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 Ditch the Stirrups
Posts: 5369
  
Location: Sorrow Not! Defending against workplace bullies | I ride 3 geldings on the trail almost every day. There is a flat stretch where I let them run if they want for as long as they want. 2 will slow down on their own when they get tired or short of breath They seem to understand how to pace themselves and will happily slow lope if I ask. The other one will run himself into the ground and resists slowing down. He is not in great shape yet so I dont want him doing this. Yet he will NOT go any slower. If I ask him to he might take 1 stride down but unless I ask him to flat out stop he revs it right back up. He gets out of breath but does not seem to care at all. When he was at the trainer several yrs ago she remarked on this too and basically let him run himself down in an arena but it took a long time and she said was a little scary. I do not have a space to let him run himself out. I love his try but dont want him hurt. What would you do with a horse like this? |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 713
Location: ND | Personally, I wouldn't let him run then. I would start at a trot.. go in a straight line and let him stretch out and then collect him.. stay in a straight line.. go back in forth at a trot.. stretching and gathering.. Does he always speed walk too? Once he gets it at a trot and can relax and listen to your cues.. then work on the walk.. I say trot first because walking stressed out my horse like this when I started there, trotting wasn't as stressful.. once he nails the trot and walk.. slowly add loping.. also I recommend you look in to ulcers, my mare did the exact same thing and she improved a ton with ulcer treatment.. good luck! |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | Mine is the same way....he'll stop, it just takes a lot of "whoa" with my body language and easy taking. He knows he should slow down, he just resists because he loves running. As a result, I don't breeze him very often. |
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Expert
Posts: 2685
| I don't have a horse like that now but I used to. An older lady that has trained a million horses (not sure good or bad) told me to ask the mare to lope and when she's loping to fast for comfort break down into small-ish circles (not tiny) and when she slows down to comfortable speed let her straighten back out. |
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Ditch the Stirrups
Posts: 5369
Location: Sorrow Not! Defending against workplace bullies | Yes he does speedwalk! He is always busy and in a hurry. I cant do circles on the trail because it is too narrow and uneven. I can take him back down to trotting only but he is always trying to go faster.
I have been wondering about ulcers but he is just hot with no other symptoms. He is an easy keeper and looks great, no diarheea or other signs except he did used to be cinchy. I am going to treat him anyway just to rule it out.
He is cutting bred on the bottom side and I wonder if cutting horses are usually hyper like him? I have never had one before.
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | Simple answer for me would to not allow the horse to lope there, period. By always allowing him to run at a certain spot you're basically training him to be this way. If I was riding him & he couldn't stay collected & maintain whatever speed I set him at he'd be loping circles until he was willing to do so & loping on a straight away would be out of the question for quite some time. |
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 Peecans
| I have had a couple horses like this, Ive found for the most part they are either over workers or just hot. Here's a quick description of mine and what I do with them.
1) This mare is a work a hollic, she is a ranch mare / rope horse but she would gladly work her self to death. You tell her to move out and she will run her heart out until you tell her to stop, even of she's exhausted. With her I have to be very aware of how she is feeling and breathing. I have to tell her its ok, we can stop and rest and go find that cow later kind of deal. Which she does not like, she has a job and wants to get it done, so its alot of take and release half halts ext with her, and really ride with my seat to keep her settled.
2) This horse is just plain HOT you get him wound up and all he can think is RUN, with him I do a lot of long trotting to really streach out his body, and really make him reach. When I lope I tend to start in big circles in the field until he settles into him self, then I go stright. If he speeds up i settle him in a big circle again. When i let him run i ez him into it and slow him up and go into his big circle and settle him then stop. At this point i do a lot of flexing on his face just to get his mind back and then walk off, if he tries to scoot I stop and go back to the flexing and bending, walking figure eights and thwn walk off. He has improved a ton from when he first came but he still has his days. I do not run him a lot. This horse also worked great in water, in the spring i would fit him back up in all the run off, dont know what it was but loping and jogging in knee / chest deep water really soothed his mind. |
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Peecans
| ninaom - 2014-03-29 11:24 AM
Yes he does speedwalk! He is always busy and in a hurry. I cant do circles on the trail because it is too narrow and uneven. I can take him back down to trotting only but he is always trying to go faster.
