Your horse's work ethic?

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ironhorse

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How keen is your horse to work?
My old hunter would whinny like crazy and pace around his stable if you walked towards him with tack, was very jolly when you got on him whether hacking or schooling and always bounded up the ramp of the lorry.
My mare, however puts her ears back sometimes when you go in the stable with her headcollar (partic if munching hay or snoozing
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) grumbles when being tacked up. But once she's in the school is a darling to work with lots of stamina and happy to try anything.
What sort of attitude does your horse have to work? Just curious
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My mare is like your mare, grumbles as you tack up or look like you are going to tack up.

Once lead towards the mounting block though her ears are pricked and she's raring to go! She wants to do everything at top speed on hack, but in the school she gets bored very easily so we have to do poles or barrels to keep her from falling asleep
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I personally couldn't have a horse that was laid back about work, I'm really laid back myself so we would end up doing nothing!
 
My mare is the same as yours, do we see a pattern here.

My gelding doesn’t like being tacked up but when in the school he is really eager to please, don’t always understand but willing to try anything to get it right and he loves being patted and told he is a good boy when i am schooling. Soft sod!
 
My gelding doesn't usually look very impressed when he sees the tack! Once on board he usually cheers up and pays attention, although if he doesn't understand something he has a habit of throwing a strop rather than trying hard!

If he knows what he's doing he's lovely though
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Genie doesn't really seem to care if she sees the tack coming. As you're tacking up however she goes to sleep.... but once you're on is very forward going and will go for hours!
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Phlegmatic I think is a good word for my horse. He is habitually lazy, and can be hard work in the school, although can be forward on hacks and is 'terrified' of burdock leaves
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In the warm up for Sj he is generally very laid back, but when he goes in the ring he is VERY repsonsive to the leg!! He will also neigh to his friend alot in the warm up, but I don't hear a peep out of him once we're properly jumping, I think he knows when its time to be serious!!
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Ali my 25yr old arab loves work, he is happy to go out to play especially if it involves a run. Paddy my 6yro old ISH likes to go out however will start off at a bit of an amble but soon builds up and gives 100% to whatever we are doing.
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Since everyone seems to have horse with good to great work ethics I feel I tell you above my old horses work ethic.

My Baraian WB would sleep when he seen the saddle coming. Once on board he was the laziest little (17.2hh) git I have ever met. He would do everything and anything to get out of doing work. He dragged his feet on hacks and would avoid trotting or cantering by spooking. I tried in up front, in the middle and at the back he just wouldn't go.

In the school he actually lay down with me once, warming up on a long rein and she lay down. Safe to say he was back on his feet and worked for an extra 15 minutes for his cheek!
 
My old SJ loved work. In the summer if he was turned out all day he would loose weight as he spent the whole day running round the field herding the others. If you walked roughly in his direction with tack he would get so excited he would start to jump up and down. If we were taking the lorry out without him we had to turn him out first or he would do mini rears in his stable as he was so excited at the thought of going somewhere. He got very upset if left behind.
To be honest it was nice to ride a sane horse that was happy to go for a quiet ride, rather than super keen to see the world!

My old mare however would sigh when tacked up, but soon perked up once you were on.
 
My gelding is a donkey when being tacked up and led to the mounting block but he soon gets into it. When we ride on the downs it goes something like...

oh no i can't be bothered...oh alright lets trot then but just a little one....ohh i'm so tired OH LOOK THIS IS A NICE PLACE FOR A GALLOP

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My old retired mare always made me laugh. If I schooled her in the menage and let her walk on a loose rein, she would always march us straight over to the gate. If I picked up the reins and steered her away, she would do a huge theatrical sigh. Once she'd had a trot she wouldn't walk properly any more, and if you cantered on, you could forget about getting a nice steady trot afterwards. On hacks she was "lively", lots of jogging and bouncing, but once she'd had a really good gallop and got it out of her system you could come home on the buckle. She never forgot exactly where she could have a canter and would go for it regardless, but luckily always knew where she had to pull up again. Since I have retired her, even letting her see a headcollar means she finds an excuse to make herself scarce. I think if I produced a saddle now she'd leave home!
 
