I am working
with a filly now about 4 yrs. old. I would consider myself to be a good
horse person, it can be the worst that say that, but the horse I am working with
I am re-training.
Long story to how the horse
came to where I keep my own horses but in short, the horse, because of time and
the owners physical condition, was sent to an outside trainer who had trained
a previous horse of hers. Her other horse, a gelding, came back trained but very
sesitive to heel motion. This fillly was beaten. She had extensive injuries to
her head mouth and back. Apparently she went over backwards on him so he left
her tied to a post (we're unsure of how long) and beat her with a cattle prod.
However, slowly over time, almost a year and
a half with my horses, and relaxing, she's come out of her shell and her physical
health has improved amazingly.
With re-training
my goal is to get her to enjoy doing what we want from her and have fun doing
it, so in other words give her a new mind-set. She has been doin great, she is
playful, smart, and loves to please. However, we have hit an unexpected bump.
I can lounge her under saddle walk, trot, etc. but now that I'm at the point of
riding, when I get on she just doesn't move. If someone lounges her while I ride
or walks with her she goes thru it all, but I'm not sure how to motivate her from
the saddle without putting her back into her shell.
She
almost acts lazy is the best way to put it. I've used my heels some, decent nudges,
and a whip, but being unsure of what the trainer used for methods I'm kinda stuck
as to what to do next? She doesn't act mad or frustrated, just lazy almost. I
feel she trusts me, so I don't believe it's a scared thing and I also believe
she knows what I want from her. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Ajerae
Hi Ajerae,
The
best way to get a horse to move is to turn them. In your ground training, you
have done this in-hand and when longeing. So review bending exercises with her
from the ground. Turning to the left and right from both the near and off sides.
You want to be able to walk her in a various sized circles from either side. Of
course, the goal is to gradually increase the circle size so that you can ride
her (or lead her or longe her or drive her) off in a straight line. But at first,
many horses are reluctant to move straight ahead, and especially if they have
had some traumatic experiences.
I
demonstrate these techniques with photos in my book Longeing
and Long Lining the English and Western Horse 
and
with diagrams in 101
Longeing and Long Lining Exercises. Once a horse "unlocks" on the
ground, it will be easy for you to use a leading (opening) rein when riding to
let her know what you want her to do.
In the Ask Cherry,
Horse
Won't Move Forward, the situation is different but you should read it so that
you are aware of things that can make a horse reluctant to move forward and you
know not to give your horse conflicting signals as you ask her to move forward.
Best
of luck and please let me know how you make out.
Cherry,
Thanks
for the advice. It worked great. We started with really small tight circles and
moved out and by the end of our work she was going around the house. She only
worked for a short time because I was so impressed with her progress.
Thanks
again. Ajerae
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