I have been wondering about ulcers but he is just hot with no other symptoms. He is an easy keeper and looks great, no diarheea or other signs except he did used to be cinchy. I am going to treat him anyway just to rule it out.
He is cutting bred on the bottom side and I wonder if cutting horses are usually hyper like him? I have never had one before.
I wouldent say cutters are "hot" but they tend to be very sensitive and little go getters busy worker types (im my experience anyway and I haven't ridden every cutting line lol) |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | ninaom - 2014-03-29 11:24 AM Yes he does speedwalk! He is always busy and in a hurry. I cant do circles on the trail because it is too narrow and uneven. I can take him back down to trotting only but he is always trying to go faster. I have been wondering about ulcers but he is just hot with no other symptoms. He is an easy keeper and looks great, no diarheea or other signs except he did used to be cinchy. I am going to treat him anyway just to rule it out. He is cutting bred on the bottom side and I wonder if cutting horses are usually hyper like him? I have never had one before.
My mare sounds very much like your guy! Always in a hurry, but part of her things I think is because she is a little horse...about 14 hh, maybe 14.1 with shoes, and a short stride/gait naturally.
I have been trying to teach myself to ride quieter, because I know when she does that I tense up and she gets faster, and so we feed off each other. If she is being too much of a hassle, I'll circle her or do serpentines to try to get her mind off of going quicker and onto something else. But I must say she is a worker, and very hard to get to quit. She will go all day long (walk, trot, lope, whatever) if you let her. |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | If you have a beach near by or if you have downed trees some where take him there and drop the reins and let him work. This will take his mind off running.
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 Bye-Bye Jiggle
Posts: 1691
Location: Where ever there's sunshine! | My 2 cents...there's nothing wrong with your horse he's just not quite what you like. That's ok. Those that truly love running will literally run them selves to death. Again that's ok, it's going to be up to you to pay attention to him and make sure he doesn't cause himself harm. He will probably never be a slow loping horse, but on the off chance that you mange to get him to be, you are very possibly going to break his spirit and he'll never be a "running" horse again. Also, slowing down takes a lot more strength in their top line. It is much more difficult than running fast. As long as your boy is controlable you might want to consider letting him be. Some are just hotter than others. I have had two Like him and I almost ruined one by trying to make her slowdown and chill out. When I finally realized that was just how she was and accepted it I began to enjoy and appreciate her so much more!! Those guys will never ever quit on you on their own. I hope I'm not offending anyone. Good luck op! |
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Member
Posts: 42
| Sounds like my mare when I first got her! She was a cattle horse, always hot in the bridle, only knew walk & gallop (or that's all she wanted to do). The chiropractor told me that's pretty common for cutting bred horses.
Lots of slow work. It took a year to 'train' her to not try to run all the time... they fight the slow work but eventually learn. Lots of trot-jog, only a few canter strides, if they get amped they have to walk. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1062
Location: Probably On the Road to the Next Barrel Race! | SaraJean - 2014-03-29 12:25 PM Simple answer for me would to not allow the horse to lope there, period. By always allowing him to run at a certain spot you're basically training him to be this way. If I was riding him & he couldn't stay collected & maintain whatever speed I set him at he'd be loping circles until he was willing to do so & loping on a straight away would be out of the question for quite some time.
absolutely what she said....perfect advice. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | I sure do! he's an appaloosa and I love him to pieces. He's that type that "running him into the ground" won't work, he'll just keep going. If I want to have a slow day on the trail, I simply don't ask him to lope off because I know his love for running in an open field. The only thing I ask is that he has brakes and he does. So when I need to bring him back down I know we're going to dance all the way back to the barn. I don't know if there is a fix to it, but if there is... I don't want my horse to lose that desire for the run... :) |
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Horse that will not lope slow