Re-installing Brakes

I don't know what kind of work in hand you do :) but work in hand and work on long reins are very similiar.

I've noticed that most people refer to groundwork as something you do mounted, like dressage instead of jumping.. and ground driving is more driving without a carriage..

I can be wrong tho.

I do a bunch of one rein stops for Romeo when his brakes go bad. That might work, idk its worth a shot.

^ Ah, ok. Now I see where we are getting confused :]

The way I see it... Flatwork is ridden work on the flat. I.e. dressage work, working on the basics, establishing bend etc while mounted. Groundwork is in-hand work while unmounted, so anythign from lunging to side passing to back-up to bending and stretching. And then ground0driving.long reining is driving without a carriage.

Oh well.. :P

Working in hand or working on long reins is different from regular ground work or ground driving tho, in that that you ask the horse to work as it would in dressage (or rather think of the old knights or something since it includes levades and caprioles at a higher level) but without a rider. You'll see some of it in the video, even tho it's not perfect.

^ This works into him being not bendy. I think he finds it physically hard tobend his neck around to your foot. I personally dislike one rein stops but use the movement at a halt as a stretch. I tried this one Pepper one day and he broguht his head about half way and just kept spinning. I got too dizzy so I had to stop! I might try it with me on the ground and him beside a fence, to see if we can at least get some bend happening...

Has a professional trainer ever ridden him? Has he ever had professional training? Sometimes horses like that are so nervous because the riders are off balance, heavy handed, etc and then when they get a decent rider they still associate them with those bad experiences. It looks to me that your friend has two options. One is to get a professional to hop on him and see what they can do with him. Usually, even if they can't get him to cooperate they can provide more insight and/or exercises specific to his problems after they've ridden/seen/experienced them first hand. It's hard for us to help you when we haven't see exactly what he does. It looks like he is REALLY cranked in though from your pictures. If she's refusing to take him back to basics on the ground then at least take him back to basics under saddle. Do a lot of stretchy, bendy exercises on a loose rein in a small arena or round pen. Don't give him a lot of room to get excited and take off but don't have him cranked in if he's going ok in a light contact. Obviously she's used to him taking off so maybe it's worth the risk of him getting a little fast, because a cranked horse that is freaking out is more dangerous than one that just gets fast. If a horse feels like he can't go anywhere then he will explode. Let him learn that pressure can be an ok thing and that it won't kill him. Also, the more you keep him changing directions and bending the slower he will have to go but don't rip him around just keep him bending. Nice big circles, serpentines, zig zags etc. Use your body and weight aids to turn him before you put pressure on his face. Hope that helps keep us posted!

^ Thanks. She isn't overly heavy-handed, only what she needs to be to keep safe. When he does relax, she gives him rein and just lets him travel. It does happen, just not all the time. I ride him a fair bit also, and I know the feeling, I hate having to hold a horse, but you can't really do anything else on him. When I'm on, if he does go to take off, I halt and make him stand before moving forward, but normally he won't stand unless facing backwards, lol.

The problem with 'Friend' is that she never really had any proper instruction, so she's not really into bending, basics, etc. She just likes to ride. We did a bit of flatwork a few weeks ago, the day before I had mentioned how 'un-bendy' Pepper is, so I think she was trying a bit of it. Afterwards she declared that he was never going to be bendy. I guess she thinks it can happen straight away.

Getting a professional to ride him is a good idea though.

Oh, forgot to say, he actually isn't that cranked up in the picture, he is actually built like that! His neck curves right up out of his wither, he is almost built like a tiny, spotted percheron! I'll try and find a pic of him without a saddle on.

* From what we know, he was bought by a lady we know at 2yo, and he was already broken in, albeit roughly. She thinks he was being used as a lesson horse, I guess lead rein. She then used him as a lead rein horse for her daughter for a few years until 'Friend' bought her.

Well I hate to say it but unless she is willing to take the time to go back to basics and fix all the holes in his basic training then he is never going to get much better. If what she's doing is not working then it's time to try something else. There's no such thing as a quick fix with a horse that was abused and definitely not with a horse that was abused and has holes in his training. Especially since his behavior is escalating into the dangerous territory. Also, to clarify I didn't mean that your friend was heavy handed, I meant that whoever started him was probably heavy handed and unbalanced which in turn made him hard mouthed and unbalanced so even if your friend is not heavy handed you almost have to be with a horse that doesn't respect anything else. It's a vicious cycle that is not easily broken. I do know that unless you can get that horse to somehow relax and accept that not all riding and pressure on his face is bad, he is going to continue to psyche himself out and get worse. A professional could probably ride out the spooks, bolts, freak outs, etc and stick with him until he finally realizes that there's nobody cranking his face, jerking on him or getting him unbalanced. Sometimes horses bolt, can't stay still, can't bend etc because they are so unbalanced on their own from bad training that it is almost physically impossible for them to carry weight and move normally. It is very easy to ruin a horse's natural balance with training and it seems to me that among the other things that have been done to this horse, that is one of the problems.

I have a feeling with this horse that if you tried to ride out a bolt, he would run himself into the ground. He doesn't really spook and whoever is riding him (her or me) we always stay on and calm through any of his fits, and eventually he does stop and think and then he does what is asked and moves on.

*Sigh* yeah, I know. The problem is that she is planning on selling him in the next few months/end of the year, so I guess she just wants to be able to ride and enjoy him while she still has him. He actually has come a long way since he has been getting regular, consistent work instead of just lead line/once in a blue moon type riding.

I would love to go out one day and try some groundwork with him myself... But I don't think i'll have time in the next few months as I have some big shows coming up that require my horse to be fit and in top form, grrr!