NiftDisy
Member
So I’ve recently bought a horse, a 16.2hh 16yo ISH gelding. I bought him on the 1st September after speaking to many of his previous owners who all said he was a fantastic all rounder and that he has done showjumping, XC, endurance and hunted in Ireland as a youngster.
When I went to view him the viewing went pretty badly.. his owner was flapping her legs and arms and thrashing him with a dressage stick in an effort to get him going forwards.. none of which was working. She had very harsh hands and was pulling back hard the whole the time. According to her this is as how she rode him all the time! Tbh he was a bit of a sympathy buy and I got him for pennies as I just couldn’t stand to leave him there in that home.
I gave him the first month off as a rest to settle in before starting him off with mainly hacking and just a little bit of work in the school and then gradually increasing the amount of time we spent schooling. I like to keep sessions short to help keep him interested and thinking postively, so even now I never do more than half an hour.
The problem is that I really cannot get him moving forwards at all, either under saddle or on the ground. He is completely dead and unresponsive to the leg, whip, spur and voice both out on hacks in the school. I have tried having someone follow/chase me with a lunge whip and this hasn’t worked either
He will walk slowly and with enough chasing/growling/booting he will trot on very slowly too but is behind the leg and needs a lot of constant nagging.
I don’t want to have to nag and keep kicking as this will not help him to become responsive to the leg but I feel I am out of ideas on how else to ask him to move, as he will not respond to anything else I have tried
I really struggle to ride him as my position completely goes to pot every time I sit on him as I try so hard to get him to go. My leg comes right back and swings around, I hunch forwards and end up flapping around in the saddle. I try really hard to make sure I’m not pulling on his mouth and restricting him so I just end up riding him with washing like reins every time
I have been told by every previous owner that he absolutely loves to jump and has done alot of it and so I have been considering trying him over a couple of small jumps to see if this will perk him up a bit. Unfortunately I am not a jumper at all and don’t enjoy it at all after several bad falls a couple years ago, but may try give it a go for his sake.
If anyone has any suggestions or has had similar experiences with their horse I’d love to hear any tips or advice please!
When I went to view him the viewing went pretty badly.. his owner was flapping her legs and arms and thrashing him with a dressage stick in an effort to get him going forwards.. none of which was working. She had very harsh hands and was pulling back hard the whole the time. According to her this is as how she rode him all the time! Tbh he was a bit of a sympathy buy and I got him for pennies as I just couldn’t stand to leave him there in that home.
I gave him the first month off as a rest to settle in before starting him off with mainly hacking and just a little bit of work in the school and then gradually increasing the amount of time we spent schooling. I like to keep sessions short to help keep him interested and thinking postively, so even now I never do more than half an hour.
The problem is that I really cannot get him moving forwards at all, either under saddle or on the ground. He is completely dead and unresponsive to the leg, whip, spur and voice both out on hacks in the school. I have tried having someone follow/chase me with a lunge whip and this hasn’t worked either
He will walk slowly and with enough chasing/growling/booting he will trot on very slowly too but is behind the leg and needs a lot of constant nagging.
I don’t want to have to nag and keep kicking as this will not help him to become responsive to the leg but I feel I am out of ideas on how else to ask him to move, as he will not respond to anything else I have tried
I really struggle to ride him as my position completely goes to pot every time I sit on him as I try so hard to get him to go. My leg comes right back and swings around, I hunch forwards and end up flapping around in the saddle. I try really hard to make sure I’m not pulling on his mouth and restricting him so I just end up riding him with washing like reins every time
I have been told by every previous owner that he absolutely loves to jump and has done alot of it and so I have been considering trying him over a couple of small jumps to see if this will perk him up a bit. Unfortunately I am not a jumper at all and don’t enjoy it at all after several bad falls a couple years ago, but may try give it a go for his sake.
If anyone has any suggestions or has had similar experiences with their horse I’d love to hear any tips or advice please!
