Summer before (NH) my trainer who works mainly on therapeutical riding ended up in a dire need for any at least halfway suitable horse to continue working (two old bombproof sweeties just succumbing to old age in spring, season change was just too much) and got hold on a 17yo gelding in decent shape apart from some minor coughing issues (thanks God, they are well under control, all he needs is avoiding dusty hay)
He had been used as a lesson horse for basic jumping and considered not difficult, maybe somewhat headstrong, but reliable.
At that time I was riding on regular basis and was one of the first to ride him. I honestly loved him at that point. Yes, he was somewhat of a horse who needed stronger cues (no yanking or anything, just more pressure or stronger weight shifting and a bit of dressage whip, but not excesive) and wasn't keen on trot in general (more willing to cooperate in canter than in trot).
However he wasn't one who would keep his head in a very good position by himself while walking on lunge with a therapy kid with no reins on the back, also, with smaller (think 10-12), less stable kids riding independently, there was this issue of not '' tunelling'' well and weird jumpy side movements when recieving a cue that was noticeable, bus weak enough for him to consider resisting, so in came the sidereins. At that moment we hoped it would be just a temporary thing and at least for independent riding they would come off as soon as we figured out his kinks.
I happened to get off riding for a while and come back just a few months ago. In a years time that thing has turned into something so hard to ride it has scared off at least two or three of the trainers regular students. He has realized, that most of his riders are a lot weaker than him (ok, technically every human being is, but you know what I mean) and if he does not want to do stuff there is literally no way how someone from top can make him, and he has very firm stance against trotting. (Haven't cantered him yet this year)
There is this weird unresponsiveness in him. I do understand I'm pretty rusty too, but I did get on Dancy, the other horse a few times, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting at least very basics right, I can get Dancy more or less on the bit, and get him to turn his hind on enough to carry me.
This is not the case with this beast. Even in walk it literally feels like I'm pushing the horse every single step. Head low and limp, tries to pull reins out as long as possible, when I take them in shorter, simply puts all his weight into bit in a passive manner and if it does not work, just yanks out, Usual tricks of getting him at least aware of the bit (short rein activations with tightening-releasing fist around rein) seem to have very little effect, I just don't feel contact with the head, not even talking about head giving in to my hands. Also, very little reaction to back and leg cues in picking up pace department, I'm embarrassed, but as I'm in a really out of shape at the moment, I have to choose between getting off horse from exhaustion after five minutes of pushing every single step with my back and legs, or routinely use whip while walking.
Trot is getting downright unsafe. He resists (stomps with hind legs, turns sideways, and what's my biggest worry, pushes into arena walls) and as the head isn't really in my control even in walk, I honestly feel this might end bad. To actually get from walk to trot, so far there are two options, either someone with a lunging whip in the middle of arena, or taking both reins one handed and whip in the other hand and giving a rather strong strike or two while forcing forwards with back and legs as hard as you can. Reins in one hand do not help with head issue obviously, so I'm kinda reluctant to do it.
I'm not really sure weather side reins have anything to do with the issue, or has he just learned to outsmart most riders, but riding a horse that only listens to whip is a pain in the neck, especially as I'm back from a long break and just lack the muscle strength/endurance to fight him down.
Questions:
1) Can sidereins themselves reduce the bit responsivenss so much over the time (he really probably hasn't worked or in general moved much without them for a year)
2) Can sore back be one of the causes (he has had bad saddle fit problems before, hollow withers, the saddle is sub optimal at the moment, trainer has tried her best to solve it with a gel pad and sheepskin nummah, seems to be somewhat ok, but I'm not 100% sure he's not sore to some extent)
3)Should I even be attempting to trot before I have sufficient control on his body in walk? Trainer says the decision is up to me at this point, she does work in trot with younger kids while being in the center with lunging whip, but I really don't feel comfortable with the idea of ''push-kick-whip-repeat'' trot with horse not yielding to my body.
With him resisting as much as he does I'm too tired to continue before I have really managed to make him work properly. I really don't want to reinforce the idea that he can ''win'' me by resisting. So for the last few times we have attempted trotting we end up fighting for good 3-4 minutes and once I get neat trot, trotting up to middle of the far side arena wall or other logical spot and doing a neat halt (thank's God I learned the seat halt the year before, and he does respond to that well) so we end with him doing what I have asked.
