Advice needed

[BM Miniatures]

Im having a few issues with my new filly.

When I try and trot her up next to me she takes off bucking, kicking and rearing, or stops and doesn't want to move forward resulting in rearing. She won't trot next to me, just drags behind then suddenly will take off and run into the back of me! She toses her head around like a na-na and just goes plain silly!

If we go near or past any other horses she tries to boot me and then starts rearing etc.

I have tryed using a bum rope and she still rears and starts bucking.

I have my first show on Saturday and I have no idea if im going to beable to get her around the ring!

Any Advice or Tips would be greatful!

 

[miniaddiction]

Uh Oh Amy!

Beleive me I am NO expert but I have been dealing with similar stuff over the last 7 weeks with my filly.

She was wild when I got her though so she was reacting more out of fear than stroppiness but I'll tell you my experience anyway...

When we went to walk forward she would rush ahead of me and do this leaping jumping acrobatic thing

:

Then she did the opposite..wont budge! I would pull on her and she would rear. It was really frustrating and its easy to get upset about it.

It takes time and patience but I just used to stop, wait for her to get over it and then proceed calmly. If we had the same problem I stopped again and ignored her..and so on until she decided that was boring and walked calmly. When she did a good job I overpraised her.

Then when I began to teach her to trot I had the exact same problem only 10x worse! I found what worked really well was doing the waiting thing but also a tug on the halter and a woah. Then if they get silly and run into you, make them go backwards and then give them a rub between the eyes whilst they are out of your space, then ask them to come forward again...

Like I said they take lots of time and patience these smarty pants babies

: Ive seen those videos of your filly and she sure is spunky, full of attitude just like mine is now that she has gotten over her fear.

Hopefully that helps, Ive probably told you heaps you already know but I know how frustrating it is to be in bother and not have help.

My little girl has gone from being untouchable and terrified to sweet and full of herself in such a short amount of time..these babie do love to learn.

Goodluck and keep us posted with how you get on.

Helen

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Cancel the show- I would still go if you are taking the boy but count on not taking the filly ion the ring.

If she is like that at home the show will blow her mind!!!

You just have a lot of quiet, steady work ahead of you, that is all.

You will get there but you have to go slowly.

What sort of turnout does she have, and what are you feeding her???

 

[BM Miniatures]

yea, The first thing I taught her was Woah. I think we have that in the bag, so when she goes all silly I drop the halter pressure and tell her to woah. She stops and licks her lips. We then try proceed and we get about 2-3 steps before we have to stop again as she has lost the plot.

I am so nervous about the show its not funny, I get uptight and stressed very easily so I need to make a plan on how I can relax as this energy will pass on to her and make things 100 X worse!

anyone else got some tips how I can relax in a show situations??.................. :no:

 

[BM Miniatures]

Cancel the show- I would still go if you are taking the boy but count on not taking the filly ion the ring.

If she is like that at home the show will blow her mind!!!

You just have a lot of quiet, steady work ahead of you, that is all.

You will get there but you have to go slowly.

What sort of turnout does she have, and what are you feeding her???

Do you think I should take her just to have a look around but not go in the ring??

She gets a small feed in the morning cosisting of, ChaffHage, Salt, Garlic, NRM Asset(Yearling/foal complete feed) is on a dry lot for the day, gets some grass for 2-3 hours, then stabled for the late afternoon/night with another small feed.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Not enough roughage there unless I am missing that she is stalled with hay at night??

Yes, take her to the show and take each step at a time- do not take her in the ring unless you are 100% sure that she will be OK-and I am guessing that she will not be.

You are just going too fast, that is all.

Deep breath before you go in the ring, tell yourself, you have a choice, you can go home.

That is what I do and it works- just relax!!!

 

[BM Miniatures]

Not enough roughage there unless I am missing that she is stalled with hay at night??

Yes, take her to the show and take each step at a time- do not take her in the ring unless you are 100% sure that she will be OK-and I am guessing that she will not be.

