standing quietly

[jc]

Now that you all helped me with my last problem, I am going to throw another out and see what everyone says... How do you teach your horse to stand quietly? I have heard trainers that say you have to tie them up for hours! My 6 yr G/Qh is so fidgity that he doesnt even like to be groomed anymore(anymore as in when he was here at the house he was fidgity but not as bad cause of less distractions I guess). He has been moved to a new barn in the last 3 months (nowhere to ride here) and is getting buddy sour. This morning I fed them both and let the mare out first, then got Simba and tied him up where he could see her (eating hay, probably a mistake, they were probably 20 ft apart) and started to clean him up. He moved and squirmed and looked at me like" you want me to do WHAT?" He has a bad habit of chewing the lead rope he is tied to. He knows better cause if I "give him the look" while doing it he starts to stop. I did try to groom him in the stall while he was eating but he didnt like that. I know it has been a long winter with no contact except feeding and grooming but... he just doesnt seem to like me to mess with him anymore. I am a bit hestitant to start all this training to get his head down that we have been talking about because of his attitude. Thanks , Jill

[Miriam]

I know that problem. Rhianna is very impatient when tied up. I was told the same as you but it did not do Rhi any good. I have found that she is better to tack up in the stable. If I tack her up outside then I seem to chase her round with the saddle.


Miriam

[horselover]

I know that some people would recommend that you leave your horse tied up, but I know that if someone did that to me to make me sit still, I would just get more frustrated and upset every minute. Just like people, some horses are more ancy than others.

I find that, especially for horses like this, cross ties are much better at keeping them still. A lead rope allows too much freedom of movement. Also, try to tack up as quickly as possible. Don't stop to chat with people or get distracted.

i would also try to tie up more often too get your horse more comfortable with it. Don't leave him there for a long time, just about 5 or 7 minutes while you groom him. Let him learn that he may need to stand still for a little while, but you won't forget about him.

Horses are very picky about what you do to htem when they are eating. i am not surprised that he was angry with you for attemting to tack him up when he was munching on dinner. We would probably get aggravated if someone was trying to do something to us during our dinner time. He also might have thought you were going to take him away from his food- something that can actually be dangerous with some horses as they get very angry and will defend their food at all costs.

Try tacking him up in his stall when he has no food. It might work better that way.

Hope this helps- let us know!!

[jc]

I wasnt tacking him up when he was eating, only grooming him. It was back in December when it was REALLY cold and I was trying to get two things done at once! I have tried the crossties but we made them too short and there isnt any slack in the line and he felt claustriphobic. We are working on some longer ones with some slack, maybe that will help. I always tack him up and go so he isnt left standing around waiting. I dont know what his problem is but I am going to start tying him up and messing with him more ofter since the weather is getting nicer.

[Jus]

I was wondering if it could be that he doesn't like being groomed. Some horse's have sensative skin and don't like you using a brush on them.

I knew a TB who was 13 at the time and he just started getting worse and worse, he even resented being brushed with a soft body brush. We stopped brushing him and just used a grooming glove and picked the big lumps of mud off by hand or even washed him if he was that bad and now he will stand untied and half asleep while you groom him.

Bring out the brush again and he goes back to ears back, biting kicking, swinging around , scraping the floor etc.

regards

jus

[floppy]

my cousins horse is figity when tied up and sits and chew the lead rope too...so i always have to make sure its done up securly so he doesnt undo it and start wondering aroudn the yard...but with grooming...there are a few places he doesnt like being groomed and really you have to remember that if you are too harsh with a brush horses decide not to like it...and if you too gentle it may actually be that you are tickling him/her..
maybe you should look at parelli to de-sensitised your horse?

[Outrider]

I was recently working with a lady who had an appaloosa that wouldn't stand still. Not for tacking up, grooming or mounting. It takes time and patience, but it can be overcome. I began with tying the horse up short to a fence as I worked with him. At no time did I just leave him stand there for more than a few minutes. With tacking up, I approached him from the front at an angle. It seemed to me that as the lady approached him from the side carrying the saddle, this may have frightened him since she had him tied up and he really couldn't see what was coming. I started coming to him from the front, gently talking and moving slowly with each piece of equipment. It took me several days, but I eventually got him to stand to be saddled and brushed.It was probably a week or more of just putting the saddle on and taking it off. Brushing and grooming and saddling. No riding at all. He eventually realized that this was going to happen whether he liked it or not. At first, I did whack him a time or two in the barrel with the flat of my hand and a firm STAND command. I didn't have to do that very much though. New home, equine buddies and such all distract a horse a lot. You need to keep him focused on you with your voice and actions. Doing things slowly and with patience and a soft voice usually helps. Happy Trails!

