Big Strides Bumpy Rides!

Thanks!

I had this sinking feeling that this was the best idea.

I think that what might be going on is this, the stable manager really wants to secure me as a boarder because of the services I will offer regarding stall cleaning. She also just had three people leave. So she may really just want to fill a stall. I am going to tell her no thanks and say that I am going to wait until spring as she is calling me daily with another horse to try out...

Cadence.

I definately agree with flamingauburnmustang completely! I have a green horse that is learning to jump, and I too am green at riding/jumping. My trainer has this saying "mix green and green and you get black and blue!" I am learning to ride the hard way....but I bought the horse under another trainer and I love him so we are trying to meet somewhere in the middle. Good luck with your search for the right mount for you.

Thanks! I am learning that I must be very very careful about which horse I choose! That's for sure.

On another note, my daughter Hannah, took her first ride tonight! She did great! :) I am so proud of her. She loves it! Phew! I am glad she asked to ride on her own and genuinely enjoyed the experience. I was really hoping she would because I have visions of us enjoying a trail ride together and so on!

When Hannah was riding in her lesson, my friend was trying to untack the horse she leases. She asked me to "watch" her horse Pokey, that was on cross ties. When you go near his "girth" he EXPLODES. She was scared of repeating the same experience so she asked me to "hold" his head. Instead, I stood off to the side and gently soothed him by petting his ears and the hollow above the eye. I spoke slowly and softly to him and he did good. Then, she put him in his stall and realized that she didn't finish fastening his blanket and went in to the stall to attach the last strap. Pokey suddenly brought his head up, with a mouth full of hay, threw his ears back and came after my friend Colleen. She quickly dashed out of the stall. Now, she is really scared and doesn't know what to do. In the past, when tacking horses, this stable has instructed us to stand our ground and yell, "NO!" at them and shoo their mouths away when they try to bite. What would you suggest? Should she stand her ground? Get out? Lease a different horse? Or Get help and learn how to deal?

One last thing... instead of buying the horse that I rode the other night, named Princess, I have decided to see if the owner will let me exercise her twice a week. She is good natured, very overweight and is never ridden because the owner doesn't have time. I want to save my pennies to get the right horse and not "lease it all away". Never hurts to try! :) Wish me luck! lol

Have a good night all! :) Thanks for the help and advice.

Cadence

Chevysmum,

If your horse is green, do you experience shying and spooking? How do you deal with this mentally? I need to learn some ways to work on relaxing through fear!

Cadence

Cadence, my horse is not green but I am! Just like you, returning to riding after several years away. And also like you I ride a 16.3 TB gelding. He spooks a lot and though it used to scare me now I see it as a way to make sure I'm really in the saddle. My trainer has also suggested that he doesn't trust me in the saddle yet, I'm kind of just a passenger and not really "riding him." When I have a lesson and am asking him to do things he completely focuses on the work and doesn't spook much at all. I think me relaxing and taking more charge relaxes him.

If I'm riding on my own or nervous about something, he hollows out and spooks a lot more. Try being a little more active and see if that doesn't help. Also after the first few weeks of big spooks, you start to feel more confident that you won't come off and you relax which leads to less spooking! Good luck.

Do you mean how do you work through this mentally for a horse or for the rider?

To me green just means inexperienced in general or sometimes just inexperienced at what it is doing (although definitions vary), this means that a green horse might not be spooky at all and an experienced horse can still be very spooky.

Sudden movements or strange things are always going to surprise humans and horses but if you and your horse are confident then a "shy" is less likely to occur. The best ways to make your horse feel more secure is to be me more secure yourself, horses naturally follow leaders, so make yourself that leader, also, be firm, if they jump away pull them back together and keep moving, don't make a huge deal out of it, or horses learn to shy to avoid work etc.

As far as riding the spooky horse just keep your heels down and be alert, if you see something that might scare the horse don't tense up, but just be aware of the situation.

About 90% of the time when a horse acts like Pokey did its because of pain. Saddles can be difficult to fit to horses and no saddle will fit every horse. In addition, the saddle might not fit the same horse all year round, and may require adjustment. If I were your friend I would check that his back is not in pain, that his saddle fits and that the girth does not pinch him before presuming he is just being bad. You'll probably find that is the problem.

Also, I think you made the best decision passing on that horse. You should look for a horse more experienced in the disciplines you are interested in and a bucking horse is not for the inexperienced rider.

Good luck with finding a horse!

I learned to keep in my seat better by bridging reins and holding onto pommel with one hand and shoving my butt in my saddle and keeping it there while on longe line and then off lunge line. However, it doesn't seem to be helping me sit my trot on this guy who has a big bumpy trot. I try to slow him down enough to sit it properly but then he stops and I try to use more leg with light rein contact to keep him forward trotting but I am not communicating properly or he is not getting it or both. Now I am pretty sore after going around and around trying to sit his trot and I am sure he is pretty back sore from me trying to learn this but when I lean back like my trainer asks, even behind the vertical to really roll my lower back enough to absorb the movement, I just keep getting bounced out of saddle. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you!
-still learning

Actually he feels quite secure in the ring, as do I. However out on trails is a whole nother story. We work on everything SLOWLY, both for his sake and mine. It's definately been a process. Would have been wiser for me to buy an older, more experienced horse. Heard he just needed a little training. Now one year later.....he is still in training!!

Yes i agree with flamingauburnmustang, you should get a well trained horse if you are not very experienced with training horses.

You should find a horse that has a good character and is well trained.

Good luck!

I think that since your barn does lessons and lets you ride as well, you will get behavior problems like Pokey has when you tack/untack them. it comes from the fact that different people will tack up the horse in different ways. and possibley from an ill-fitting saddle. A lot of people who are learning about horses will yank on the girth to tighten it, that must be uncomfortable! I believe that the best way to correct the horse would be to not to tack the horse up in it's stall or normal place where it is tacked up (it can trigger the horse to remember this is the place where he normally gets a painful and uncomfortable tacking up) and to go about tacking up the horse very slowly to desensitize the horse to the parts he doesn't like and to associate the tacking up process with things he does like. but again if horses like this are handled by different people and they don't know how to treat the horse, then the horse will continue to have issues like this.

~AL615