You are just going too fast, that is all.

Deep breath before you go in the ring, tell yourself, you have a choice, you can go home.

That is what I do and it works- just relax!!!

Yep she gets hay in her stall

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Great stuff- now go and get some herbal calmer for yourself!!!

 

[kaykay]

Are you holding the lead tight?? Otherwise known as the death grip??

Especially when halter training new horses its important that you not do that. That sets you and the horse up for failure. It all comes down to pressure on pressure off. If you have constant pressure on by holding her tightly under the chin then shes going to fight you. Leannas gelding was doing that and once i showed her to relax that lead he was so much better. Only tighten when shes doing something wrong. Otherwise it should be nice and loose. This also teaches her not to crowd you.

Also try backing her up when she misbehaves.

 

[HGFarm2]

If you are doing the above suggestions and indeed you are not keeping to much pressure and you have been at this for awhile then I would say it could just be she is being a spoiled brat. Was she halter broke when you got her? Does she just do this when you go to trot and does she walk fine otherwise? If you have done everything right then I would say if you could do it safely and you would have to be careful of her head, but the next time she reared up like that, I would be tempted to pull her right over. She won't completly associate it with you, she is going to wonder why she pulled her little antic and it backfired. Horses don't like falling and if she thinks that everytime she goes straight in the air that she is going to fall, she will stop it. My 14 hand POA went through a rearing up about everything phase from rearing up and running backwards out of the trailer, dragging you with her, rearing up when you would try to get on, rearing up when you were on and she was not getting her way, although under saddle she would rear and then leap through the air like a lippazzaner. For the rearing and running backwards thing when we should have been well through all of the stuff and I knew she knew better I did try pulling her over, however she is pretty smart and outweighs me by a lot so I could not get her over. Instead we put a stud chain on (under the chin) and when she would rear up and run backwards we would give her some good jerks and make her continue to go backwards yelling no at her the whole time. She got over the rearing real quick. The lipazzaner routine earned her a grand prize of (while being about midflight and all 4 feet off the ground) a set of spurs dug in so that she figured out real quick that when she pulled that routine something was going to get her and it hurt. I made sure I gouged her hard enough she felt it good. (no I did not break skin)

She got over the rearing thing and it did not sour her to a chain because she still showed in the ring with a chain under her chin and did not have a problem or was not afraid of it. She knew when she was bad it could inflict pain and as long as she was good it was just there and did nothing. She got to where she actually looks forward to going places and now I have to keep her from dragging me accross the yard to get in the trailer. I can throw the rope over her neck and from about 20 feet or more away, she will run and jump in the trailer ready to go. Sometimes when nothing else works you just got to get a little tougher. There are those horses who will try like heck to out think you and if you give an inch they take a mile.

Jennifer

 

[kenna]

My yearling gelding did this last year, but with consistent work, he just grew out of it, I guess. Now he trots very nicely next to me. I agree with the pressure thing. When I'm training, if he doesn't want to move, I hold pressure on him until he takes a step forward, and then I release ALL pressure and praise. Just being consistent and doing the same thing every time no matter what helped him tons.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

Well if it were me I would go ahead and take her to the show for sure. Sounds like both of you need to get out and about to calm your neves ( Ok i still wanna throw up every time I go into the show ring)

if you go knowing that you are going for schooling for both you and your horse and not to take it to serious you will be fine.

In fact sometimes with a more timid horse(even the bratty type of timid) I find they are much better away in a different situation and tend to listen better since you are the only thing that is familiar to them

 

[~Karen~]

I don't have alot of ideas or answers, but an old schooled friend of mine nearly 15 years ago had purchased a 3 yr. old Q.H. that as we were working out for trail, decided he wanted to rear up. So his ground work was to tie the reins down low to the saddle with the chain chin strap. A horse can't rear up if he can't get his head up, so while on lead, if the horse tried to rear up the reins would hold his head down and the chain chin strap put the uncomfortable pressure on. Next, he rode with 2 sets of reins, one tied as mentioned and the 2nd set for his own use as he rode, then he went to a martingale and finally was able to ride completely without any rearing.

