Schooling - My horse hates it

[Bertie]

We have a new menage at our yard yippiee :D I thought, I can get some schooling in and think about working towards some little local shows.

How mistaken was I within 1 maybe 2-minutes of being in the school my horse decided that she'd had enough of warming up and walking and took off in canter down the long side and bronco'd when I circled her to say no, very nearly decked me, god only knows how I stayed on. We continued to walk, she did it again I was anything but graceful :( arms and legs everywhere - I was so embarrassed, as YO's 2-daughters were watching me and they are both brilliant riders :eek: eventually after much trotting and circling, she threw in another wobbler, which I stayed on but by this point was thinking please behave.

I did manage at the end of my half an hour to get one good canter out of her, which I asked for and was controlled and easily stopped without any problems.

But what do I do? She does this all the time when schooled I'm told because, it's not a tack problem because she does not misbehave like this when hack out and tack was recently checked.

[EnduranceAli]

Same here :rolleyes: Frayne the Exxie has absolutely no inclination to do schooling. Whether in our neighbour's sand school (which has the added issue of all her horses watching over the fence or neighing across the field - so then Frayne, the most mareish mare ever, throws a fit :eek:), in a field (we live on a 400 acre farm and I have attempted to do a bit of schooling in most fields) or even when she was kept at a busy livery yard and I used the indoor school there - she just plays up after a few minutes, tosses her head, starts going backwards etc. I am nervous and just get off - and get out of there as quickly as possible. Haven't even tried to go in our neighbour's sand school for ages - as even when I tried to do some groundwork, Frayne ended up doing a rodeo impression on the end of the rope. I have arthritis and can't cope physically when she gets strong/silly - so now we just do hacking and I school whilst out on our quiet lanes - transitions, serpentines etc. She is fine out on hacks (well - unless we attempt to hack out with faster horses :eek:), so it is not a tack issue. I think it may be a breed thing - as other Exxie owners have the same problem.

Ali xx

[No_Angel]

I have 2 that hate schooling, thing I do, is just don't school in the field and teach them what I want them to learn out riding.

[JustJas]

I school out hacking. The only time my horses have been in the school this year was as turnout!

[Bertie]

No_Angel I have 2 that hate schooling, thing I do, is just don't school in the field and teach them what I want them to learn out riding.

I've pretty much over the last 2/3 months re-taught her everything through hacking, half halts, transitions, bringing in some lateral work like leg yields etc and she does these fine without issue but in the school she turns into a nutter:eek:

But if she does this in an arena or paddock, I will never be able to compete even at local level if she will just bronco :(

[WonderlandAlice]

What about lunging her first and controlling her paces that way? At least then she's in the school, you're in control and making her work...

[vasey]

Is she out before you ride her or is she stabled before her ride?

Do you do the same thing over and over again? Some horses get bored very quickly!

Try making schooling fun!

When we are breaking our youngetrs we make scholing fun! Do something different everytime!

We usually lunge first to settle them they ad "fun" into schoolig!

[Skyhuntress]

If your horse has an excess of energy, why not let her gallop or hack BEFORE you plan to school and then get down and do 15-20 minutes? You'll mind that her attention span will be a lot better, and perhaps you won't get frustrated or bored either in your schooling. Also, as an experiment, maybe let someone else get on her and see if she does the same thing. If not, then you need to examine what signals or aids you are unconsciously giving out

[PonyGirlAsh]

Is the new menage located anywhere near her stall? I just read that a lot of horses have problems schooling in sight distance to their stalls, as all they can concentrate on is getting back to their stall to see if there is any food in it!!

[Bertie]

Thanks everyone, you've been a great help.

Lunging/Hacking beforehand - I will try this and then use the school after my hack for 15/20-mins then hopefully the excess energy will be gone and she'll be listening to me a bit more.

Arena location: - It is in sight of the yard but she cannot she her stable directly from the school.

Routine - her routine is continually different sometimes we go out straight from the stable, sometimes she's turned out all day then we ride, sometimes she;s turned out, brought in ridden and then turned out again. Just depends on what I'm doing that day.

Letting someone else ride - I'm definitely thinking of letting one or both YO's daughters get on her, cos one of them broke her 9/10-years ago and both can handle anything she throws at her and see if it her or me.

Boredom - she does it as soon as she gets in the arena, we walked half the school changed the rein walked the half again and then started to introduce trot, which is when she went giddy, didn't really have time for her to get bored and I have to work her in slowly as she ca be a little stiff in one of back legs, when first setting off.

[Bertie]

Hi all, thought I would give you all an update on my schooling problem, this weekend I had my 1st lesson on my share, 1/2 an hour in the new menage with my RI who knows my horse a lot better than she knows me.

She picked up a number of faults that I have some I knew some I didn't :eek: But generally it was a great lesson, we spent the 1st 5/10-mins working in, with lots of trotting, bending, circles and concentrating on my position. She then went on to take my stirrups away for the remaining time, which bearing in mind her liking for broncoing I was well and truly convinced I was being decked.

But we managed to go the whole lesson without me being decked, only a couple of minor tantrums which were probably caused by me, not asking for something correctly, even did an unexpected gallop down the long-side (great for when we do out Show hunter classes ;):D) but again that was my fault, I gripped with my knees.

Lots to work on for both of us and I can't wait for our next lesson :D

[Pink's lady]

Some horses do just truely hate schooling.

Brodie is one. I've had lessons on him, tried lots of different approches, had other riding him but he STILL hates it.

He's a good as gold in that he goes where he's asked and at the speed he's asked, but that is it. Does as absolutly little as he can possibly get away with, has to be constantly forced to do what I want. As safe as houses for a novice but because he's too lazy to do anthing else. I (and I'm a compenant rider) can just about get him to walk and trot, streer and stop. Everything is dull and unreponsive. He has one walk pace (crawl) and one trot pace (crabby trotter trot) and is almost impossible to push out of it. He has no enthusiasm what so ever and I usually give up after 10mins of fighting.

Yet he's resposive and good to hack. So we can to a compromise - he did what I wanted and I would only ask him to do things he wanted to do:p. He's now at a trekking centre, which he enjoys.

[Alfies-slave]

"my half hour" ... that could be where the problem lies! Horses don't do clocks. If the horse is bored after 7/11/13 minites of human time then enough is enough carrying on achieves nothing and the horses mind will wander and it will start to think up other exciting things to do.

If schooling is a new thing start off slowly by doing something simple like... after a hack, go in to the school, trot a figure of 8, canter a couple of circles and then LEAVE. That is the key to it, always finish on a positive note.

Build up over weeks and the horse will look forward to doing fun things in the school and being rewarded for its efforts by being allowed to stop working.