[floppy]

you know...i also did soemthing similiar with my cousins horse...he is 5yrs old and is quiet a big chap for my cousins 14yr old daughter(which i may add is extremely stubborn and selfish and spends more time riding than my cousin does...) anywya...she just aproaches the hrose inconsiderately and throws the saddle on the the hrose and whacks the girth up as tight as possible...even when she still got to but the bridle on or wait a few minutes until her lesson and hence this had made the hrose aggitated when soemone approaches him from behind with the saddle and trys to put it on him...he also tries to bite when you try to do the girth up btu once its done then he is fine...
hwoever my cousin went away during the sumemr for amontha dn i got to look after him everyday so i htought i might aswel try and get him to accpet his saddle...
after pateince...lots of talking and approaching the horse from infrotn instead of behind with the saddle..i woudl let the hrose sniff the saddle and then gently palce the saddl eon his back and then once he realised it meant no harm i took it off...i repeated this until he accepted the saddle and stood still...then i worked ont eh girth...and he tried to bite...but after he realised i wasnt going to suffocate him he accepted it more..as i did the girth up one hole at a time slowly and do soemthing else and then come back and tighten it up one more hole..etc..by the end of the 4 weeks he was an absolute angel to put the saddle by the end of a 2wks he was also an angle but still needed the ongoing encouragement that this saddle was not a threat...but no the little evil cousins daughter is back in town he is still a bit 'scared' of the saddle and always moves away but i still do everything getnly and slowly and talked to my cousin's daughter about it and he is getting better! :) just thought i would share one of my few acheivements in trying to cure a probelm :)

[Edited by floppy on 7th Mar 2001 at 11:30 PM]

[horselover]

i rode a different horse than Rascal at my lesson tonight, and he didn't want to stand still either. Lucky kept moving around and backing as far as the crossties would permit. Part of it was because it was feeding time at the zoo and he knew it. But whenever he backed up a step, I made my "dissapproval noise" and made him walk up a step. If he moved again, I did it again. It took longer to tack up than usual, and since the kids who ride him sometimes don't know what they are doing, it was probably a waste of time. But I did get him to stand for me finally!

Oh, and it is a good idea to let sensitive horses sniff any object that you are using/putting on them. it only takes a second, but it helps the horse. I always let Rascal see the curry, brush, pick, saddle, etc before I touch him with them. He smells them and gives me the go ahead- only then do I move to his side to put the object on him. I do this with every horse I ride, and it seems to help, especially fidgety horses.

[jc]

Hello all! Thanks for the input. Today was going to be the big day to start some work as I found out the other mare there is going to be having a "real" trainer come and work on her also.But... I ended up having to work and have to tomorrow too, so I guess I will have to wait. I am really excited to try all this new wisdom out and see what we can get done. I guess I will try out the full cheek snaffle again and see what happens. Does anyone know about a thing called a 'keeper" that you attach to the top side of the cheek bar thingy that keeps the snaffle in position? In alot of the english tack catalogs I have, the horses have a snaffle on but there is a little loopy thing that attaches to the side bar thingy. Does this make sence? Remember this is a full cheek snaffle. The trainer that I have used in the past didnt say anything about that when he advised me to get it. The keeper is part of the bridle from what it looks like in the catalog.You USA people it is in the State Line Tack catalog.Is this necessary for it to work properly? I think Heathers advice about the pelham makes sense. I may go with that if this doesnt work. Thanks, jill

[Showjumper]

TTeam is, as usual my answer. Clouded Leopard TTouch regularly will help relax him. Tying him up for hours will frustrate him and cause him to make trouble in order to relieve the boredom. A friend of mine tied her pony up outside once and forgot about her and the pony untied herself, and the three next to her, jumped into the field of the farmer next door and ran riot with the cows until we got an angry phone call at the yard, “A small chestnut pony is winding up my cattle – please remove it!” For getting over a cold back, or just to encourage the horse to accept the saddle, use belly thrusts. Get someone to help you with this one! Get a long, soft towel, and fold it lengthways until it’s only a few inches thick. Position it where you would the girth, and on the count of three, both of you raise it gently for a count of four, hold for a count of four, then release for a count of six. Agree in advance which person will count, and which will drop the towel if he shies. After a while, try belly thrusts while the saddle is on the back. Bring the girth round, and do belly thrusts with the girth while holding the saddle still. This is also useful if your horse blows itself out! :) Good luck!

[Sarah]

hello!

I think a keeper is used to add a bit of leverage to the poll when you use the reins, to make the bit sort of act like a gag rather than a normal snaffle. I know that keepers (if that is the name for the thing I am thinking of)aren't allowed in dressage tests for that reason.

If you horse is working happily enough in the full cheek snaffle without the keepers then there is no reason to get them - after all it is just more leather to clean!

bye!

[jc]

Sarah,
Thanks again. Jill

[horselover]

With a full cheek snaffle, you often use keepers to keep the bit from twisting around as a result of the side bars. You ever notice how the side bars don't always point up, sometimes out, sometimes in. Well, that's b/c there isn't anything holding them.

[olympicprincess]

Yes keepers are allowed in dressage (USA).
They are not necessary for all horses though.

You'll want to be ready with all your equipment before you bring in the horse(as mentioned before).

You may need to take breaks, reward him for behaving or before he gets bad. just one little stroll down the aisle relieves tension.

be sure to correct, don't wait until he gets dangerous while tied. Many people have been hurt- a trainer in NY was killed when his horse kicked out and struck his chest. This was a horse "that never kicked". I've heard of horses flipping over while being tied.

I used to put a chain on my mare's nose(bought her out-of control). When she started acting up, she got a little pop, she figured it out very quickly. I had tried being nice & easy with her, but she was so set in her ways, she didn't improve- she was getting dangerous for me to be around. We also took breaks to chill out. She benefited greatly from breaks- even with the farrier. You'd never know that she was a wild child a few years back. I looked at her as a baby, she needed to learn all ground manners.

So your safety comes first- even if the horse is flipping over in the cross-ties. And give it time, it won't happen right away. Good luck.