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Veteran
Posts: 102
| I have a 4 year old gelding that I am riding and putting a handle on him so I can start him on barrels. He is riding pretty good already but he is really looky when you're out riding. Not spooky or high strung but just really looking at everything, almost to the point where he's not paying attention enough. Any suggestions??? |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
  
Location: Somewhere around here | Just patience. He's still a baby and he's just curious. Can be annoying at times but I'd rather have a look lou than a spooker lol. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | He is young... Give him time... The best thing you can do is ride around and wait for him to get 'looky' and take him over to sniff whatever it is... He will calm down and decide there are not "horse eating monsters" everywhere.. It will take time... but it will be worth it. You have a horse that notices things... Believe it or not, that's a good thing ,and it might save your life some day.. |
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Veteran
Posts: 102
| Thanks, forgot to mention that he was raced a couple of times as a 2 year old so I figured he would be over that. But he just basically sat pretty much the whole last year. We'll just have to ride it out. Thank goodness there is no spook there. |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | I have one like that. He ran on the track as a 2 & 3 year old, then I tried to make a barrel horse out of him only to find he had a spur in his stifle. He is now a really good pony horse, but he is 11 years old and still looky, some never outgrow it. |
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Veteran
Posts: 102
| Mine only had 2 or 3 starts as a 2 year old |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Patience, time, and confident riding. Give him time to look and take things in on a loose rein. I believe however that when I pick up my reins and ride forward the horse should be focused more on me and less on the rest of the world. If I'm on one that wants to be a little more looky I ride with a little stronger leg and push them up into the bridle. Once they feel focused I'll back off until I feel them drifting again. |
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Veteran
Posts: 102
| Thanks, I will try that. |
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| Stop nagging your horse and take him on some 4-8 hour trail rides with older seasoned horses to learn how to conserve his energy. Shaking the reins to get their attention is a good cue for future use to say .. listen to me and go on about your business without further nagging ...
Tired takes the looky lou away and the only way you are going to get it is how long you ride him .... wet saddle blankets don't work ... I can have a stream of sweat leaking out of a saddle blanket in less than thirty minutes ... lol
When you bring a tired looky lou horse back to the trailer ... water them and yourself ... and take off by your self well out of range of any camp noises and just ride easy and relaxed and if he looky lous do circles and then just keep on riding relaxed ... try to come back to trailer from a different direction by riding a half circle ... ride for an hour+ ..
You will be surprised how much a horse learns from other horses ... I even tie my younger horses outside arena // round pen while working others ... they are more settled and attentive as if they had watched a video than ones I have left in stalls while working one at a time ...
Time in the saddle is worth more to teaching a horse than 1 hour of boring training .... you can teach a horse anything on the trail easier than you can in an arena or round pen ...
GOOD LUCK..
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | My 7yr old is like that. He used to be a lot worse when I first got him a couple of years ago, to the point that he would stop in his tracks and swing around to look at something.... He really didn't spook much, more being nosy... He still is nosy, but now when I ride he will pay attention to me when I squeeze my legs a bit more.
I used to let him walk up to what he was looking at and sniff it if possible (turns out moms walking with their baby in a pram are not big fans of this...  ). ETA, I stopped at least 20 feet from it, so the baby and mom where never in any danger from us....
Like someone else said, he is still a baby, let him learn things and he should grow out of it.
Edited by cranky B4 10am 2016-05-29 11:49 AM
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| I have one that sees and snorts at everything but when time to run is all business. He was like that when we bought him at age 7, he is now 17 and only slightly better. |
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Queen Bean of Ponyland
Posts: 24954
Location: WYOMING | Depends on why he is so looky. Lack of exposure, flight response, vision issues... wet saddle blankets dont help vision issues but they sure help lack of exposure.
Easy fix for over looky ones I have had in the past is riding with a fly mask. Sounds too simple but it has helped a couple I have had in the past, especially the ones with high flight responses. I actually have a mare now who looks for boogers outside the pen so I have a modified set of blinkers with fly mask material ove the eye holes. Keeps her from crowd gazing and paying attention to me. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 899
Location: Idaho | Mine was like that, he is 5 now but when he was 3/4 he would look at everything! It drove me nuts, he was still paying attention and listening but especially if another horse came around, his head would go up and he'd want to look and say hi. I think it's a baby thing, they are young and curious but as long as they don't do anything stupid I don't see much of an issue. I still stayed attentive but I just let him look..expose him to new things. I think looking allows them to process things and figure it out on their own whether they need to look at it or not, worry or not. Just provide him with confidence and reassurance too, talk to him. Mine is still lookie occasionally when other horses are around, but other than that he doesn't do it much anymore. Just stay consistant and perhaps he will grow out of it. Good luck :)
Edited by DashNDustem 2016-05-29 1:12 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
| Mine had 2-3 outs also and is a 3 year old who looks everywhere also. I figured being on the track they'd be less apt to look everywhere since they'd already been exposed to different environments. Good luck! |
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Veteran
Posts: 102
| Thanks everyone! Gave me a few good ideas to work with. I've only had him two weeks so I will give him the time he needs. |
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