Young Horse - Distractability

starbucker

starbucker

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Thought on young horse getting distracted by other horses in the arena? On our own horse is happy and forward and responsive. We keep sessions short and to the point. As soon as another horse is in the arena said horse turns into a donkey, unresponsive to leg, planting, dropping the shoulder and running in the direction of another horse ( not maliciously but noticable to rider). Doesnt matter if other horse is known or not. Any suggestions of exercises or other advice welcome. Gets distracted on people walking past the arena too. Will she just get better with time and patience? Horse is 4
 
You need to get him listening to you, his focus on you. I would deliberately take him into places where there is going to be a distraction, horse working, kids playing, loose horses running around and work in hand there.
He is only young and will grow out of it once you get him to listen to you. Do some simple in hand exercises, walk a few steps, back, turns etc. Take him into the arena and put some poles on the ground and get him walking over and round them. Deliberately put them next to the person riding t he other horse (asking first of course) and each time he looks away bring his head back to you and tell him concentrate, do what I want. Keep repeating, short sharp exercises and head back to you each time he loses his concentration.. Once that part works, do it in hand but with a rider on and then gradually remove t he ground person.
Like any young creature he has to learn.
 
paddy555 said:
You need to get him listening to you, his focus on you. I would deliberately take him into places where there is going to be a distraction, horse working, kids playing, loose horses running around and work in hand there.
He is only young and will grow out of it once you get him to listen to you. Do some simple in hand exercises, walk a few steps, back, turns etc. Take him into the arena and put some poles on the ground and get him walking over and round them. Deliberately put them next to the person riding t he other horse (asking first of course) and each time he looks away bring his head back to you and tell him concentrate, do what I want. Keep repeating, short sharp exercises and head back to you each time he loses his concentration.. Once that part works, do it in hand but with a rider on and then gradually remove t he ground person.
Like any young creature he has to learn.
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Thats a good idea about working from the ground my intincts are telling me this too! But weve been riding solo alot by coincidence, only with the arena getting busier do we have alot more people riding around us and noticed the issue!
Midlifecrisis said:
Totally normal for a young horse and we have a technique to bring ours “back into room” which is being busy on her back ..wiggling in saddle and gentle rein jiggling until she remembers there is someone there and keep going with trot or whatever it was. We don’t avoid distractions because they do need to learn.
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Thats exactly it! She mentally leaves the room like a teenager scrolling on their phone,, can't hear you ! haha. this is what I have been doing but worry about having to pony club kick for attention when shes normally going off a gentle squeeze

It doesn't help that the arena is small and there's some novices who don't have a concept of personal space so wonder if shes getting a little worried when the go right up her bum!
 
I would get someone to just walk another sensible horse around the arena in a very boring and predictable way… and then you can concentrate on what you need to get from your horse and literally ride around the other horse lots before getting them to step up a gear
 
Have you gotten to the stage where you can ride with flexion, or smaller circles? When Dex gets a bit like this I put a strong inside leg on and ride a 10m circle, he then has to focus quickly on where the hell his feet are and it usually draws him back in the room. If it's just something outside the area, inside flexion usually gets him to toe the line between looking at it but remaining listening. I don't mind him looking with his outside eye, but he can't put his ears up my nose and go stiff as a board and stop responding completely which is what I used to get
 
Interestingly we happened to be in the arena on our own last night and she was doing the same thing- I ask for trot and she puts hand brake on! Im not sure if tension in my butt when asking for trot has her confused as we've only been hacking / plodding about for months with the odd lesson here or there. spend a good 20 minutes working on halt walk trot transitions last night, when she realised I was asking for trot she shoots straight forward into a lovely trot. another rider rode her not this weekend but last schooling - so that could have contributed to her confusion? (though she's definitely a better rider than me!)
 
starbucker said:
Interestingly we happened to be in the arena on our own last night and she was doing the same thing- I ask for trot and she puts hand brake on! Im not sure if tension in my butt when asking for trot has her confused as we've only been hacking / plodding about for months with the odd lesson here or there. spend a good 20 minutes working on halt walk trot transitions last night, when she realised I was asking for trot she shoots straight forward into a lovely trot. another rider rode her not this weekend but last schooling - so that could have contributed to her confusion? (though she's definitely a better rider than me!)
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When Dex did that it was him telling me the saddle was hurting, if it's new/out of character behaviour that would be my immediate thought - don't underestimate a good riders ability to be able to ride them through it. It's even more likely if she's schooling more and probably changing shape.
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
When Dex did that it was him telling me the saddle was hurting, if it's new/out of character behaviour that would be my immediate thought - don't underestimate a good riders ability to be able to ride them through it. It's even more likely if she's schooling more and probably changing shape.
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We did have the saddle fitted a few weeks ago.. so perhaps the fitter didnt get it quite right? She was initially happy and saddle was reflocked though did not change current bar though mentioned it was a bit wide and needs dropping down but still too wide for one down (which left me a bit confused)
 
starbucker said:
We did have the saddle fitted a few weeks ago.. so perhaps the fitter didnt get it quite right? She was initially happy and saddle was reflocked though did not change current bar though mentioned it was a bit wide and needs dropping down but still too wide for one down (which left me a bit confused)
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I had this with my mare, I ended up buying a completely new (non adjustable, ironically) saddle as none of the gullet options worked for her. She's now much happier!
 
Sprogladite01 said:
I had this with my mare, I ended up buying a completely new (non adjustable, ironically) saddle as none of the gullet options worked for her. She's now much happier!
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Im not a fan of her current saddle (thorogood) but was advised to get an adjustable one as she changes shape as she grows being young, if i call the saddle fitter back will that be a second fitter cost? I suppose its not their fault if she keeps changing shape? She reacted this same way when she wasn't happy with a bit change thinking back
 
starbucker said:
Im not a fan of her current saddle (thorogood) but was advised to get an adjustable one as she changes shape as she grows being young, if i call the saddle fitter back will that be a second fitter cost? I suppose its not their fault if she keeps changing shape? She reacted this same way when she wasn't happy with a bit change thinking back
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I had the same thought process re the adjustable saddle as my mare is young; but it just didn't work for her. Yes I had my saddler out every 3 months at one point because she just kept changing shape!! Now I'm operating on the theory that if the saddle needs changing again I'll part ex my current saddle for a new one (my saddler has several second hand saddles so I'm lucky there!). But I'm hoping she's slowing down now with the drastic changes - we're up to 6 monthly checks now so fingers crossed lol 😅 hope you find a solution for your girl!
 
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