What can I do with my horse other than ride?

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Peterboy1

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I bought a horse to bring my confidence up in the summer and it was going great but I dont know what happened and my confidence is just gone. I am fine on the ground and spending tome with her is the best part of owning a horse but I think she is a bit bored so just looking for things I can do intill I feel like I can enjoy riding again. Any suggestions welcome :)
 
You could do in-hand showing, lungeing over poles, long-reining basic movements in the arena and taking her for a walk in-hand. This is what I like to do with mine if I want a break from riding.
 
Look up horse agility, straightness straining, philllipe karl, sylvia loch, ingrid klimke... lots to keep you occupied....
 
'Trick' (unfashionable word) or 'clicker' (more fashionable!) training.

Oh, or teach it to pull a skateboard whilst someone else rides and have a go at horse-boarding!
 
take it for a walk, the best work my horses do is when they are walked out by my friend, he goes about 3 miles with them in attempt to get fit, then comes back and eats a pile of bicis,, i love to walk them but i don`t like walking a long way, but some of the best moments have been just being with horses, walking, playing, loose jumping, hanging out, watching them, pure therapy
 
Agree that walkies is great, but how about long-reining. That way you're training him to hack out confidently without a leader, and improving his manners and voice-commands too.
If you're fit, I find that jogging is much more run if you're trotting a pony in front, and have to match pace to keep the steady feel on his mouth. Trot to walk transitions are also very important - which gives you an excuse to get your breath back :)
 
Thanks for all your great ideas :)I think I will try long reining and some in hand walks, im not fit really but thinking on it, this could be a great start :) The only problem now is the very little light we get in the day but im sure a lot of hi viz and some lights and we will be fine. Does anyone have any experience with teaching a horse your self? It seems like something that is can be quite fun but not sure if there is actually people who you can pay to do it for you like you can with breaking to ride
 
Long reining isn't hard to teach yourself. There's a knack to keeping the horse in front of you if he tries to turn around, and to guiding the horse with the reins on the flanks to support the action on his mouth if he's a bit slow on the uptake, but really, it's not rocket science, and you should get on fine, especially if you can enlist a friend to lead at first.

No reason why you can't teach the verbal commands whilst leading him normally before you move on to long reins.
 
ThursdayNext said:
'Trick' (unfashionable word) or 'clicker' (more fashionable!) training.

Oh, or teach it to pull a skateboard whilst someone else rides and have a go at horse-boarding!
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Teach your horse some fun tricks to impress your non horsey friends. It also gives you lots of happy fun times and really helps with the bonding. Suggestings, laughing, kissing or catching (yes, all quite easy to teach, you just have to break it down into the smallest degrees). The fact it can be done in a stable is also a plus in the winter!
 
In hand walking!! Mine was diagnosed with navicular in June - decided not to go down the whole bar shoe and frog support route as recommended by vets, so pulled his shoes. So, we have done LOTS of walking out with hoof boots and pads, and just the last couple of times managed to do 7.6km with no boots on at all.

Personally, I feel we are an awful lot closer than we were when we just hacked out - we were forced into it, but a good thing to do nevertheless!
 
canteron said:
Teach your horse some fun tricks to impress your non horsey friends. It also gives you lots of happy fun times and really helps with the bonding. Suggestings, laughing, kissing or catching (yes, all quite easy to teach, you just have to break it down into the smallest degrees). The fact it can be done in a stable is also a plus in the winter!
Click to expand...

Such a good idea! :) I taught my pony years ago to spin when I said "twirleeyyy" and my mates loved it :D:D All it was, was teach to turn with a tap to flank, and associate with "twirl". Then treat every effort. Dead easy. Brilliant for gates as well :) I don't use twirl nowadays, just "turning" for gates and they do gates brilliantly.

I used to do others like "back" "up" for walk back and then lift up fore (rear)... easy with ponies but never done it with my horses. I worked at a "circus" yard in Lincs as a work experience for two weeks and saw a girl nearly lose an eye with a pony striking out. Not on purpose. It put me off.
 
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