What can I do in 'walk'?

[bicky]

Hi all, some of you may know, Kinzzy has spat the dummy big time schooling wise but as I was short of time tonight I took her in the school for a little while. In walk she was fine but when I asked for trot she started bucking, so she is reminding me that she has still spat the dummy. Fair enough!!

I don't mind just walking her in the school but wondered what beneficial exercises I could do with her whilst I am in there. I have worked on transitions to halt etc, and stopping her using only my body but could do with a few more ideas please.

I then took her up the road in trot and she didn't buck once, so please dont think that her tack doesn't fit or her back/teeth haven't been checked. Kinzzy has had all these checks as and when needed. She is very precious to me.

Any ideas would be great, I wont be doing this all the time. Its just when its school hols I dont have as much time and the school is there under my nose so I may as well use it. I don't want it turning into a schooling session though as Kinz will not be happy!! ;D

[domane]

What about serpentines and circles with no reins??? LOL.... that way you have to rely on your seat and leg aids to ask her.... when I was at my old yard with good facilities I once manage a 3-loop serpentine with no reins.... such a small thing but it was a great achievement for me to have been able to describe what I wanted with my legs and butt :p. What about walk to halt transitions with no reins?

You say she bucks when you trot her and you also said in a different thread that she is a little sluggish (bored?) with schooling. Have you tried "Five and five"? Five paces walk, five paces trot, then back to five paces walk and so on.... I found that was a really good one for getting my mare to focus on me and not on what was happening in that field over yonder or that group of girls who happened to be walking past the school, etc!!! She began to anticipate what I was going to ask and it really helped keep her awake and focussed. You can pick your numbers, you could do 6 walk and 4 trot, but you have to set the numbers in your head and count and aim to change gait on the right count. Good fun :)

[sheryl]

Hi,
How about :- leg yielding, shoulder in.
-spiralling in and out, keeping circle as perfect as possible
-bending, either with obstacles or without, making sure she
IS actually bending around your inside leg
-desensitisation work - walking over, around and past
scary obects
-turns on the forehand and hindquarters:)

How old is she, by the way?

[bicky]

Great ideas, I will give them a go in the next week or so.

Kinzzy is rising 7 this year, she was born in the September so she was a late foal, bless her! Our school is deep too, so this doesn't help matters.

[SJ_Superstars]

perhaps she would prefer going out for walks on hacks?

R x

[S_F_S]

I think you've summed everything up in your final sentance, it seems you know your horse very well and understand her little tantrums!

So - if she's finding 'other things to do' when going around the school (can just imagine her saying eeeerrr booorrr - ing!!) then you need to try and 'fool her' into doing schooling! Lots of oppurtunities out hacking - turns on the forehands in gateways, can practice your transitions almost anywhere, erm too much to mention!

Does she jump? Perhaps you can work on some jumping and can pop bits of schooling in between - my splodgey-pony is the same, if I suggest going around in circles he starts throwing toys within 10 minutes, but by incorporating jumps or poles every couple of minutes it tricks him into doing the boring circles bit!!