Young Rider.com / Young Rider Forum / Horse Problems/Training Questions

What training/horse problems would you like to learn about in YR?

yrboss — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:10:32 GMT

Got any problems/training issues you want covered?

Trotting help

horsegirl193 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:42:01 GMT

I can trot Shadow halfway around the ring, then he wants to walk. WHen I squeeze him to get him trotting again he always pins is ears. His saddle fits, and he is NOT in pain. Help!!

girafffe horse!

xxilovebentleyxx — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:56:31 GMT

hey okay let me explain...

I'm riding a young horse. He likes to put his head up very high! haha i know some ways to collect your horse and stop a giraffe is to use draw reins... But, I was wondering if any of you guys had any ideas.

UPDATE: oh yeah and anything to help with slowing down. He likes to stick head up and run. So anything to quiet a horse down

Another Update: Another problem is i do use a martingale and when i was recently at a show in the flat he put his head straight up b/c he didnt have it on. So i dont want to use that anymore for hacking and i dont want to use draw reins yet. How can i develop the muscle. I want him to be like my other horse who was intensly trained and made when i got him so you just squeeze and wiggle on the reins and they out there head down. Give me some ways to train him but nothing to major like sending to a clinic :D thanks keep the ideas coming!!

Strengthening

xxilovebentleyxx — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:48:49 GMT

Hello :]

I was wondering if you guys can give me some tips for strengthening a horses neck muscle and other muscle. I ride a greeny and he needs to develop more muscle. SO, Please give me some tips, and things i can do be specific and tel me how i do what you suggest thanks so much :D

Entertaining a horse on stall rest

arabianlover607 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:43:07 GMT

My horse injured the same leg twice really badly, and if he injures it again, he will have to be put down since he has already had surgery. So he doesn't go outside to the field anymore, since that's how he hurt it the second time. Anyway, he gets really bored in his stall, and has lately been tearing things off the wall and destroying his stall. Also, my friend's horse just injured his leg and is looking at 2-3 months of stall rest as well. So I was wondering if anyone knows of any toys or anything that would keep them entertained. I have tried likits, but he usually just eats them in about 2 minutes, so that doesn't provide much entertainment. Thanks to everyone who responds!

keeping my legs back

Maddy95tx — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:43:10 GMT

Lately I have been having a problem with have my legs to far up in front of the girth. Do you know of any ideas that will help me with that problem? Please help and thanks to all who reply. BTW. I ride western.

Grass Crazy

horzlover1993 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:35:58 GMT

My horse Maya is grass crazy. I mean really grass crazy. About four times now she has stuck her head through the round pen panels to get to the grass. She gets her head stuck and freaks out even though she eats grass for a bout five hours a day. We now have tied electric wiring between the top part but then she decide to stick her head thru the second one. Does any one have any suggestion on keeping her busy while im not home.

Thanks

Megan and Maya

Any tips??

lolgirl001 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:13:16 GMT

Okay, ive been wanting to do dressage since last fall. so now that im finally able to learn i was wondering if anyone had any tips for starting dressage?

i can control a horse at the walk,trot and canter do lateral movements and a little bit of extending, but not much else..

Hey look it's the gate!

PBR*Chick — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:25:29 GMT

Okay well what happens is that whenever I ride past the gate in the arena he slows down or stops. How can I break him of this habit?? Thanks!

Teaching to Stand

Wings — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:23:21 GMT

There's this new pony at the barn I work at, who was rather unsocialized when he came. He's better, but he's not ready for pony rides(which is what he was bought for). I've been working with him with flyspray(which he freaks OUT at) and just trusting people touching him. One of the things I do with him to get him to pay attention to me is to walk him forward and then halt. Trot a bit, then halt. He will halt but half the time, he'll turn his butt away about 2 steps with a turn on the forehand after we stop, THEN he stands. I don't think he's getting it when I go around to poke him back over.

And in general, he doesn't really like standing still. Is there anything else I can do, other than just moving him back to where he's supposed to be standing?

horse won't eat medicine!!!!!!

