i have a 9 year old Morab who hasn’t been worked very much over the past year and a half because of bad habits and disrespect.

this has put an halt to our riding. i asked her to canter while lunging and she bucked and bolted right at the cue. (is this normal?)

a problem i often have while lunging her is she gets very close to me while i’m standing in the middle. and she used to only do this at a walk but now at a trot she is making small circles around me. i want her to fill the round pen and ride on the fence. she never does.
how can i get her to get out of my space and onto the rail?

she also is very disrespectful when it comes to hoof picking. she won’t pick up her foot and always puts up a fight. when i get to her hind she usually kicks….

and in the saddle:

she is distracted and always is paying attention to the other horses who are grazing or in their paddocks. she always wants to ride the side closest to them. how can i get her to be more focused?
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side note: i also would love to take her on some trail rides but how she’s acting in the ring, on the ground, and in the round pen i’m afraid that that would be a mistake. whats a good way to introduce a horse to trails who has problems such as my mare’s?
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thank you for your two cents and advice. i will take everything into consideration to how to fix her problems.

I have come to realize that a large number of people think of longeing a horse as ground training. I am actually not a fan of longeing. although I do train it, but only as a skill to be combined with riding, and maybe a minor part of the preparation for it. Ground training, as I see it, teaches every move a horse will be asked to do for the rest of his life. It desensitizes, teaches the horse to give to pressure in every possible place pressure will be placed, and establishes trust. Before a horse is ever asked to perform under saddle, he/she should know movement on cue in all directions, pivots, and when to remain stationary until cued to move. My horses know never to come within 3 feet of me without being invited long before a saddle is introduced. You need to get a trainer, or at least a video, that will guide you through the ground training that prepares horses for everything they will do for the rest of their lives. Longeing is not the definition of ground training. Your horse needs to start over and learn to stand ground tied, stand to be mounted, give to every request, respect your space and never think he has any option but to do anything other than that. Look for natural horsemanship videos. They are founded in the ground training that has been done for centuries before horses were put under saddle and asked to perform. You can take a horse back to basics and retrain what was not trained to begin with. For now, throw away the longe line, postpone the saddling, and spend the next months on basic ground work and you will change this horse for the rest of his life.

I am located in Kelowna BC…would like a western sorta name…thank you so much!

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I was thinking of taking up yoga and pilates. Will these help?

all of those are great ways, especially pilates. as far as while riding, try dressage. it helps you and your horse to be your best. it isn’t so much a competition as it as a class for learning, especially since you are riding only against yourself. there is a book you can find at amazon.com called pilates for dressage riders, and it is great for riders. good luck and have fun with it!

I can’t remember the word for leading an unsaddled, brideled horse next to a riding horse for training and exercise. It’s not lungeing, I know what that is. I want to say trotting but I think that’s wrong. Could someone un-jog my memory? Thanks,

That’s called ponying- and it’s a common sight at many race tracks, as well as at polo barns. My sister is a polo player, and that is how she conditions and trains her horses to get them in shape- she rides one horse and ponies two others. As long as the horses in question get along with each other, the risk to them and to the rider is minimal. The danger comes in when the horse which is being ponied doesn’t get along with the horse being ridden- and the result is often a fight or a kicking match.

Ponying is a great way to exercise horses when it’s not possible to ride them all the time- and it gets them fit without putting a lot of extra strain on their legs and back. In many ways, ponying is actually better for a horse than longeing would be, because it’s possible for a ponied horse to go straight for short distances, instead of turning constantly in a circle all the time. This reduces the pressure on their shoulders, lower legs, and back. My sister uses a halter with a chain shank for ponying her horses, but it’s quite common to see them ponied in bridles as well, especially at the track.
To each his own, when it comes to this.

I can’t remember the word for leading an unsaddled, brideled horse next to a riding horse for training and exercise. It’s not lungeing, I know what that is. I want to say trotting but I think that’s wrong. Could someone un-jog my memory? Thanks,

We call it ponying in Polo.

I can’t remember the word for leading an unsaddled, brideled horse next to a riding horse for training and exercise. It’s not lungeing, I know what that is. I want to say trotting but I think that’s wrong. Could someone un-jog my memory? Thanks,

We call it ponying in Polo.

I am training my horse to ride, and I don’t want to use a bit. I’ve heard a hackamore isn’t good for training, so I wanted to know if anyone just uses two leadropes for training or riding.

