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 Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | I have a 7yr mare that is very patterned on barrels, poles etc... she's pretty high strung so I do a lot of slow work and she absolutely HATES trail riding so that's out... I usually lope circles, sidepass, bend, long trot, trot/lope figure eights etc. Anyway.. seems like I do the same thing every day and I know it's good to have a routine but I'm getting really bored with it! Any advice on some new exercises I can do to make riding fun again? I love the finished horses but breaking them out and teaching them is so much fun... not sure what to do now. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Try reading to her from your favorite book... This worked for me while I was trying to overcome a stutter and they seemed to like it.
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
 
Location: Florida.. | if shes high strung then take her out on trails.. period.. get her liking it.. with other horses ..she will learn to love it.. it will relax her mind . |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 683
Location: Ohio | You may try moving some cattle or looking into local team penning and sorting. I was impressed by how my horse excelled in it and it really showed us our weak areas that needed improved. My horse also started relaxing more when entering the arena and really seemed to enjoy himself. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | My mare isn't very good with trail riding either (lots of random freak outs, especially if I'm by myself) but she's a lot more manageable if I pony her off another horse so that's usually what I do to give her a break. Or I will plan a trail ride with a friend on an easy trail.
Other than that, maybe try trot poles, cavallettis, small jumps, miniature trail courses...I love messing around with my horses with jumping and setting up a course of crossrails. It makes me feel like a little kid because I used to do that and pretend I was in the Olympics LOL |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | Bibliafarm - 2014-04-20 9:59 PM
if shes high strung then take her out on trails.. period.. get her liking it.. with other horses ..she will learn to love it.. it will relax her mind .Â
I've been trail riding her since I broke her out... she just prances and always has to be in front, she throws a fit when I try to slow her down and I end up sidepassing her and circling her 1,000 times. I still take her out occasionaly but it is in no way relaxing for me and she ends up more worked up from it then if I just rode her in the arena. :( I hate that because I've always trail ridden all my horses but even her trainer said not to even bother with it. Like I said, I still take her occasionaly but because of how she acts, she's not my first choice to take! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 356
| DLV - 2014-04-21 8:19 AM
Bibliafarm - 2014-04-20 9:59 PM
if shes high strung then take her out on trails.. period.. get her liking it.. with other horses ..she will learn to love it.. it will relax her mind .Â
I've been trail riding her since I broke her out... she just prances and always has to be in front, she throws a fit when I try to slow her down and I end up sidepassing her and circling her 1,000 times. I still take her out occasionaly but it is in no way relaxing for me and she ends up more worked up from it then if I just rode her in the arena. : ( I hate that because I've always trail ridden all my horses but even her trainer said not to even bother with it. Like I said, I still take her occasionaly but because of how she acts, she's not my first choice to take!
My gelding is the same way if I try to take him on a trail ride with a large group of horses or with unfamiliar horses. He is like a completely different horse if it's a group of 2-3 horses that are his pasture buddies - very relaxed, none of the need to be out front. You can also try ponying her and see if that helps! |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | k.maddocks24 - 2014-04-21 9:51 AM
DLV - 2014-04-21 8:19 AM
Bibliafarm - 2014-04-20 9:59 PM
if shes high strung then take her out on trails.. period.. get her liking it.. with other horses ..she will learn to love it.. it will relax her mind .Â
I've been trail riding her since I broke her out... she just prances and always has to be in front, she throws a fit when I try to slow her down and I end up sidepassing her and circling her 1,000 times. I still take her out occasionaly but it is in no way relaxing for me and she ends up more worked up from it then if I just rode her in the arena. : ( I hate that because I've always trail ridden all my horses but even her trainer said not to even bother with it. Like I said, I still take her occasionaly but because of how she acts, she's not my first choice to take!
My gelding is the same way if I try to take him on a trail ride with a large group of horses or with unfamiliar horses. He is like a completely different horse if it's a group of 2-3 horses that are his pasture buddies - very relaxed, none of the need to be out front. You can also try ponying her and see if that helps!
Glad you understand! :) She will pony but I sold the horse i used to pony her on and my other mare freaks out when I try and pony off her. Also, this mare ALWAYS tries to get in front of the other horse even if she's the one being ponied! She's a stinker. Sometimes if I trail ride her all alone she is ok but when I fight with her when she thinks it's time to be done and I want to keep going, I have to get after her so bad, I always win but she always fights me! |
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | I understand to believe me.lol.. What worked for me was Id work them and then hack out .. every day.. except their day off.. and eventually they learned to relax.. but I always worked them first and mentally. just my experience anyway. |
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 Wide Darn Open
Posts: 2141
| If you can put her on cows she might really like it. Team penning or sorting will give her something to think about and it's really fun! |
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Veteran
Posts: 238
| The best thing for myself and my horses have been the ACTHA obstacles. https://www.actha.us/obstacles
Pick one or two at a time and work on them. It can show you where your holes in training are and open up months worth of work just to get that one obstacle down perfect.
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Member
Posts: 30
| If you have access to cows, show her what to do and I'm sure she'll enjoy the challenge. Take her on the trails anyway but make sure to keep things interesting. Back her up, side pass, do different maneuvers. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | I have a little high strung mare that also doesn't enjoy trail rides, somehow a rabbit or a deer busting out of the brush just isn't soothing for her, LOL!!! She is really good about going and gathering cows however, she doesn't have any patience for something that doesn't seem to have a purpose. Gathering cows=purpose. Trail riding aimlessly=pointless. I agree with whomever said to see about putting her on cows, it really is very good for those active minds.
I have a book that has different exercises in it that I use with all of mine at times such as :
trot a small 10 foot circle
extend the trot down the side of the arena, hip out, hip in
collected lope , extended lope down the other side of the arena,
collected lope in a 20 foot circle
Or right lead lope down the long side of the arena, counter arc a circle to the left in the right hand lead at the corner, lope in the right lead across the short end of the arena, counter arc a circle to the left in the right hand lead, right lead down the long side of the arena...basically you make a four leaf clover of a type
Etc, etc. it has a bunch of different "patterns" and very useful on those days you don't really know what to do on your ride... |
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