Quarter Girl — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:12:13 GMT

uhhh ok well my friend let her horse out to run (stupid, stupid) and well i don't know what happened i was at a concert but i guess she got cut up and had to get stiches. but now I'M resonible for taking care of her...... anyway i can't get her to eat her bute and anitbiotics. they are both in powder form so i mixed it up in bran with lots of molasses and grain (all my horses love it) but she is soooo picky she won't eat it!!! so does anyone have any suggestions?!?!?!

My first horse!

HollyWoodDressage — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:12:37 GMT

I just got my very first horse Hollywood! And well I don't know much about dressage and neither does Hollywood (he was previously a low jumper). So I'm glad we found a teacher but she only can teach once a week. Do you have any ideas I can use for arena exercises between lessons?

Also If you have any advice, I'm still a beginner rider. And today was my first day to ride him since he arrived two weeks ago.(he got hurt)

Thank you so much

New Horse (kind of)

horsegirl193 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:24:40 GMT

Horse was never trained to steer well, and canter. He is a bombproof belgian, he jsut needs work. Since he is soo big it is hard to pull back cause he doesn't listen or tell him the cue.
When ever I want my horse to turn say right, I normally squeeze with my left leg and if he doesn't listen NOT pull but pull the right rein gently back so he turns. This doesn't work though.
Stopping is also a problem sometimes, sitting deeply or pulling back doesn't always work.
He also doesn't know how to canter and doesn't want to. THe only way you can get him to do it is going toward shte barn but rught after you turn he walks.

How can you fix these problems. By the way I ride him english.

Horse Training help

horsegirl193 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:34:59 GMT

If I bought this horse he is green and i am assuming he knows the basics.He is 3.
Do you guys have training tips or books. This would obviously be new for me, yes I have experience and a trainer. :)What I know to do anything else: ground work, lunging, desensitizing, bending, transitions; he would be started slowly since I don't think he has been ridden much and he is 3.

Cross Cantering in the Back

Jumper19 — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:40:17 GMT

My horse will switch his lead in the back only every stride when we are cantering to the right. To the left it never happens, but whenever he is on the right lead he will switch back and forth every stride, almost like tempi changes. I know its not a health issue or bad tack fit, and he is never nervous or restless while doing it. Why does this happen and what can I do to fix it?

Help?

jordiephil — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:42:01 GMT

So,Im really not sure where to put this.It could go under English,Health,Training,or here.So Im gonna put it here,because people are most likely to look here and I dont really know where it belongs.

So,Major is the horse Im now riding.Hes smooth,but he has a very long body.He sort of looks like the equine equivalent to a dachshund.So i dont know if that has anything to do with my problem.

Whenever I ask him for the right lead,he bucks.Usually its just a little thing that I can ignore,because he doesnt have terrific balance so it acts like a balancing thing.But then sometimes he just starts bucking,and theres no reason for it.

Like tonight.He was being really lazy,so I kicked him to ask for the canter.He bucked down the whole short side of the arena.And thats just not cool.

So,Im asking you guys for help.He was spoiled by his own owner,so might that be part of it?Or something physical,perhaps? Im working on strengthening that side with circles and practicing that lead and whatnot,and hoping it will work...

By the way,he's completely fine with the left lead.And its not just trot-canter that he bucks,he does it if you do a flying change to the right too.

Clearing up the Confusion

poniexpress — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:18:22 GMT

I have a wonderful quarter horse named Reno. If you have ever heard of a horse with a teddy bear temperment, this should be the first horse to come to mind. He always tries to please... only sometimes it seems i cant get him to respond to my cues correctly. I think he is listening, and he tries to do what I ask him to do, but I think he is a bit confused. I am confused too.

Reno and I ride Western and English pleasure, and I need some help working on the new quarter horse rules.

If you dont know the new rules for Western Pleasure for Quarter Horses, here are the most significant changes....

Headset: head must be set so anywhere from the corner of the eye to the tip of the ear is level with the withers.

Speed: No more "Dead horse loping" ... horse must show significant forward movement and flexing at the hocks. (I beleive this is what they said, correct me if I am wrong)

Reno has been trained to "Push peanuts". He was trained to pretty much keep his head in the dirt, and his lope is pretty slow and VERY lumpy.