Definitely don’t use a hackamore, they are very dangerous and can break your horse’s jaw.
If I were you, I would (on the ground) teach your horse lateral flexion with a halter and rope. (its best to hook your rope to the side for the first couple times, its easier for them to understand, then when they get good there, move it to the ring under their chin)
When they get good at bending around with the halter and rope, get a plain training snaffle bit and do the same thing again, you can leave it on them for a couple hours a day if they have a major problem with it.
You definitely want to get a bit in their mouth and let them understand what "turn" means well before you ever get on their back. But teaching them with a halter and rope first is good because it will keep them softer when you go to a bit. Don’t let anyone tell you that a horse is too soft on the bit, I don’t think it’s possible. LOL
Some other training tips before you get on, is to do some basic ground driving. The goal is to have them "broke" before you ever get on, but don’t waste time, you shouldn’t have to do ground work for more than 3 days (for a really smart horse) or 5 days (for the slower ones
The best way a horse learns is to do things in sets of three, three pulls to one side, three to the next, three sets then a break, three days in a row then a day off. Things seem to sink in a lot better when you do it in sets of three, don’t know why.

Email me privately for more "works like magic" training tips

hes a TB and wondering when i should start riding/saddle training him?
ill be traning him in hunter/more jumpers. and he is a TB

I would recommend to not start riding him untill he is at least 3 years old. You could lunge him some at 2 and work on groudwork. I wouldn’t jump anything till he is at least 4 and nothign big till at least 5.
The reason is most horses bones don’t finish growing till they are about 5, sometimes even older. Their joints won’t be closed yet and that can cause problems for your horse later on down the raod [arthirits, lameness, soreness, chips, joint problems]. That is why many racehorses get hurt, break down and come off the track so young because they are not done growing and are pushed to hard.

It is your choice, but it is puting your horse at risk when you start him young.

Background:
I have been riding for approximately 25 years and recently retired my horse. I have always ridden English type horses (Arabs, saddlebreds, etc) either huntseat or saddleseat. I haven’t ridden alot in the last 5 years because I had my daughter. My horse is retired now and I just started riding a horse for a lady that used to give me lessons about 10 years ago (free lease situation since I can’t afford board for yet another horse). In the last few years I haven’t ridden a lot of different horses or shown much.

Question/issue:
The way I ride, and have always ridden, is that you get the horse collected (round/in frame) before you ask for for an upward transition to a trot or canter. This horse I’m riding now is an Appy and I’m not real familiar with how the Western type breeds are trained (AQHAs). The riding instructor said that I should get her into the trot and then get her to be collected. When I do this, her head is always straight up and has her trot isn’t consistent. I’m having issues with her training methods because I feel that the horse should always be in frame/rounded when you are working them. After a good ride, I’ll praise the horse and let him hang his head and relax.

I’ve never seen the horse ridden by anyone else, just free lunged by the trainer (not collected at all). When I was riding her, the trainer says that she usually isn’t like that (head up/inconsistent). Is it my riding?

Any input/advice??? After my ride, I’m not really confident in my riding abilities since I haven’t shown/ridden alot of other horses in the past 5 yrs.

If you’ve mostly ridden arabs, saddlebreds, and the like, chances are you are holding your hands too high for an appy. They carry their heads quite a bit lower, and if your hands are in the usual saddle seat position, it’s gonna feel to them like you want them to lift their heads – which is exactly what you’re describing.

I collect for the canter; I’m a lot more relaxed for the trot (some collection, of course). Again, this may be the difference between someone who rides mostly saddleseat and someone who mostly rides huntseat. Even when you rode hunt seat you probably did the more upright huntseat that saddleseat type horses/riders do, just as QH riders tend to do the more WP huntseat, low and loose. Saddleseat horses are expected to be more showy in the trot, which requires more collection. The appy isn’t used to it. I know my QH, when I collect at the walk, immediately thinks "canter!" even though I may just want a collected walk, or a collected trot, or whatever. Likewise, the appy isn’t sure what you want.

Give it some time. The two of you may make a great team, once you figure out how to communicate. It’s not that you’ve lost your abilities, it’s just that your horse doesn’t read the same language your old horse did. It should come fairly quickly, as you learn what the horse can and can’t do and the horse learns to read your slightly different cues.

It’s not you. It’s not the horse. It’s the communication, and you will very quickly get that back. Good luck!