Maybe something in this is of benefit, otherwise you can toss it. :~)

I wish you the best in working with your horse. Hopefully it won't take long for his silliness to straighten out for you. Sounds to me like he is testing his limits with you. Call his bluff, make him walk circles until he's sick of it each time, or something, so he knows you're meaning it's serious business and there are rules.

If you do take him to the show, please come back and tell how you all did! I'd love to hear. :~)

~Karen

 

[miniaddiction]

Amy, Please go to the show! You will be so happy you did. What show is it? I have one on Sunday.

Seriously there is nothing better than experience for a horse like this. I was soooo scared about my first show with this filly and almost backed out. When we arrived she was a holy terror, and when we were in the ring she was perfect. I suggest take your show halter and all your gear and be prepared to show.. you never know what will happen.

When I am driving in the gate at shows I practically drink rescue remedy. Works a treat. And remember to breathe, you will be fine, your horses look fabulous and you will do great!

Cant wait to hear how it goes..

Helen

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

of course be very careful but we had to do that pull-him-over-backward thing with my APHA colt when he was a yearling... my husband did it, 3 times in a row so i guess he was a little thick-headed but that one session was all it took. i was just happy NOT to be there! although we had the same issue with fly-spray, he pitched such a fit about being sprayed he fell down taking me with him, i landed on top so i just stayed there and had my daughter spray him ( and me LOL) head to foot with an entire bottle of water (we practice with water so that we can safely spray for as long as we need till the horse stops fighting or realizes it won't hurt)

 

[BM Miniatures]

I have only had her 2 weeks and she was just pulled out of the paddock when I baught her so she has done nothing really. I feel I am pushing things to fast for both of us.

This is a big show with an american judge which freaks me out even more as the competition will be tough!

I have been applying pressure if she does somthing naughty and I realese the pressure once she has stopped being an egg. I have no pressure(floppy lead) otherwise. Sometimes she won't even walk forward let alone trot with out doing something stupid.

I will take her and my gear and will decide once we are there if I will go a head with the show plans or just get her used to her surroundings and not show.

Thanks for all your help

 

[miniaddiction]

Wow only two weeks! Thats not long at all... Good for you giveing it a go Amy. Best of Luck

 

[Chamomile]

One other thing... Are you paying attention to where you are when she stops. By that I mean, are you right beside her shoulder, a little in front of her, or a little behind her shoulder? I have found that they really want us right beside their shoulder. It gets confusing if we get too far forward or too far back. Plus if you are right beside her, she can't get out in front of you or kick you either. Just try paying attention to where you are when she suddenly puts on the brakes, you just may be a little too far in front of her shoulder and she doesn't like it! Also if you are right beside her, when she goes to take off, just take her around in a circle and then keep walking as though nothing is going wrong. She might get bored if she has to just keep walking. If she can't get away with her silliness she just might pull right out of it! If she stops and won't move, stand at her shoulder and reach around behind yourself with the rope, so she can't see it coming and give her a soft pop on the rear with it. Be ready to pull her around in a circle and then confidently walk off in a straight line. I hope some of this helps

: Good luck at your show!

 

[tristan]

Well if it were me I would go ahead and take her to the show for sure. Sounds like both of you need to get out and about to calm your neves ( Ok i still wanna throw up every time I go into the show ring)

if you go knowing that you are going for schooling for both you and your horse and not to take it to serious you will be fine.

In fact sometimes with a more timid horse(even the bratty type of timid) I find they are much better away in a different situation and tend to listen better since you are the only thing that is familiar to them

I have to agree took my little girl's mare to both of their first shows back in October and the mare really did suprise me she was so well behaved I couldn't believe she was ours she is shyish at times but now she is just standoffish. The mare thing I'm hoping because now she is just a braat for us sometimes. Still working on her to see why she has lost her trust in us. Back to square one once again.