Slowing down a roadster horse...

[Annabellarose]

Backstory: I bought a mare at a sale in the fall of 2008 that was supposed to be broke to drive per her sale catalog description. She was also supposed to be pregnant and two different vets from two different practices confirmed to me that she was in foal so I decided not to do anything with her until after she foaled and weaned the foal. Well, she never had a foal (she also never lost a foal and now I know for sure that the only vets in my area suck, yay me!

) and I am just now putting her back to work.

I began easing her back into work by lunging her, then I worked up to ground driving her after I lunge her. Upon beginning to ground drive her I could immediately tell that she had been driven before; by both good attributes and bad. I could tell that she was accustomed to being hitched and run to exhaustion. Her gaits (she has a fantastic "move on" or "road" gait), way of going, as well as her mental state scream that she was primarily used both for pleasure and at shows as a roadster horse. I worked for weeks on assuring her that walking was acceptable (even preferred!) and she seemed to "get it".

I decided to hitch her for the first time last night. She was goldenly patient while I adjusted things for the first time (new horse, new harness, new cart). I ground drove her hitched to the cart for awhile and she did great. I finally decided to sit in the cart and she did great. However, the longer I drove her the more she wanted to go and the faster she wanted to go. She seemed to go happily, but she really wanted to GO and GO FAST! After our drive she was "ramped up" for hours; like she'd been given a stimulant. I know that a nice walk is often the most difficult thing to achieve and, at this point, I really don't have to have a nice walk, I want a better (slower going) mental state. We can concentrate on a nice walk (which I know that she has) later.

Any suggestions? How do you deprogram/reprogram a horse like this?

 

[disneyhorse]

With horses like that, who naturally like to move out and/or are trained that way, it's just going to take time. Just be very patient and reward her for behavior that you want.

As long as she is behaving, I'd let her get a good workout, and then at the end really reinforce walking and relaxing when she's had the edge worked off of her.

Andrea

 

[Mominis]

I would suggest that you give her something to do while being driven that is new and challenging. Try working her around obstacles (barrels, cones, etc) so that she has to slow down and listen to you for the turns and changes of gait. You may also want to consider driving her for just short periods of time and work up to longer workouts when she is more keyed to you. On the drives, work her for a little while and stop her while she is still listening and being rhythmic and resonably controlled. Pretty soon, she should get the idea that going out and doing what you ask at the pace you ask for will get her a nice rest from work until the next day. Just a thought.