Pace transitions in round pen and on a lunge

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Dottj

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I am looking for suggestions/advice regarding changes of pace when lunging or round penning my wee man Felix. He works well on either but does seem to prefer to be worked in the round pen. The thing we are struggling with is going from trot down to walk. He will willingly transition up through walk/trot/canter on verbal cues, and will come down to a trot from the canter. But it is a real battle to bring him down to a walk, he would much rather stay trotting all day.

Does anybody have any tips/tricks for me to try please
 
I would try to install his "whoa button" while working on the lead line first and once he has "whoa" on the lead, then move toward lunging. Just walk with him leading him as usual and give your "whoa" command. Give lots of praise when you get a response. Once you have it consistently, give him a little more lead and room and repeat the process. The better he gets, the further away you can let the lead/lunge line out until he his finally lunging.
Also practice "whoa" EVERYWHERE. Walking out of the stall, whoa. Walking to the paddock, whoa. "Whoa" randomly and often with lots of praise. Some people don't like to treat their minis, but I do and I would in this instance in order to establish a solid reward. I would not treat often, but once in a while to reinforce the positive behavior.
Once the walk/whoa on the lunge is solid then work on the trot/whoa.
One thing that helps me when they trot and don't want to come down or stop is to lower my energy and breathe out, then stop moving my feet (I tend to walk small circles as I lunge) and step backward drawing the horse towards me, facing me, if possible. Sometimes this will break up their momentum and get their thought back on what is being asked.
Hope this helps a little. I had a Morgan who was just like you mini, loved to trot on the lunge. I used to get dizzy o_O until we came to an agreement.

ETA: I just reread your.post and see I misunderstood something. I based my answer on my misunderstanding, lol. I thought I read it as you wanted a stop/halt from your guy when it looks like you actually want a walk from him. I need more coffee!
 
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I would try to install his "whoa button" while working on the lead line first and once he has "whoa" on the lead, then move toward lunging. Just walk with him leading him as usual and give your "whoa" command. Give lots of praise when you get a response. Once you have it consistently, give him a little more lead and room and repeat the process. The better he gets, the further away you can let the lead/lunge line out until he his finally lunging.
Also practice "whoa" EVERYWHERE. Walking out of the stall, whoa. Walking to the paddock, whoa. "Whoa" randomly and often with lots of praise. Some people don't like to treat their minis, but I do and I would in this instance in order to establish a solid reward. I would not treat often, but once in a while to reinforce the positive behavior.
Once the walk/whoa on the lunge is solid then work on the trot/whoa.
One thing that helps me when they trot and don't want to come down or stop is to lower my energy and breathe out, then stop moving my feet (I tend to walk small circles as I lunge) and step backward drawing the horse towards me, facing me, if possible. Sometimes this will break up their momentum and get their thought back on what is being asked.
Hope this helps a little. I had a Morgan who was just like you mini, loved to trot on the lunge. I used to get dizzy o_O until we came to an agreement.


Thank you so much for your reply. I probably should have mentioned that he does know "whoa" from all paces, this will bring him to a stop within a couple of strides. He also knows "steady", which I use to slow him down in whichever pace he is in and "pick it up" which will get him to pick up the pace of whatever pace he is in.

I will definitely work on slowing my energy and maybe stopping and standing still for a few seconds to see if that helps bring him down.
 
Cayuse - thank you so much for your advice, it worked perfectly. When I asked him to come down to a walk I sort of did a big sigh to drop my energy and stopped moving, he slowed straight into a walk and as soon as he transitioned to a walk I started to walk myself - a few slow steps then sped up to normal walking speed. I think with a few days practice we will have it sorted.
 

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