How do you teach an ex racer to stand at shows?

C

charleykips

New Member
Jan 23, 2009
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I bought an ex racer about 9 months ago and he is settling into his new life quite well, he had some confidence issues which resulted in him throwing me off infront of the judge in a dressage competition lol so i gave him a few months before we attempted anything again. I took him to a local show to do the best combination class as he is brilliant at home, as soon as we all collected together , on went the racers head, and he just couldnt stand still, he was dancing about cantering sideways bucking rearing, he didnt scare me at all coz im used to all that , but i need to teach him to stand still and behave, were heading to another show soon and i would rather that we werent the ones everyone was looking at because he was miss behaving hahahah

Can anyone suggest anything, training at home is no use as he is an absolute star at home, its literally just at shows :)
 
Take him to lots of shows and don't enter anything, just take him for a hack round the fields get him used to going out in the box or trailer and getting out and doing something boring.

Did he relax at all?


Are there any shows close enough you could hack to and from so that it's just something he comes across on part of a hack?
 
I had the same problem with Belle last week, all the other ex-racers in the class stood beautifully but we were pjumpingh about, fidgeting, the works and were quite rightly marked down for it. Her old owner said just take her to lots of shows and she will soon realise that she isn't going to be asked to race:rolleyes:
 
I had the same problem when I took Edward to his first show!! He was brilliant when we were moving but as soon as we had to stand still he wa a nightmare! Will your horse stand still if you ask for a halt out hacking? Edward won't, he gets all fidgety, so now when I'm out hacking I make him halt for about 5 seconds and then ask him to walk on. I will gradually increase this time so that he will halt and stand still when I want him to, and move on when I ask. Edward's problem wasn't with being at the show itself, it was with standing still, so i don't think going to lots of shows would help my boy!Hope this helps :)
 
Yup he will stand out hacking fine, his problem isnt with standing in general, just at shows, i think some of the suggestions might work, although im oing to look like a right numpty at the shows for a while, whilst my horse distrupts the classes lol.....oh well there always has to be one!! he he
 
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