SLOOOOOOOOOW Horse!!!

[Sunshine*]

Hey everyone!! I'm in DESPERATE need of help getting my slow horse to pick up his pace....

It's just his walk that is so slow.... I swear that he falls asleep!!!! I've tried kicking...I've tried tapping him with a leather strap.... I've tried noices... I've tried tapping him on the bum with my hand....

I'm HIGHLY against the use of any sort of whip/crop.... but I think that's what it's coming to.... he's making hacks VERY difficult and boring....

[Perfect Pony]

OATS!!!!

Also try doing some different things with him to make him more excited and full of impulsion, like take him on a hack where he has never been, do some strange jumps, put up some exciting things in the school to tackle like raised trotting poles, slalem course, gymkhana games etc, this should get him back with a bit more sprite!!!
:)

[No_Angel]

Schooling helps! :)
My cob was very slow until I schooled him more, not he gets a bit of a spurt on.

[Hana915]

isn't tapping him on the bum and with a leather strap kinda similar to using a schooling whip yet you say your against whips..... You only have to tickle them with it and they spring into action. If you back up a leg aid with a tickle with a schooling whip he will soon learn to respond to your leg. wouldnt you rather give your horse a tap with the whip rather than keep kicking and kicking, you would both gte more out of it. I ride a lazy horse and i just give him a little flick with my schooling whip and he does what i ask him, its much easier than wasting all my energy kicking, and in my opinion more nicer for the horse!

[Casey76]

I guess you're still riding Western? If your reins (assuming they're split) are long, you can use one as a 'wip-wop'. This way you are giving your horse plenty of time to react. It should be done in 4 progressive phases, but not too slowly. First of all, you swing the rein so it hits you on the shoulders, second it hits you on the waist, thirdly it hits the saddle and finally it hits the horse. Now obviously you don't want to be doing this too hard (and when I say 'hit' I really mean just a touch).

I only had to do this a couple of times before my horse (on holiday - riding at a guest ranch) cottoned on to the idea of marching forward nicely. After that all I had to do was pick up the spare length of rein, and he would walk on.

Alternatively, if he's not reacting to your leg aids, you can use the spare length of rein to lightly slap on alternating shoulders in a rythmical way.

:)

Sorry if I'm trying to tech you to suck eggs :P

[cvb]

Mark Rashid has an escalation that goes like this

1) use the amount of pressure (in the aid) you want the horse to respond to
2) if they don't respond, waggle the crop in the air
3) if they don't respond, slap your own leg with the crop (pick a nice nosiy one ;))
4) if they don't respond, touch them with the whip

Don't ask me to define "touch" as most/all of the sluggish horses were going by then :D

Bear in mind that by this stage he had aleady worked on softness in halt and reinback...

[ponylover88]

...

[cvb]

I'm just going to post some of my notes from Mark rashid clinic. Should have done it ages ago but have been fussing over them :rolleyes: "Part Two" is on impulsion ;)

There will be a part 3 - but I've been fussing too much on 1 and 2...

[sammywiskers]

my pony is awful slow when i ride with out a whip but i dont like useing a whip on him either! so what i do is just carrie a whip with my and it let him know he is theire and it makes him more lively! i dont no why and he is clever and knows what i am doing but he just is! why not try that?

[Loopslou]

try pushing with alternative legs for each stride, that sometimes helps and also assess what you are feeding him and also check he's not in pain or discomfort.

The smacking your boot with your crop thing really works, I try it sunday with Amber and she responded right away!

[Sunshine*]

Thank you everyone but especially Casey76!! I love that idea of the 4 beats with my reins!!!! I'm gonna try it out tomorrow!!

You had a lot of good ideas Shadow_Dancer, but since I only do hack him, there's really nowhere in the 100acres that we haven't been!!!! I have no "school" to school him in!! We don't jump.. but we are starting on barrels and poles and other games like that!!!


I guess you're still riding Western? If your reins (assuming they're split) are long, you can use one as a 'wip-wop'. This way you are giving your horse plenty of time to react. It should be done in 4 progressive phases, but not too slowly. First of all, you swing the rein so it hits you on the shoulders, second it hits you on the waist, thirdly it hits the saddle and finally it hits the horse. Now obviously you don't want to be doing this too hard (and when I say 'hit' I really mean just a touch).

I only had to do this a couple of times before my horse (on holiday - riding at a guest ranch) cottoned on to the idea of marching forward nicely. After that all I had to do was pick up the spare length of rein, and he would walk on.

Alternatively, if he's not reacting to your leg aids, you can use the spare length of rein to lightly slap on alternating shoulders in a rythmical way.

:)

Sorry if I'm trying to tech you to suck eggs :P