes out on stalks and poit blank refusing to go anywhere near that corner.

Other days/nights none of 'em give a dam and stand in the very same corner looking out across the fields

variety of breeds from Conemara cross, a couple of extremely tall heinz 57's, Belgian Warmblood, etc etc

 

[Kenzo]

Well 3 sides of our arena if the fence between the arena and the another grass field which in summer time if full of brood mares which come up from a local stud, all of which either race round or come up peering over the school fence squeeling and creating.....now imagine how much fun it is riding my lad around that school when he's a rig!

oh its great fun

 

[scrumpygus]

Im glad im not alone! My Irish x has decided over the last few months that one end of the arena is far too scary to go down and if i take him down there on the lunge he will gallop around like something is trying to get him. He is not a spooky horse at all and he is so brave xc, will hack down main roads, go and jump in any showground arena - literally any situation i trust him but i cannot get him to calmly go down the end of the menage - it is bizarre.

 

[BFG]

My ISH wouldn’t go to one corner in the arena i thought it was the Blue horsebox parked there that he didn’t like and it got so bad he wouldn’t come up the arena on that side. I moved yards and low and behold he wouldn’t go up the same side of the arena proving he was taking the p**s and not scared at all.

Once i had stopped making excuses for him he stopped messing about, funny that!!!!!

 

[perryhillbay]

Fizz has two diagonally opposite corners of the school that she absolutely hates on the left rein, doesn't bother her on the right though, and strangely enough, she is usually better on the left rein - curious!

 

[JVB]

Mine tends to vary it to keep life interesting, it can be whole side or sometimes just a corner, or a particular object, anything really!

 

[HollyP]

there is a monster at the top of ours....it will get my mare....

 

[catdragon]

OMG... so its not just MY mare... Most days we have a THAT side of the arena moment, usually 10 mins in she's accepting THAT side without too much trouble... We then have the OMG, the BOTTOM of the arena....same again... In truth she's generally worse at night if I haven't ridden in a while.

Still, shes much improved, when I 1st got her had to work in an oval in the top corner of the school, away from all the monsters !!

 

[Alibear]

We have a whole side of hedge mosnters, best part of 3 years on and there still be monsters over there.

 

[Hullabaloo]

We have goblins that hide behind the trailer parked at the top end of the arena and now and again we have issues with the woods even though there is a field between them and the arena. We recently did dressage in a very small, enclosed indoor school and my horse took a violent dislike to every side! And no he's not a warmblood

 

[Seahorse]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The one who wouldn't go near the hedge side was a Belgian WB, so he adds to that conclusion! We had major major fights about it. I had muscles like Arnie and a seat like superglue

Osc is an Arab though, and can be pretty stupid about it too.

[/ QUOTE ]
He he he,arabs can be as bad

They are sooo opinionated and over sensitive it is scary,would hate to meet a person with warmblood/arab qualities,lmao

Arabs are like marmite

lol,i love marmite but cannot stand arabs,no offence intended to anyone that owns an arab,just not my cuppa,as TB's probably are not others cuppa

Sadly you will probably have to sit and have a cuppa with him

[/ QUOTE ]

You probably wouldn't like my horse then, he's an Arab x Warmblood lol!!

 

[Seahorse]

There's a monster that hides in the jumps that are stacked up in the top left corner of our arena!
I've tried not to make a big deal of it and now he's fine as long as when I first go in there I let him have a good look to check the monster has gone out!!

 

[puddleshark]

For many years I schooled my mare in a rather dodgy sand school where we had to do a shallow loop down one side to avoid the lining that was coming through. We have found a better maintained school now, but we still have problems with involuntary shallow loops!