I have tried to get him to pick up his head and speed up his lope, and he seems to be trying to do it.... but we cant seem to get it right.

I have tried spurs and crops, and we both just end up getting frustrated and tired. With spurs he ends up bucking once or pinning his ears, which he only does towards the end of the workout. I take them off and continue to try and get his head up and his lope a bit faster, but nothing is working.

Can someone please help me get this cleared up? I hate using spurs and crops on him, and people are always reminding me of the new rules. I try, and try, and he does too, but we need a little advice here.

Mean Horse

Aqualonia — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:23:28 GMT

Sox is so mean to other horses. He hates them. How do I fix this problem?

Fun stuff for....

Ruffian Rules — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:24:28 GMT

As the winter is coming, and I won't be able to take Rascal out for walks or anything, I was planning on doing some stuff with him in the arena(when people aren't in there, stuff like off the lead line)

I'd love to do join up, but it's hard because I'm in an arena(even though it's small, it's hard) and I can't like move jumps or anything to section off an area of the arena.

Also keep in mind, he will try to play and will kick at you, buck like towards you, or stand right front of you and rear straight up. So just keep that in mind with your ideas. The chiropracter had us doing some natural horseman stuff, like having him out of your personal space but I had to stop doing it because he would do stupid stuff(rear/buck) and wasn't safe to work with in that way.

Lunging

horsegirl193 — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:07:30 GMT

So I used to be able to lunge the pony I lease perfectly, he would listen to everything. Now he just follows me in circles and I can’t get him to do anything. I have tried using the whip and it does not help, he just comes closer. I do start from behind his shoulder and throw the lunge line at his butt and move his head away, this does not work anymore. Then I wave it in his face.

I need some advice because I need to lunge him before I ride for like 10 minutes, just to take out some energy.

ground work

FuzzieWilly67 — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:15:20 GMT

Ok guys, I need some more ground work ideas. My horse and I are getting rather bored and he needs to respect me more. What and can we do on the ground to accomplish and over come these things? thanks

sidepass and half pass

horselover846 — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:06:25 GMT

i know how to do them but one of the horses i ride doesnt know how to do them. she was never trained to do them. how can i teach her how?

Pulling Problem

bubbles — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:29:09 GMT

Okay so when I ride Molly on the trail she is constanly yanking the reins out of my hands. I'm not exactly sure how to get her to stop! It's kinda embarrising when im with a group becuase It makes it look like I can't ride. So any ideas to get her to stop?

won't trailer

western4life — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:02:43 GMT

I need help.my horse won't trailer she get half way in then back right back out I have tried bribbing her with carrots,apples,horse cookies,grain,and hay but nothing has worked please help me.

Counter Bending

haflingercrazy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:03:02 GMT

Sally just started counter bending. I tried circling her an using my inside leg to get her into her corners, cause she started dodging corners too. I also applied and released pressure with my inside rein, nothing works! I really need help because I have a show in a month! Please help. Thanks in advance

Bareback ?????

DressagePUNK — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:17:45 GMT

what kind of showing can you do bareback.. i know there are classes but what would that be described as? doesnt matter if its bareback or bridleless b/c i can do both.. (I LOVE MY HORSEY) but thats about all she can do at this point so i just wanted to know if anyone knew any typs of groups did that kind of stuff. pweeaase help!

Top 10 ways to ruin a good horse.

bee35 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:00:51 GMT

I found this on a website, and I thought it would be a good idea to post.

1. Let all of your friends ride him unsupervised- You wouldn't let an
untrained driver drive your car would you? Rough hands and mixed
signals can cause a horse to become frustrated and eventually start
misbehaving.

2. Put the wrong saddle on him-Have you ever had a pair of shoes
that didn't fit? Hurts doesn't it. Did you know that not all saddles fit all
horses? If there are any pressure points on his back, that is going to hurt
REALLY bad after awhile. Be sure to get your saddles fitted properly to
your horse for the most comfort.

