Swinging round.

[SarahB]

Hi everyone
Please has anyone any ideas with the following problem. Its a bit complicated so sorry if its not clear;)
When Tri is tied up he very rarley stands at 90degrees to the ring but moves and stands quite happily with his shoulder,flank and quarter touching the wall.
I thought at first that this was new but realised he did it also when he had him on the field when he was tied to the fence.
When I am not around him i didn't see any problem with it just thought he wanted a better view rather than having his back end in the yard.
Obviously when I am around him for grooming, tacking up etc it is dangerous. He will stand for a little, I will be along his flank and he will turn his hind quarters in. I have two options. Get out of the way or ask him to stop and move back over.
I guess with horse language if I move away he has dominated me ie made me move.
He doesn't always responde to 'move over' I try pressure and release methods but in panic mode dont always make it clear:o
Ive tried pushing both arms....he pushes harder ie not yielding to pressure. I've tried poking him repeatedly where your heal would go...while saying or probably shouting over:D
Ive not been hurt but need to help him learn not to do this.
Also once he is along the wall and I need to groom or get to that side I cant think how to turn him. Dont want to stand at the back and ask for over as he does raise his hip and kick back sometimes.
Ive been sqeezing down from his head asking,pushing down his flank.
Its all a bit of a battle. Ive been doing ground work. leading, backing up, disengaging the hind quarters etc maybe I just must do more work on this. I need to disengage his guarters away from the wall but there is not enough room to get to the side of this head and shoulder.
Ive been undoing him walking him round and tieing him up again.
Sorry this may not make sense and is very long.
Please help if you can
Thanks
Sarah:(

[galadriel]

Sounds like you should do some work on "over" before you tie him, and then right after you tie him (since you said he will stand for a little while). It will probably be easier to keep at it until he responds before you tie him (be sure to reward *immediately* so he knows when he's done what you want). Once he seems to get the idea, you can tie him and work on it with him tied.

Ah...I don't know if this is your horse or a school horse. If he's your horse, you may want to spend several days' worth of sessions *just* working on "over." It's a very important concept for a lot of things, not least your own safety (which you've already recognized).

In addition to "over," you may also want to teach "stand." With the combination of the two of them, I think your gromming sessions would be much more pleasant. If he will "stand" until you "over" him, you shouldn't have any problems ;) Stand is a concept to build up to, though; when a horse is new to a concept, I don't expect him to be able to hang on to it for a long time. I tend to gradually increase the amount of time I expect a horse to "stand," working froma few moments to a minute to a few minutes, etc.
http://trainersnotes.lorienstable.com/voice_commands/stand.html

[Lucy J]

i've taught ciara quite well 2 move over, what you may find might help is if instead of just using your hands where your heel would go, if you turn his head towards you at the same time, pull him round so to speak.

[welshcoblady1]

being squashed by your horse is no fun and can be dangerouse.
there are several options open to you .
replace his tie ring to the middle of the box away from the corner.
Work on him out side asking him to move over by bringing his head and neck round to you whilst placing a couple of fingers in a soft area ,as his head and neck turn towards you he will do a righting reaction and move his back end away from you to realine his body in to a straight line ,work both sides untill he will move over just by touching his ribs or where your leg would rest .

when he attemps to squash you ,you must make him feel uncomfortable such as applying pressure behind the elbow in fast stabbing action this will feel uncomfortable but as soon as he attemps to move away stop the pressure and give him a scratch .
if he really means to squash you, you can stand on his coronet band or tap him on the cannon bone with your foot and keep applying the pressure untill he moves .

because horse lean in to pressure all the pushing and shuving will not get him to move away .if you get stuck and you can reach his head pull his head and neck to wards you the more you bend him he will turn his body away to straighten up .

most horses are handled from the nr side it is worth working and handling your horse from both sides for such reason as squashing problems .

a true squasher has to be handled a different way in which i will not disguss in this post .

some times horse start to lean on the grooming brush and starts to do so before you have chaged sides this is just his way of showing enjoyment from the grooming but should not be allowed to turn in to a habit as it can then turn into squashing you .

other options are to tie the horse up in an open space like out side the box or chang e the tie ring place so it is not in any corners .

with ground work out side th box you can teach him to turn by bringing his head and neck to wards to for this this lesson no point in turning him away from you .

or you could ask him to step back so that you can go underneath his neck to the other side and then ask him to move away from you.
repitition is the answer to this problem and working him with ground work for a nicer manner and a black and white understanding of you do not come into my space unless invited ,
which in turn keeps us safe .