Shying!!!

[charlie]

My pony shys very badly in one corner of the arena ( and some times others), I have tried riding him past it, letting him look at it and doing tight circles around the corner but it does not work. In that corner there are some quite "scary"objects, but he has seen them enough times that I would have thought he would be used to it. Some times he is OK, but other times he is awful-please help! :(

[Karenr]

Are you sure your pony isn't just being naughty? My 5 year old mare was abit like that, shying, turning and running from things, then I realised it had come to the point I was waiting for her to do it, so true to form she would. She was too "tuned" into what I thinking. Some how I managed not think about her shying in the school or out hacking and now she is fairly good. I rode her firmly when she began shying, not unsympathetic to the fact that she maybe frighten, but you must be firm with your aids but understanding aswell. Remember horses like to play and they are far more intelligent than some people would like to think!

[Jennifer Harris]

This is just a thought i had. How old is the pony, could it be possible that he is having trouble seeing?-- this is probably not the case, but just something i thought about. I would probably tend to agree with the idea that your pony is trying to take advantage of you and the situation. I know that probably wasnt much help! Sorry. Good luck with your pony. :) Jen

[random2]

A horse that I ride has the same problem. He always spooks at the door. I tell him to get over there and gently ease him into it. Maybe if you lead him and another horse from the ground, or feed him there, he will learn that it is not too scary.

[~alison~*]

Let me tell ya- i've been working for 6 months trying to figure out my mare's spooks! My trainer put it this way, You're sitting in sunday school, and you're really bored, is your teacher going to keep talking about the same thing, or change to a more interesting subject? The same goes with horses - when they spook, they have too much time to look around, and they are bored. Solution - don't keep doing the same thing! Don't go more than 3 or 4 times around with out changing direction, doing a circle, shoulder-in, something like that. If the horses' mind starts wandering, do something else, try to think of as many ways to make it fun that you can. Good Luck

[kellyk]

I have the same problem with my mare in the arena now since it is nice the door is open to the outside. What I do is walk her over to it so she can see outside to see what's outthere. I make her go there in a calm manner. I also lunge her & she tries to come into the circle away from that part of the arena & so I am trying to teach her by saying out which means go in towards the rail. I free lunge her when I don't have time or can not ride. To my mare it is an excuse & it carries over when I take her outside so it is a good time to work on getting her to go over there. She has done this at other arena's as well so maybe she is worried & maybe it is an excuse. Now I am working on having her go over tarps. They were also spookey at first but now it is not a problem. I would think the tarps would be scarier than an open door. We are still working on this. I let her wander at first at her own acord while I get things ready for our lesson. This does help it is also telling you that your horse needs work on taking your direction. As does my mare she realy needs to stay on the rail. It is a challenge but a good one & safe as far as a place is enclosed to work in. I dont know what kind of riding you do but I trail ride & want to work through the spooks in the arena so I am ready outside on the trail. Good luck to you. It takes patience & I work on it just about everyday.