3. Use the wrong bit- When you go to the tack store, have you ever
wondered WHY there are hundreds of bits to chose from? Different bits
have different controls depending on how the horse was trained and what
you are using him for, the wrong bit can be very uncomfortable, painful
and even useless for what you want to do.

4. Always blame the horse for the problem-Was the horse nice when
you bought him and now he is REALLY bad? Horses don't just become
bad on their own. A Horse will always act like a horse is supposed to act
when reacting to inexperienced handling. We have seen horses go from
good to bad in as soon as a week to a month with improper handling.
After having your horse evaluated by a good equine vet to make sure
there are no pain issues. Go and see a very good trainer or instructor
and ask them to evaluate you, your tack and your horse. You may be
surprised at what they find. Don't be surprised (or offended!) if it turns
out to be rider error. If your horse behaves perfectly for the trainer, then
it is you, and/or your tack, period. If your horse misbehaves for the
trainer, then you may want to consider sending him to one for a short
refresher course.

5. Never discipline him-Horses will test their riders, if you don't
discipline him immediately when he acts up you are telling him that it is
OK to be bad. Take lessons with a good instructor and learn how and
when to discipline your horse when he misbehaves. It is your
responsibility as a horse owner to make sure that your horse has good
manners.

6. Make excuses for his bad behavior-"He is young, that is why he
bites and kicks". "He had a bad experience in the trailer, that is why he
doesn't like getting in one" "I shouldn't of brushed my hair out of my eyes,
or he wouldn't have bucked me off" There are no excuses for this. Why
do you see other more experienced people NEVER having these types of
problems? Because they don't make excuses. They deal with the issues
until they are no longer issues and if they can't do it then they find
someone who can.

7. Stop learning - "Where education ends, abuse begins" One of the
things we tell all of our students is the more you learn about horses the
more you realize that you don't know. Most beginners think there are
about ten things to learn about horses, most advanced horse people
know there are about ten thousand things to know. Getting to that point
is one of the biggest break throughs that students have when it comes to
learning. It can be very humbling. Keep listening and learning, nobody
learns anything when they think they know it all.

8. Don't fix a horse that startles easily- One of our students notices
that the same horses seem to get hurt over and over again at the vet
clinic she works at. Horses that "become unglued" at every little thing can
become a walking vet bill, constantly hurting themselves. Spending some
time truly "bomb proofing" your horse and training him to think first rather
then react can be one of the biggest money savers you ever do.

9. Buy a horse that is too young, too well trained or not trained
enough for your skill level -One of our students said "Green on green
equals black and blue" A green (untrained) rider on a green horse will
not work. 100% of the time you will ruin the horse for life! That is one of
the biggest reasons why we see people who don't do anything with their
horses. Don't buy a young horse to "grow up" with your children. If you
are untrained you need to find a horse that has years and years of
experience and will tolerate and forgive your mistakes as a beginner.
Spending too much on a horse that is too well trained can be bad to. A
well trained horse will not tolerate a beginner who asks him to do ten
different things at once. They will become confused and eventually they
will just stop working. Never do the above two things unless you are
working diligently with a qualified trainer/instructor. Not spending enough
money on a horse or not getting help finding your first horse. You can
find low cost horses that are good, but there is a difference between a fair
price and a too good to be true price. It is a difference between a $300
car and a $2,000 car. Both are inexpensive, but which one do you think
you will have the most trouble with? Which one will need more repairs
and won't be reliable. And if you didn't know anything about cars, would
you just go out and buy one without bringing someone with you who knew
about them?

10. Think that reading books and websites are enough- You
wouldn't read a book on cutting hair and then go out and open a salon.
Book reading and studying are great, but it needs to go hand in hand with
hands on experience. Don't undervalue the benefits and savings that just
a few hours with a good trainer can make.

Getting on the bit at the trot

~Goldengirl~ — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:57:42 GMT

Uhhhh I'm having trouble getting Cinnamon on the bit at the trot, she'll do it fine for me at the walk and canter but I just can't seem to get her to do it at the trot. Any ideas on what I can do to help? Would lungeing her in a neck stretcher or side reins help?

