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Miss Southern Sunshine
Posts: 7427
   
Location: South Central Florida | I'm not sure its the "ott" that is a problem. I just say that because I have had non-ott that had the same problem, and ott horses that did not. I think it is more the personality of the horse.
More good advice on here, lots of time only's or pay the fee and super slow trott or walk the pattern (if allowed) and see the $25 as a training fee.
We have one that we finally gave up on after about 7 years. She can win a show, or have a nervous breakdown. Most athletic horse I have ever seen and way fast, but no matter how slow or fast you go at a realy show she will panic.
We did ace her for about 6 months, gradually reducing the amount until it was none, but she eventually hit panic mode. The ace did help, but it also slowed her down by .5 to a full second. We did it hoping that maybe it would help her relax during the run and not be so nervous.
I always wished I could give her some xanax...just something for anxiety, but we tried every possible over the counter product made. The closest thing to working was a product called FOCUS, not made by any of the big name companies. But it eventually quit working too.
I have a friend though that was able to work the same problem out of her mare, but she is never really calm going in the arena, but she doesn't panic and run off or freeze anymore.
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Veteran
Posts: 197
| Don't know if this will fit with your issue or not, But- We had a horse that was ott. He was trained for barrels when we bought him but not seasoned. He was very fast and a nervous type. He could fly to the first barrel. My daughter was riding him and he was missing the first most runs because of no rate. We put more bit and worked with "getting a hold of him" at rate spot and he soon started going up the arena. He would only do it at rodeo and big shows. At home he was perfect. I started riding him and put him back in a snaffle and did lots of slow work at home off the pattern to calm him(the least little run and he could not walk, just prance) Anyway, ended up I could run him in the snaffle or a light hack, and IF I left his face alon and trusted him at the first he would eat it up. I could get away with a quick rate tug , but had to quickly give him back his face to turn. If I did not let him have his face- up the fence we would go. You could see him if you paid attention at the first, kind of waiting at a certain moment to see what we were going to do. He would sort of brace and get ready, but if you threw him his face he would relax and turn the heck out of the barrel. If you touched him-he just kind of said FU. It sounds easy, leave his face alone-but the speed he went it was one of the hardest things to do. We won a lot as long as I did my part and left his face alone-I got where I grabbed a handful of mane up towards his ears to help me remember and just used my body to rate him. |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | I think you need to try a bigger bit at the show. You can always work your way back down when he has a little more experience on him. Maybe a Cervi or a goosetree gag especially if he will work good in an O-ring. Nothing wrong with a light bit, I try to go as light as possible, but you have to have control too. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1898
 
| clover girl - 2014-01-17 1:13 PM
I think you need to try a bigger bit at the show. You can always work your way back down when he has a little more experience on him. Maybe a Cervi or a goosetree gag especially if he will work good in an O-ring. Nothing wrong with a light bit, I try to go as light as possible, but you have to have control too.
Thanks! I have a few of both I will try on him! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
| cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 11:26 AM
clover girl - 2014-01-17 1:13 PM
I think you need to try a bigger bit at the show. You can always work your way back down when he has a little more experience on him. Maybe a Cervi or a goosetree gag especially if he will work good in an O-ring. Nothing wrong with a light bit, I try to go as light as possible, but you have to have control too.
Thanks! I have a few of both I will try on him!
I agree with this..... He may need an agressive bit for awhile till he stops his BS on the first. He might be to the point where he is being a brat. I had a roping mare that would try to out run the calf. I tried everything and one day my trainer said throw the rope (where ever, it doesnt matter) and when you get close to the calf, pull as hard as you can till you come to a complete stop. (Trust me, I like staying light in the mouth.) I did that about 3 times with a more aggressive bit and she quit doing it. Then I switched her back to the lighter bit and she rated the calf great..... the light bulb came on after she stopped being so bullheaded. Horses are freakin weird. |
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 Left Out
Posts: 6797
Location: Silex Missouri | I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up. Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting. |
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Expert
Posts: 1898
| willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM
I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up.  Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting.
I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though  |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | I also do not think it is an OTT problem. I have ridden and restarted a handful of OTTs and once they learn to give to the bit and once they are retrained to not brace, I have never had the problem again, especially of one no timing because they run off.
I also will agree with the other poster that I've had other horses who WOULD no time and they never set foot on a track. One of them was a cute little cow pony I trained, he tore his check ligament.. we did surgery but he never mentally got over it, or maybe we missed something else, but he too was one where you could do all the slow work you want at home, make a practice run, feel like he's ready to enter- and he totally either run off at the first or duck the second. I sold him to a family with full disclosure, heck they remember all of it. He's a family/kid horse for her daughter and he might lead line the barrels at most.
the other one was a super nice well bred FG granddaughter. out of a super nice female family. Had all the right bells and whistles on her papers and on her handle. couldn't find anything physically wrong with her and my friends told me I was the problem, not her. So I traded her with a barrel horse trainer/seller for a track broke 3YO.
