need help with welsh cross!! please!!

[horseygurlala]

Hey everyone, this is my first time posting on here. I figured that I would give it try because I desperatley need help with my trainers pony. My trainer just started a lesson barn with a load of great horses. She had bought two welsh cross ponies for her lesson program, them being the only ponies at her barn also. She had asked me to work with the bay gelding about a month and a half ago. Ok so I have been on speedy horses before, which I can handle but this pony is over the top. He is a perfect gentleman on the ground but as soon as you start riding him, it turns into a nightmare. This pony doesn't like to stand still when you mount him or more like when you are "trying" to mount him. So what I normally do is back his butt up into the gate so he can't move back any farther. I only do this because I have no idea what to do to teach him how to stand still. If anyone has advice on the whole mounting thing please let me know!! so now moving on to when i am working him. It takes a very long time to get this pony to settle down enough to do a somewhat sane trot. The whole time I feel like he is anticipating the canter, which half the time i don't even ask of him. He is capable of a nice collected trot but I have only experienced this one time, actually the first time I rode him. Ever since then, it seems that he is running away with me. So I tried halting him at every corner of the ring when I was trotting him. This did not work at all! It seemed like it frustrated him more than anything, and a couple times he would paw the ground or do like a 1 foot off the ground rear on me. When he is cantering he is the same way when he is trotting too, for a pony he is a handful, but aren't they all? My trainer keeps telling me that he just needs to be ridden more often, but last week I rode him three days in a row and saw no change. I really do need help with him, I really would like to someday see him working the beginner lessons but as of right now that will never happen. Please if anyone has any advice whatsoever I will take it!
Thank you!!

[ingela]

Since you say it appears like he's running away from the problem my first question must be, is his back checked.. pain, saddle fitting etc etc.

How old is he.. what is his previous history.. my mum had an islandic who never stod still when she was about to mount him, so she had to devote lots of time towards that - turned out it was because he was direct imported from Iceland and their way of looking as horses is basically transportation, so he had been trained that way.

Have you tried any groundwork w. him, you say he's a perfect gentleman on the ground.. but does that include longreining etc. That may be a good way to get him used to listening to your commands that you can later apply on his back. Maybe he's just more sensitive than the other horses on the school?

I think you're right when you're saying you want him to learn to stand still when mounting. Different things works on different horses.. making it more comfortable for the horse to stand still is what I think you should aim for, be it w. praising him w. your voice, or making him unconfortable when he thinks about mooving.. a firm "no", showing him it makes you upset, or having him walk around in a really really small (uncomfortable) circle around you. With some it works to have them go backwards for longer that they want too, and then lead them back to the right spot. (First make sure where the right starting-point is.. even 10 centimeters in another direction and the horse has won)

I'm sure the other people on the board have some good ideas you can try out too, most important I think is beeing consistant. From reading your writing my suggestion is that you don't even try to ride him if he don't stand still, just practise the standing still and when he does.. that's todays lesson.

Good luck,

Ingela

[horseygurlala]

I'm not sure if he has had his back checked recently, I will have to ask my trainer about that, but that could be a possibility because as you put it, he is running away from the problem. He is a 4 year old welsh quarter horse cross that was purchased in Gettysburg I think. He had already been shown and was jumping courses when my trainer had bought him, but that was just under a year ago, so he had to be around 3 when she bought him. She and I are always commenting on how he and his half brother were started too soon and rushed with certain things. As of right now I have only jumped him over a very very small jump and took him over some poles. He gets extremely excited when the thought of jumping comes, which means that he gets very fast too, so I tend to steer clear of jumping for right now. I have never tried longreining before but that might be a good idea, I would just need to either ask my trainer about it or read up on it. When it comes to lunging, he constantly pulls on the lead and is not very consistent with his pace. I would have to agree that he is definately more sensitive than other horses. Half the time when he hears someone else in the lesson asking their horse to canter (the kissy sound) he thinks that I am asking that of him too. I will try your suggestions with the mounting, I really like your ideas about that.
Thank you so much for your help, it is appreciated!! :)

[ingela]

Good luck with him and let us know how you get on.

Ingela & Eros

http://www.handsonwax.com/eros_large.jpg
Size doesn't matter, you can always climb up a little bit.

[Chantilly Dream]

Sounds like this pony is a bit of a handful and still very young!

I agree with you saying he was started way to young. We have a young mare down on my yard she's only bout 13.2HH and was bought as an "6" year old but it turned out she was only 3 at the time (her previous owner having pulled her teeth to make her look older). She's now just about 4 1/2 and has a bit of an attitude problem. I have ridden her a couple of times for her owner and with gentle but firm handling im sure she will come round.

Not sure how this can help with your gentleman :o the only thing i can suggest is to sit as still and quiet as possible on him, if you are calm and relaxed he might calm down a bit himself.

I hope this helps :)

Chantilly Dream