Mine doesn't really react at all when I'm tacking him up, but when he coems out of his stable, if he sees another horse tacked up he gets a spring in his step and really perks up. If there's no other horse he just stays non-commital until I either go to the mountain block (stays the same) or walk him past the mounting block and he knows he's heading for the school and not for a hack. You can see any excitement that is there just drain out of him. He always does what's asked of him though and has never done anything to try to not work like buck or nap.

ETA: He did however bit me on the boob one day when I woke him up in the field to get him in for a lesson, he was flat out and as he stood up just took a huge chunk. There's still a mark now, 4 months on. Normally I would have left him there unit lhe woke up by himself (I'm a big softie and hate waking them up) but as my lessson was starting in 20 mins I had no option. I don't think I'll do that again in a hurry!
 
My boy's general reaction can be summed up like this :

Approach stable with tack - feign sleep.
Enter stable with headcollar - turn away and stand in furthest corner with a big sigh.
Once out of stable - roll eyes and look around for nearest haynet/scrap of hay on yard floor.
Tack up - sigh again
If fluorescent bib taken out of tack box - look marginally more interested.
If lead into school - stand half way into gate and refuse to move. Then really big sigh and walk into school dragging feet like toddler. Put in 10 mins of good work, then get moody, look round at me and roll eyes again. Big sigh.
If out on hack - get really excited and buck like a loon in canter. If made to wait at gates for others, deepest sigh he can muster. Mutters under breath.

Hates schooling, loves hacking. But I still love him.
 
[ QUOTE ]
. When we ride it goes something like...

oh no i can't be bothered...oh alright lets trot then but just a little one....ohh i'm so tired OH LOOK THIS IS A NICE PLACE FOR A GALLOP

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[/ QUOTE ]

Now you have just summed Ellie's attitude to work
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And she is 29
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My horse regularly informs me his mother told him as a foal he was to handsome to have to work!! well he is Irish.
Not keen on schooling, better when hacked out, can do a very good impresion of a seaside Donkey when tied up on the yard, head low resting a back leg.
 
When she sees the saddle, it's all 'hello, mum!' & she's generally really so willing to work.

Gelding, on the other hand, only wants to do what HE wants to do so varies from lazy to strong to downright stubborn and i'm afraid it's too much for me to ride.
 
My horse stands at door quite enthusiastic as I got to my tack room, when he sees I bring out tack and not feed you can see the disapointment on his face lol.
Still stands at door though, I go in and tack him up he just stands like a donkey and walks out all lazy and like I cannot be bothered.

Get on at mounting block and walk away still all lazy, go down the hill of the yard and he turns into a big spooky giddy monster, Honestly the first 5 minutes of our rides are quite amusing when hacking, you really have to keep him forward or he will spook at nothing and spin. Hes really good after that though, he loves being out I think he just wants an excuse to gallop.

I do get to this big hill that he loves to gallop up and we walk across the road and going through the stumps he starts getting all giddy and bouncing.

Generally he loves to work, can be bit lazy but you tell him and he does it.
 
Charisma is a donkey to tack up - so easy, show no interest (unless there is something in the bushes!!) literally just stands there looking bored. This is when we have most of our cuddles lol
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Once out of the yard though she is forward going, spooky but tries her little heart out for me!! She is so genuine and a real trier
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Mine doesn't really mind - he's happy to do anything I ask of him TBH! He gets bored ambling around the field so is very willing to do some flatwork etc. Never lazy and never too fast. He's the same every single day, even if I havent ridden him in a week. i can drag him out to an event having not touched him for days no problem at all. He's a very special horse though
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Taz would happily stand doing nothing all day but enjoys being ridden once he's had his first canter he's dying to keep on going and even when he starts jumping he's hard to stop from cantering lol but being an irish draught its not very common for them to want to do an awful lot
 
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