training & riding a green QH

Hi all,
I have a green 5yr old QH gelding. I love him to death, but can't do all that much with him just yet; only walking, trotting, going over cavalettis. I'm going to begin taking him to an indoor arena for help in training, am v. Nervous b/c he's sort of spooky. Can anyone give me any tips for riding/training? Anything you wish you did with your horse in the early stages?

Take your time. Wait until you're both okay with one another, then you can take that next step forwards. Of course, I'm not saying don't push yourself, but don't scare yourself.

Does your horse walk, trot and canter on the lunge? If not, teach him to respond to your verbal commands to walk, trot and canter on the lunge, then have someone (a trainer is wonderful for this!) help you to start to canter on your horse. Then you can take the lunge line off and canter a circle around whoever was helping you, then you can start to venture off.

Do lots of de-spooking things. My old trainer put stuff all over the arena to try and spook our horses - most of the time it worked.... for a while, then they'd get right back on track.

The key to a spooky horse is to ride it like it isn't a spooky horse... if you're anticipating your horse's spook, most likely than not that horse IS going to spook -- I call this a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If your horse bends its neck towards something to look at it (and might spook) just put them back into a frame, or right what they're doing wrong, and send them forwards.

I hope I helped a little! If you want more... let me know! I've got a ton of this stuff!

Take your time because it can take a long time to desensitize a horse. If your horse spooks, just keep pushing him foward and back to what he was doing.

Put a halter and lead rope on your horse and take it for a work in the arena. Walk around the whole track and through the middle. Just go wherever you would when you are riding. When he gets anxious at a spot of spooks, stop and do some relaxation. Gently pull down on the lead rope and say 'head down'. When he gives even the tiniest bit let go. Keep going through whatever he does until his head is really low to the ground. This will calm and relax him. Once you get to this point praise him and move on like nothing happened. Through all this you need to be confident and not nervous yourself. If you are tense or nervous your horse is going to know it and he will feel no confidence from you.

This is how we dealt with this and other issues with my wb when I got him and am currently doing this to deal with this really scary spot there is in the arena is working nicely on the ground so far I just need to see if its worked in the saddle lol