Freezing/planting horse help please!!

Harlequin32

Active Member
Feb 20, 2008
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When my horse go's out into the field he is always 100% to catch but sometimes i will get outside the field gate and thats it.
He looks like he's being perfectly behaved- (think quietly stood in stable type stance) but just roots himself to the spot and there is NOTHING i can do about it.I have tried
1. being nice!
2. being firm- still nice
3. flicking the rope on his bum- this results in going backward, and i am worried he will get shocked by the fencing
4. Unfortunatly i have also out of sheer frustration shouted at him- head in the air but no forward step
I have also tried waiting it out intending to praise madly any forward move but i actually think he will stand there all night.

Its causing problems now in that he takes so long to get in and i have to go on down to another yard after that other people have to get out other horse in because i'm not there on time

Any suggestions please? I actually sat and cried tonight in the mud while he stood along side me:eek:
 
Groundwork and practise practise practise.

Buy yourself a rope halter and use the pressure release technique. :) There are more expert people on here that can give advise so I will let them tell you. :)
 
Have you tried backing him up? My mare went through a stage of planting herself, and it was so incredibly frustrating - i too ended up sitting down on the floor and just crying because i couldn't believe how useless i was at just leading this horse !

However, her owner showed me how to "defuse" the planting problem - we simply turned the Moose around so she was facing away from the direction in which we wanted her to go, and then pushed on her chest to make her back up. She soon got the message that if she planted, she'd be "reversed", and it was much more annoying and awkward than just going forward...so she doesn't bother with that trick any more.
 
my shannon does exactually what you have described and when she plants she plants, she is only 9.3hh but you can not move her, i can move my big horse easier 17.2hh.

i am my wits end with her, she is only 1 but she is lovely and really nice, she comes running over the field to me and everything but the planting is really getting to me, i can spend a whole day grooming her, playing with her and then all of a sudden she will plant ARGH
 
another for pressure halter training. When i first got vol he went through a stage of planting coming from the field. I have as mentioned used the backing up technique.

If your worried about getting an electric shock..... am i so nasty to say well serves him right if you have asked and he walks back himself evading you? Obviously don't run him into it on purpose but if its evading what your asking the shock might wake him up


How is he if another horse comes from the field too? Does he come then?

Is it an insecurity about leaving field mates?
 
i've had jr for over 2 years now and he still does this when he feels like it. originally it started from him not wanting to walk on a stoney track when his feet were sore. he then started to do it on any surfaces, whenever he feels like it, regardless of whether his feet are sore or not.

the only thing that works for me is circling him. in the past i have done this for half an hour, inching our way slowly up the track towards the yard. he does NOT give in easy! he has got to the stage where he wont go backwards (this worked for a bit) so this was the only option.

i'm not going to tell you to give him a whack (although i have done this - it was pointless and just made me feel guilty!:eek:) BUT, if he thinks i might this tends to help. I have to act like i am really mad with him and that he needs to shift now or else, and he has to believe me, otherwise we go nowhere.

it might be worth carrying a whip for a few days, just to illustrate that you are not to be messed with.

having said that, just check there are no pain issues especially in his feet that are making him reluctant to move.

it's horrible and you're right, it does make you feel entirely useless that you can't move your own horse!
 
The first thing I would ask is, have these horses which 'plant' ever been taught exactly what you want when you ask them to move forward? Do they actually KNOW and UNDERSTAND your cues to them? Or are you just hoping for the best, and relying on the fact that sometimes they lead beside you so maybe they will do so today ...???

I believe the 'go forward' lesson is one of the most important lessons which can be taught to any horse. If it is one of the first things you teach a young horse, you will never enter many of the situations which cause so many problems with horses; if you find yourself in one of these difficult situations, the first thing to do IMO is to teach, or re-teach, the 'go forward' lesson.