Bending

jjcappuccino — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:59:46 GMT

Hi, I am doing Dressage at State, and I have a really big problem, I can't get my horse to bend! Any helpful hints to get Pops bending in the corners? I would really appreciate it!

won't trailer

western4life — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:02:21 GMT

I need help.my horse won't trailer she get half way in then back right back out I have tried bribbing her with carrots,apples,horse cookies,grain,and hay but nothing has worked please help me.

Two questions.

FuzzieWilly67 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:30:46 GMT

K, I just have two quick questions.

For one is this, how can I teach my horse (who is english) to western jog? Right now I have managed to teach him to do it but I have to have short reins so how can I get him to still do it but have long rein and have his head down?

Secondly, my horse and I have done some basic Parelli ground work as well as joined up. But I would like some more ground work exercises that would make us bond more. The one thing that really bugs me is that when we are in the small arena I have, he won't follow me. He will just go eat weeds that are growing on the side or stick his head other the fence and look at something out in the field. i would like him to follow me around like a lot of horses would do. Is that expecting something of him that is unfair to expect? Thanks a million!

sidepass

western4life — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:21:50 GMT

I have an 11yr old quarter horse mare I want to teach how to sidepass but she won't do it under saddle I have tried to use a fence but she thinks I am telling her to go forward I need help please

3 year old

HunterGrl08 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:22:31 GMT

So if i get Handy a 3 year old Thoroughbred,what are some tips on riding him without feeling scared? Because somtimes i feel confident like when i ride a 4 year old filly im fine. I wanna buy this colt.

Problems

AQHYA_WP_girl — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:05:29 GMT

Okay so I promise this hasn't happened but here it is:

Case 1:
I've trained my horse to do a western pleasure lope but is now 4 beating.

Case 2:

If I push him up foreward to a canter It'll be too fast to be a pleasure lope and I cant slow him down unless he 4 beats again.

Please help me solve!! Its not really a problem Im having. Just in case it happens I wanted to know!

English Pleasure

Aqualonia — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:48:51 GMT

I've heard of English Pleasure classes before, and I was wondering what it was. Does your horse have to be showy to enter one?

4 year old height questions???

horsesr4evr — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:35:17 GMT

I am not sure what part of the forum was correct to post this on, so here goes. I have a just 4 year old pmu gelding. He is about 15.2 right now. He is not to drafty but you can definitly tell he had it in him. My question is does anyone think that he is gonna grow more. This is a big question because right now his butt it about 2 inches higher than his withers. Anyone have and answers or comments???

Training Saddleseat Horse for Dressage

Dressagedude — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:11:46 GMT

Ok, So i am writing a book, and one of the characters is *Trying* to train an Ex Saddle seat Horse for dressage! I was just wondering what would be the first steps to train the horse for dressage. I don't know enough about saddle seat to know where to start.

Any help would be great!

training foals, please help.

ashleyhorses — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:52:15 GMT

ok, so @ my neighibors house there's a stallion and a mare, and the mares in foal, and i get her baby this spring, and she always has AMAZING baby's it's a garenteed (sp) paint, and her baby out of him this year has stood quietly for a bath, went into the trailer, and the other day they auctually put a saddle and blanket on him, so my question is what can i do to get him halter, and lead trained? are there any baby's at your barn?

Things to do?

I_Love_Jumping — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:13:51 GMT

I'm not sure if this is the right board or not, but whatever.

Well since winter is around the way and I don't have an arena to ride in I was wondering if you all have any ideas for games/things to do with my horse? I'd rather not have anything that involves riding, but if you have any like that go ahead and let me know.

Thanks a ton. (:

Greenies

jordiephil — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:47:20 GMT

So,at the end of the month Im going to ride a new horse.Either Spottie or Wellie,but both are fairly green.Both have jumped before,but Wellie is newer to it than Spottie.Although Spottie is newer to the whole riding thing in general...But anyways,just thought Id see if you guys had any tips for me!Whoever I end up will be my show mount for next year,so also any tips on preparing them for their first showring experiences...