4)What are things we could do in walk to work on the responsiveness and any other general ideas how to deal with the situation?
He had been used as a lesson horse for basic jumping and considered not difficult, maybe somewhat headstrong, but reliable.
At that time I was riding on regular basis and was one of the first to ride him. I honestly loved him at that point. Yes, he was somewhat of a horse who needed stronger cues (no yanking or anything, just more pressure or stronger weight shifting and a bit of dressage whip, but not excesive) and wasn't keen on trot in general (more willing to cooperate in canter than in trot).
However he wasn't one who would keep his head in a very good position by himself while walking on lunge with a therapy kid with no reins on the back, also, with smaller (think 10-12), less stable kids riding independently, there was this issue of not '' tunelling'' well and weird jumpy side movements when recieving a cue that was noticeable, bus weak enough for him to consider resisting, so in came the sidereins. At that moment we hoped it would be just a temporary thing and at least for independent riding they would come off as soon as we figured out his kinks.
I happened to get off riding for a while and come back just a few months ago. In a years time that thing has turned into something so hard to ride it has scared off at least two or three of the trainers regular students. He has realized, that most of his riders are a lot weaker than him (ok, technically every human being is, but you know what I mean) and if he does not want to do stuff there is literally no way how someone from top can make him, and he has very firm stance against trotting. (Haven't cantered him yet this year)
There is this weird unresponsiveness in him. I do understand I'm pretty rusty too, but I did get on Dancy, the other horse a few times, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting at least very basics right, I can get Dancy more or less on the bit, and get him to turn his hind on enough to carry me.
This is not the case with this beast. Even in walk it literally feels like I'm pushing the horse every single step. Head low and limp, tries to pull reins out as long as possible, when I take them in shorter, simply puts all his weight into bit in a passive manner and if it does not work, just yanks out, Usual tricks of getting him at least aware of the bit (short rein activations with tightening-releasing fist around rein) seem to have very little effect, I just don't feel contact with the head, not even talking about head giving in to my hands. Also, very little reaction to back and leg cues in picking up pace department, I'm embarrassed, but as I'm in a really out of shape at the moment, I have to choose between getting off horse from exhaustion after five minutes of pushing every single step with my back and legs, or routinely use whip while walking.
Trot is getting downright unsafe. He resists (stomps with hind legs, turns sideways, and what's my biggest worry, pushes into arena walls) and as the head isn't really in my control even in walk, I honestly feel this might end bad. To actually get from walk to trot, so far there are two options, either someone with a lunging whip in the middle of arena, or taking both reins one handed and whip in the other hand and giving a rather strong strike or two while forcing forwards with back and legs as hard as you can. Reins in one hand do not help with head issue obviously, so I'm kinda reluctant to do it.
I'm not really sure weather side reins have anything to do with the issue, or has he just learned to outsmart most riders, but riding a horse that only listens to whip is a pain in the neck, especially as I'm back from a long break and just lack the muscle strength/endurance to fight him down.
Questions:
1) Can sidereins themselves reduce the bit responsivenss so much over the time (he really probably hasn't worked or in general moved much without them for a year)
2) Can sore back be one of the causes (he has had bad saddle fit problems before, hollow withers, the saddle is sub optimal at the moment, trainer has tried her best to solve it with a gel pad and sheepskin nummah, seems to be somewhat ok, but I'm not 100% sure he's not sore to some extent)
3)Should I even be attempting to trot before I have sufficient control on his body in walk? Trainer says the decision is up to me at this point, she does work in trot with younger kids while being in the center with lunging whip, but I really don't feel comfortable with the idea of ''push-kick-whip-repeat'' trot with horse not yielding to my body.
With him resisting as much as he does I'm too tired to continue before I have really managed to make him work properly. I really don't want to reinforce the idea that he can ''win'' me by resisting. So for the last few times we have attempted trotting we end up fighting for good 3-4 minutes and once I get neat trot, trotting up to middle of the far side arena wall or other logical spot and doing a neat halt (thank's God I learned the seat halt the year before, and he does respond to that well) so we end with him doing what I have asked.
4)What are things we could do in walk to work on the responsiveness and any other general ideas how to deal with the situation?