In the meantime, if the first poster's horse has to be moved before he can be taught to go forward, properly and with understanding, I would LET him back into the electric fencing and shock himself. I am hard like that, I am afraid. It is better that he teaches himself not to back into a fence by being shocked, than that one day he backs into a barbed-wire fence. The only proviso is that the poster should have him on a lunge rein or a 12 - 15 ft leadrope, and be ready for the reaction.
 
Honestly, I think the majority of horses who 'plant' know EXACTLY what they're doing (perhaps not the yearling above though :)). My sister's 13hh gelding used to refuse to move out of the field once he'd been caught. The first summer, he drove us absolutely bonkers with his stubbornness and, if you went behind to tap him on the bum, he'd just rear up! Sometimes he'd do it going into his stable as well. In the end, we borrowed a pressure halter, and after a few weeks of using that he'd stopped planting himself and went back into his normal headcollar. He was a 16 yr old schoolmaster and perfect in every other way, so I think this was just him taking the michael.
 
First, I would NEVER deliberately back a horse into electric fencing - I have seen what happens and I would not like to be in front!

Second the answer to planting is simple - whatever happens keep the hooves moving - the horse cannot stay braced against you if you move to the side and pull sideways to turn them - they have to move their feet - so go from one side to the other and keep them moving - usually each step sideways by the front feet is acompanied by a step forwards by the rear so you will make progress in the direction you want.

After a while they will realise that you are controlling their direction and will give up, perhaps to try again later but you always keep them moving.
 
My old horse used to be really bad for doing this, she'd do it coming in, going out and not just to the filed but with her stable aswell it got so bad at one point we when i rode her i had to ride her out of the stable!! The only person who could get her to move quite easily was my instructor, we then found out she had a cracked pelvis dont know if it was related but you never know it could be pain as when she stopped being worked she was fine and stopped doing it.

My current horse used to do it aswell coming in i'd sometimes just resort to jumping on bareback and riding him in as it was such a long way and when you did get him going he'd walk so slow he may aswell of been stood still. Also used to take a stick with me which worked and now he doesnt do it anymore or hasnt for a while anyway. Did sometimes when very fustrated and getting dark wind blowing raining resort to pretty much screaming at him which i know isnt good and always felt bad after but when i had a firmer voice and sounded like i meant it he did listen more.
 
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ok, im going to sound mean but.......

when Ginny did this when i bought her she was really bad. (she's a 15hh h/w cob and i was 11/12) for about 2 weeks i couldn't understand why she was so stubborn(i broke down in tears a few times), as she was like this from and also to her field. i got a whip :)o) and every time she stopped she got a firm, "walk on"(in gruffly voice) then a tickle with the whip and another "walk on". and for the first few times of me doing this she still didn't get the idea so i whipped her and told her to "walk on". when she started walking i always said (in my nicest voice) "good girllly" she soon got the idea that no is def. not the answer and now she has great manners. and tbh its not like i didn't give her any warning.

ETA now all i need to do is my gruffly voice if she ever takes the mick out of me and she realizes that im not going to let her get away with it!!:p
 
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Have a look at the thread I started in 'training of the horse' called 'help, he's impossible to lead'. Lots of good advice on there. I've opted for a pressure halter, and although it's no miracle cure, I got him from stable to field in a couple of minutes tonight (try 20 before!)
 
sorry if i repeat anyone, ive only read the first post

i had this problem with my mare, for a week she would get out of her field and then just not move, i threatened, pulled, raised my voice, temted with treats, got someone else to push her, tap her bum with a whip.. and in return i got a high head and reversing... all because she didnt want to leave her friends behind-

so everytime she stopped, id make her leg yield in endless circles, bothways, made her reverse and also walked her round in circles - i did this for a week, and it knakered us both out- she soon realised its easier to just walk forward than spend up to and hour leg yieldng etc. ;)

i also used this technique when i mounted aswell (because she would start to walk when i mounted) and it took one session for her to realise its easier to stand still while i mount than to work. :cool:
 
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