I don't want to be a debbie downer, but IMO if he is worth spending the money on, I would take him to the best vet you can get to, look him over with a fine toothed comb- including radiographs of areas they think are problems. If they can't find anything significant wrong with him, I would send him to the best trainer you can and get their honest opinion. sometimes they don't get over what ever their issue is that makes them break the pattern or lose their head. |
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 2:10 PM
willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM
I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up.  Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting.
I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though
what willyturnit says about bracing is totally true regardless of the previous career or discipline of the horse. If you are holding their head in the alley, and all the way to the barrel- the only thing you can do when it's time to check him is give it back and pull again. So when you give it back for that second, you dump them on their front end, because they are bracing against your hand. Then there is no way you are going to get him back in time to turn the barrel. |
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Left Out
Posts: 6797
Location: Silex Missouri | cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 2:10 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up. Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting. I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though
Start at a walk. Work on one rein stops if it makes you more relaxed that way. Plus, if you are preparing yourself for a run off and tightening up your body then you are sending body signals to him without you probably even noticing it. So, try talking to yourself out loud while you are riding him. Sing a slow song or something. It will help you because you will be working on the lyrics of the song. I know some are readin this thinking "yeah sure sing yourself a song" but it is more about the rythm of the song than anything else.
People forget or maybe dont get that riding a horse and pretty much everything about a horse is rythm. They move in rythm. You have to learn their rythm and work with it. Some horses never really get over the race track training and bracing on the reins. Some get over it and you never have a problem with it. It's about the individual. |
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Expert
Posts: 1898
| willyturnit - 2014-01-17 3:38 PM
cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 2:10 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up.  Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting. I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though
People forget or maybe dont get that riding a horse and pretty much everything about a horse is rythm. They move in rythm. You have to learn their rythm and work with it. Some horses never really get over the race track training and bracing on the reins. Some get over it and you never have a problem with it. It's about the individual.
Thank you so much! I can't wait to start implementing this in his training.
ETA - I'm gonna look like a crazy woman singing to myself at a race but I'm sure going to try it!
Edited by cyount2009 2014-01-17 3:49 PM
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Left Out
Posts: 6797
Location: Silex Missouri | cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 3:47 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 3:38 PM cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 2:10 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up. Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting. I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though
People forget or maybe dont get that riding a horse and pretty much everything about a horse is rythm. They move in rythm. You have to learn their rythm and work with it. Some horses never really get over the race track training and bracing on the reins. Some get over it and you never have a problem with it. It's about the individual. Thank you so much! I can't wait to start implementing this in his training. ETA - I'm gonna look like a crazy woman singing to myself at a race but I'm sure going to try it!
Well don't try to be so loud that it sounds like you are a yodling fool :-) You hear people saying "easy easy" or similar and it's in a rythm. But you might want to impliment it at home and see how it works first. It is mainly to relax you and get into a rythm. But if I did it at a barrel race, well people around here would just think I'm being me! |
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Expert
Posts: 1898
| willyturnit - 2014-01-17 3:51 PM
cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 3:47 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 3:38 PM cyount2009 - 2014-01-17 2:10 PM willyturnit - 2014-01-17 1:53 PM I ride a lot of OT quarter horses. Here is something not many think about. Those horses are taught to run into the bit. So if you are pulling on him with both hands he will probably brace against you and keep going. You need to either go in one handed and do a one handed bump or do more work on getting him to understand a two handed bump. And you might need to teach yourself to not "hold" onto him on the way to your barrel. Get off of the reins and out of his mouth. I am NOT saying you are yanking and pulling but if you are trying to "hold" him in order to rate him you are backing up.  Because he will end up bracing on you hence the down the fence or run off reaction you are getting. I did try to "hold" him at the race to keep him from running off so that makes very good sense to me! You are the second or third person to mention the bracing on my thread. I will be starting this in his slow work immediately. He has a ton of talent and what seems to be a wonderful mind so I am willing to try just about anything to get this corrected! It will be hard for me to break my own habit of two handed to the first though
People forget or maybe dont get that riding a horse and pretty much everything about a horse is rythm. They move in rythm. You have to learn their rythm and work with it. Some horses never really get over the race track training and bracing on the reins. Some get over it and you never have a problem with it. It's about the individual. Thank you so much! I can't wait to start implementing this in his training. ETA - I'm gonna look like a crazy woman singing to myself at a race but I'm sure going to try it!
I am tone deaf and terribly off key as well as incredibly shy and stand-offish so I would try not to draw any attention to myself in the process! But I bet singing under my breath would help me because I am sure that un-knowingly I am gearing up for a run off.
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 Expert
Posts: 1558
Location: TX | A lot of OTT's get flash backs at races. Especially when they get in the alley and hear the speaker. Mine have, I know, related the alley to the starting gate, blast off and think it's the track and forget about their new job and that 1st barrel. It takes a lot of time for some to get it figured out and a lot of reassurance and alley work. You have to really retrain their brain. |
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