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Veteran
Posts: 264
 
| I have a 6 year old gelding that is lazy lazy lazy. Bred to be a working cow horse but there is NO initiative to work in this horse!
He just got back from reining training and the trainer said you constantly have to get after him to make him do anything. He is so broke and patterned on the barrels but it's frustrating to ask....horsie sigh....tell with spurs or a whip....then get a reaction. If he could stand around and eat for the rest of his life he would be happy.
I don't like that I have to ride him a whip just to get a quick response from him. Have any of you had a similar horse? What success have you had with getting a quicker reaction time.
We recently switched him to straight alfalfa and even a grain with a little more pep in it. All that resulted in was a snorty lazy horse. 
Ideas please!!!! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | I had a mare like that. She was lazy, but athletic and could run. Only problem was she would only run on her time, which was out in the pasture. She always outran the other horses when they were playing. Ended up trading her for the gelding I am currently running and it was the best thing I ever did. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 928
Location: Northern CA | Just out of curiousity-- what is his breeding? My SBF colt last year was super lazy, I hated him, until we started him on cattle. He came alive and it transfered to his dry work. Wondering if they are bred similar. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
 
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I had one--he was barrel horse royalty and had all the ability in the world, but no desire to use it. So broke and fun to ride, but I never could get him to run out of the 4d except every once in a while at home he'd actually make a run if I brought him from the back 40 in a big open field. After 3 years, I sold him as an old lady horse.
Edited by Three 4 Luck 2014-02-05 10:33 AM
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 Dancing in my Mind
Posts: 3062
Location: Eastern OH but my heart is in WV | I had a horse like that. Honestly, the horse worked harder trying to get out of work then if he would just do it. It gets VERY old after a while and I sold him back to the lady I bought him from. She just wanted a slow trail horse and that is what she got. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | Professional trainers know you the majority of the battle is won by getting a horse who wants to do the job. That would be my suggestion, either change your riding career to one that suits him or sell him and find a horse who wants to do the same thing you do. I think it's almost cruel to make a horse do something they don't have a heart for, and you don't want to ruin them for work of any kind by having to punish them everytime you swing a leg over. Their talents are in different areas just as ours are. If you start out with a horse who isn't that into the job, you're just pushing a rock up a hill and wasting the time you'd be spending with one who wants to do it. It sucks when you've put that money into them but it happens to everyone. |
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Location: South Dakota | If he was mine...I would not give up on him...but would make some changes...
The reining training was good for his education...and therefore valuable..however, it probably was like a kid who does not like school...he is sitting in the desk...but not seeing the benefit of it..boring drywork...
If you could get someone or yourself to do some team roping or working cowhorse, or something to that effect, or even just ranch type work, your horse would probably find another gear...and mature mentally for you...
The lazy horses I have had...have all come on strong, after being roped on, or worked behind cattle...
Also Latte...Mary Walkers horse, was known for his laziness, before he came on strong...so there is hope!
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Sounds like he will be an awesome beginner/kids horse, I would haul him for a year then sell him as that.
I would also check for Pssm, as some horses only symptom is horribly lazy and it is because of the lactic acid buildup in their muscles.
Edited by cheryl makofka 2014-02-05 11:58 AM
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | ridejg - 2014-02-05 10:56 AM
If he was mine...I would not give up on him...but would make some changes...
The reining training was good for his education...and therefore valuable..however, it probably was like a kid who does not like school...he is sitting in the desk...but not seeing the benefit of it..boring drywork...
If you could get someone or yourself to do some team roping or working cowhorse, or something to that effect, or even just ranch type work, your horse would probably find another gear...and mature mentally for you...
The lazy horses I have had...have all come on strong, after being roped on, or worked behind cattle...
Also Latte...Mary Walkers horse, was known for his laziness, before he came on strong...so there is hope!
I agree with this. Tracking cows will wake one up in a heartbeat!! How much breezing have you done? Have you ever breezed and raced someone else? That will wake one up too. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | I agree with the above posters. I bought a nicely bred barrel/rope prospect that I was planning to run barrels on. Taking that horse around a pattern was like dragging a 1200lb toddler who didn't want to go around. He was never dirty or mean just S-L-O-W. 
Hubby drove past me pulling the hot heels and that horse came alive. I could barely pull him off the dummy he wanted it so bad and it didn't matter the speed.
So.. barrel prospect is now hubbys rope horse. I guess it's only fair as I usually end up taking his finished rope horses and making them my new barrel prospects LOL.  |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | Mary said "lazy" as in laid back, she's said it in many interviews - he is a mover who knows his job. She has said he is laid back enough he would only go as fast as she wanted when she was recovering from her injury - that's not "lazy'" - that's a good-minded horse who is willingly doing as asked...not going slower because he's an anti-moving, slow roller. I wouldn't even romantically compare the two - that's like the saying "all the best rodeo horses have quirks" when people try justifying a pig headed horse who won't work consistently. The difference is those high level "quirky" horses weren't so quirky they couldn't get the job done...their hearts and minds were in the right place consistently when called on.  |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | I wish he was mine!!!!!! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 591
| There is "lazy" as in laid back and calm and "lazy" as in not wanting to work. If you have the latter, there isn't anything that can make them want to do it. No matter how hard you try, if you have one that doesn't want to work, you can't make them. It's like some kids in school. Some want to get an education and some really don't want to be there. No matter how hard the teacher may try, they are not going to educate the kid who doesn't want to learn. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Tilt The Kilt - 2014-02-05 2:25 PM Mary said "lazy" as in laid back, she's said it in many interviews - he is a mover who knows his job. She has said he is laid back enough he would only go as fast as she wanted when she was recovering from her injury - that's not "lazy'" - that's a good-minded horse who is willingly doing as asked...not going slower because he's an anti-moving, slow roller. I wouldn't even romantically compare the two - that's like the saying "all the best rodeo horses have quirks" when people try justifying a pig headed horse who won't work consistently. The difference is those high level "quirky" horses weren't so quirky they couldn't get the job done...their hearts and minds were in the right place consistently when called on.
Exactly! I had a "very laid back" horse that would absolutely come alive when you pointed him at a barrel pattern and all I had to do was ask for the run, no hustling required. But he would go to sleep in the alley if you let him. He loved his job. |
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 Regular
Posts: 52
Location: South Mississippi | We had a stallion like that!! Sooo lazy but sooo well bred. But he obviously didn't read his papers. We ended up gelding him and selling him to an old lady. She loves him and pets him and he doesn't have to do any work. Happiest horse in the world now. |
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Veteran
Posts: 264
| Thank you for all the responses. I have taken him sorting and the lazy no work mentality is still present.
I have him listed for sale, 2 years of frustration just isn't worth it any more.
I have not breezed him much and when I have done so it is just by himself not with other horses.
This barrel horse has become one expensive trail horse!!!!  |
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Little effort here....