Getting him to move 'away' from my leg?

[CrazyMare]

My cob is totaly numb to my leg, he goes forward fine, but he won't move away from it! I have tried leg yielding and all he does is shoot forward or ignore it!:confused: how can I teach him to move away from my leg instead of rushing forward or totaly ignoreing me? I was out on a hack the other day and was on the road, a car came and he got his front end in out of the way off the road but his bum was sticking out, I was nudging him as hard as I could and would he move? no, he just walked on!:rolleyes: any ideas would be great:)

[galadriel]

Does he move over when you touch him there from the ground? That's a very good place to start. Get him used to moving over when you ask him to from the ground, then he'll be used to the idea when you try to use your leg from the saddle.

[teabiscuit]

he hasn't got a clue what you mean and he's trying to guess what you want - he thinks you mean move forward, it always has done in the past :)

ground work is how i start mine off

i stand him still, then apply pressure with my hand until he moves away from it, and say the command "move over"
lots of fuss when he does move over

this can take a while, some horses get it quicker than others, stay patient, he'll get the message

once he can do it from a verbal command, try it on board, use your aids and give the verbal command

this will be quite a leap for him so don't expect it staight away, go back to on the ground if you have to.

i've even asked for turn on the forhand on board, got off and asked from the ground when he didin't understand, then got back on and asked again

the reminder worked and he was only too pleased to show off how well he could do it, now he knew what i meant :)

good luck

ps if you have someone who will push his bum away from the ground while you give the instructions and verbal command whilst on board, that's good training too

[cvb]

One sneaky tip for you, for ground work initially but you can use it ridden as well.

Horses are naturally "into pressure" animals i.e. they will resist pressure. We have to "teach" them to yield to pressure. When you initially do the ground work you may find your cob leans into you or simply braces. Some of that may be through the neck.

You can make things clearer for him, and easier for you, by flexing his neck slightly towards you, as you ask his back end to move away from you. It softens him to prevent any bracing and also puts him in a position that he is more likely to offer you an "away from pressure" response.

You do need to control the front end, so that you get a turn of head and neck not the horse walking forward in a circle around you !

[Mehitabel]

echo all the above. also, use a distinct voice command at first, to help the transition between ground and ridden work, like 'over'.

[Tootsie4U]

... and weight the stirrup you want him to move toward. He'll naturally shift that way to recenter himself. It will help him put 2 and 2 together ;)

[CrazyMare]

ok, will try that then:D He is actually really good with his voice commands so it shouldn't be that hard:) (hopefully!:rolleyes: )