Once I was asked what to do with a horse that is too goey, and stiffens against the reins, always hurrying, or like the rider said: "I have callouses (even though I ride with gloves) on my hands from him."

Well, this is of course something nobody wants.
There are many ways to tackle this, but here are a few thoughts about what you could do:

-Take the horse back to the ring/paddock/pasture, wherever you have an enclosed area (with no horses) where you and your horse can consentrate, and where he has a perimeter, instead of having other horses to compete with, and is always thinking about where he's going (in a ring he's not going anywhere and soons stops seeing the point in hurrying all the time).

-Work on the stop.  First, warm him up for 5-10 minutes, untill you find he's starting to have a bit less energy, has warm muscles, and is ready to listen (some).

-Then, stop him.  Consentrate on what you are doing with your body, your seat, your reins, your voice.  Give a definite signal that means stop (a "whoa" along with the other things is great, because that is a clear signal you can give).  One way to stop is to say whoa (to give the horse a warning what is happening), and then take the reins definitely+lean a bit backwards (sit on your pockets), then when the horse responds, give most of the reins back (that way you reward the horse for stopping) and sit up again, remember to relax.
-The horse might hurry again when you give the reins, but then you simply repeat the process.  What happens might then be the following sequence:  You ask for stop, the horse stops, you reward for the stop (give the reins), the horse hurries, you ask for the stop (that way you correct the horse in hurrying).  It is thus ok that the horse hurries, you just correct that, but you still have to reward for when it does the right thing (stops).
-Repeat this a zillion times, let the horse walk/tolt/trot in between, don't think so much about what happens in between, now you're working on getting a good consistent stop.  If the horse doesn't stop consistently, it won't slow consistently either.
-You might have to be a bit strong on the horse to begin with (to tell it to LISTEN), but as soon as the horse starts reacting better, you give smaller clues for stopping, never give coarser clues than are needed.

-When the horse stops well (might take it 5 minutes to learn, might take it several sessions in the ring, depends on you and the horse), work on asking the horse to slow.  Find a word signal that means slow (the simplest one is "slow" with a drawn out oooo).  Now work on asking the horse to go consistently in walk (word signal "walk" with drawn out aaa), and if the horse hurries, you correct it, if it relaxes in the walk, you try to get out of it's mouth (give it a bit of rein, and relax in your body).  Same with slow tolt or trot, say "slooow", and if the horse hurries, correct it, if it slows down, try to be simply a passenger there.

-So, you reward the horse by doing nothing, and you correct it when it speeds.  Do it again in the ring, a zillion times, untill both of you are bored to death, and the horse listens.

-Then, you can start ending the sessions on short trail rides - alone (other horses make the horse want to speed).  Repeat everything you've done in the ring, consentrate on getting the horse to listen.  Use the reins, the seat, the voice to slow the horse, but when the horse listens, reward it by doing nothing.  If the horse doesn't listen and still hurries, be coarser, it knows better now, you can use a coarser set of clues for 1-2 times to get the horse to listen, then as it obeys, be calm and do nothing (and stop hanging on to the reins ; )

-Relax.  All the time, every time you can.  If you are stiff the horse is stiff too.  Breathe.

-Take and give, don't hang on to the reins.  Take and give for the stop, and for the slow down.

-Now, when the horse is obeying you, ask a friend to come along on a horse, going slow, ready to stop and wait when your horse doesn't listen.  Work yourself up to the friend going faster.

-Now go with a few faster friends, repating this all, the horse now knows what you want, and if it doesn't listen, correct it, if it goes slowly, reward it by being a calm, relaxed passenger.

-Later you can work on some other things.  But the big step here is to be sure that the horse UNDERSTANDS what you're asking it to do, that you are RELAXED, that you CORRECT the horse when it's not doing something it knows how to do, and that you REWARD the horse when it does things right, and that you do this GRADUALLY (working your way from being alone in the ring to going in a fast group of horses).
 

Back to previous page