How do you....

[Ferrah]

My two year old gelding Spyder has gotten into the rather irritating habit of swinging his hindquarters out when he stops, or is standing still.

I will try to ease back on the halter evenly and straight and he will either swing his hindquarters away while we are stopping, or he will do it once we have stopped. I have tried to correct him by getting him back into the position he should be in but he always swings his hindquarters out.

If I tell him to whoa, he will stand still where I put him, but he stills swings his hindquarters out after awhile...and I keep putting him back...and he does it again. This will continue for a long time. I have been working with him on this for fifteen to twenty minutes a day and I have not seen any improvement!

He will stand and whoa for a very long stretch of time if he has his hindquarters shifted out.

I don't even know how this problem started in the first place. He yearling brother Cinnabar doesn't do it at all.

What's the problem, and how can I fix it? We went to our first Miniature Horse club schooling show and this probelm just drove me crazy to no end. First of all he was a bit on edge because Spyder is only two and this was only his thrid time away from home. So he was a bit full of it and he was trying to be fast and get a bit spunky, but he was bahving reasonably well.

But every single time we stopped he'd swing his hindquarters around! It just drove me nuts. I was even more upset by it because I don't know why he does it, or how I can fix it! The more I try to make him stand still nice and straight beside me the faster he goes round.

When I finally do get him to stop (with his hindquarters turned out....) he will stand there and paw like crazy. He doesn't paw at home when we pratcice, just away from home.

I could really use some help on this, any advice is appreciated!

 

[smlotsocats]

My two year old gelding Spyder has gotten into the rather irritating habit of swinging his hindquarters out when he stops, or is standing still.

I will try to ease back on the halter evenly and straight and he will either swing his hindquarters away while we are stopping, or he will do it once we have stopped. I have tried to correct him by getting him back into the position he should be in but he always swings his hindquarters out.

If I tell him to whoa, he will stand still where I put him, but he stills swings his hindquarters out after awhile...and I keep putting him back...and he does it again. This will continue for a long time. I have been working with him on this for fifteen to twenty minutes a day and I have not seen any improvement!

He will stand and whoa for a very long stretch of time if he has his hindquarters shifted out.

I don't even know how this problem started in the first place. He yearling brother Cinnabar doesn't do it at all.

What's the problem, and how can I fix it? We went to our first Miniature Horse club schooling show and this probelm just drove me crazy to no end. First of all he was a bit on edge because Spyder is only two and this was only his thrid time away from home. So he was a bit full of it and he was trying to be fast and get a bit spunky, but he was bahving reasonably well.

But every single time we stopped he'd swing his hindquarters around! It just drove me nuts. I was even more upset by it because I don't know why he does it, or how I can fix it! The more I try to make him stand still nice and straight beside me the faster he goes round.

When I finally do get him to stop (with his hindquarters turned out....) he will stand there and paw like crazy. He doesn't paw at home when we pratcice, just away from home.

I could really use some help on this, any advice is appreciated!

 

[smlotsocats]

Ooops, sorry about the above reply, kinda went too fast. Anyway, when I used to show my APHA colt in halter he would do the same thing. My trainer gave me some great advice. As you come to a halt, gently push his head away from you, to the right and hold it. Don't push so hard as to turn him into a noodle, just enough to keep him straight. I don't know how easy this would be with a mini because the big horses heads are right there next to you. It keeps them straight on track. I still use that technique when I get horses swinging their butts over like that. Also with the big horses we are holding the lead right there next to the head, I'm not sure how the mini's show but you could probably improvise a way to do it. When you first do it, try pushing the head over a little more than you would like and then slowly back off so that when you get him used to it, all it will take is a slight touch to keep him focused and straight. Good luck!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Start by walking up to a halt between two straw bales.

Take the bales further and further apart until he is obeying the command "stand straight" (or whatever)

Once you are sure he is obeying the command take the bales away and use poles on the ground.

Repeat the procedure until the poles are far too wide apart to be doing anything.

Take one pole away and see what happens.

If all is well remove the other pole and draw lines in the sand (I am serious!!)

This gives YOU a visual aid but hopefully not the horse.

Try not to skip any stage or go too fast, even if you are sure he is learning fast.

Keep the command simple and stick to it.

Be sure he is understanding before you move on.

Practise a perfect halt and stand square at the same time.

Make sure each lesson is no more than a few minutes- short and sweet each time and off to do some round penning.

You can do lots of short lessons in one training session but not any long lessons.

You know all that, though

:

Remember re-training a horse is far more difficult than training him- if he backslides go back immediately to a step before and remind him.

 

[kaykay]

has he been trained to give to pressure? if he has its an easy fix. you just touch the hip and he should move it right back over

 

[bitsy]

I've run into this problem with a few of my show horses, big and little. If you walk him along close enough to a fence line or the walls in the barn aisle way and ask him to halt on and off several times as you walk, keep him close enough to the fence or wall that he can't swing his rear end away from you. I try to do it really casually, just walk along and ask him to stop every so often. It'll take some time but he'll get out of the habit. It's worked well for me. Good luck, I know this is frustrating

:

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Keep in mind that you are attempting to teach him to stop straight.

NOT correcting him when he goes wrong

If you can avoid him ever going wrong again, the need to correct will not arise.

 

[txminipinto]

I have found that when you stop and then look over your shoulder to see if the horse has stopped this causes the horse to move away from you. I've caught myself doing this at home as well when I'm training. One thing I always try to do is say "whoa" before I actually come to a complete stop, give steady pressure on my chain, and look straight ahead. I have 4 horses in training for obstacle and showmanship and this seems to keep them straight. I would also do like the others said, working along a rail so they can't swing their hip over as far.