| Char 2 |
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| #26 |
This post has been so helpful. I have an 8 year old QH that thinks he must do what everyone else is doing. Had some folks that decided to lope up a hill and he thought he was going to as well w/o permission and well when I said no, he decided to pitch a fit and crow hop. We were in such a not so easy to disciplin area (the bridle path entrance at Kettle Morraine) I was unable to turn him around and make him walk up the hill. His previous owners did nothing but run him half to death for and hour once a year. So he doesn't even know what a lope is. Walk and trot, he's the best. Still love my Moose. |
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| doreen |
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| #27 |
When you say walk/trot/walk/trot/walk/trot thing...do you mean jigging? Horrible habit if it is, and your horse could definitely be feeding off the anxiety of the horses who are jigging.
If it is jigging vs frequent change of pace...I wouldnt ride with them. Jigging is an easy habit for a horse to learn, and an almost impossible habit to break.
Just wasnt sure after rereading your posts what exactly you meant.
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| Jenni O. |
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| #28 |
Nope, not jigging. You might get a faster walker up ahead, so the other horses trot to catch up, walk til they get too many strides behind, trot to catch up. ARGH! And I can hold him back, but get sick of constantly having to be on his mouth. So that is my fault, need to break that habit and teach him it's ok to fall behind. There are always slower horses farther behind the first group, so it's not like he's alone. But he wants to be up front more, darn it. And maybe that is it, he walks faster sometimes, and maybe he gets annoyed with the whole deal of having to be held behind someone.
The more I talk about the more things I think it could be. I don't expect him to ever be a perfect do-what-I want-when-I ask kind of horse. And many horses don't willingly stay at a walk when the group lopes, go left when the group goes right. I just wish he would act up without blowing up.
I don't allow jigging, we do circles til I get sick if we have to. They can walk as fast as they want, but no jigging, and no trotting unless I want.
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| Jenni O. |
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| #29 |
Gus did pretty well this weekend. We rode with 7 other horses yesterday and he was towards the front. It was a wide trail too so we could ride side by side. We did a lot of loping, trotting, and he wanted to go, but never bucked. He did want to be towards the front when we were running, but I let him and he was fine. He was ok being behind another horse or beside, and I don't think I ever really was farther back than third. The wide trails were a help too. I didn't want to get into a fight and have a hot horse to deal with for an hour til he calmed down so I let him be where he was happy.
Today we only rode briefly due to someone else having an accident, but he was very well behaved, probably worn out from yesterday. We started in front and he was fine, then ended up behind 7 horses, trotting and loping, and he did no bucking or fighting to race ahead.
We ended up ponying Cloudy while her rider walked back and we were in front of 2 riders with the other 5 up ahead a ways and he was fine, I held him to a walk with one hand. He wanted to catch up to them at first but didn't push to do so. He was a very good boy.
I don't feel he is "cured", but I think it is a thing brought on by lack of riding and overexcitement. If he hasn't ridden with a group recently I will have to expect trouble and either ride up front or be prepared to hop off and let the others run and they can wait for me to catch up. I think he old have been fine today bc he was willing to move out but didn't pull to go faster or pass horses.
And hopefully our friend who fell off can be made better by the chiro tomorrow. Bummer.
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