Standing Still

Flipo's Mum

Flipo's Mum

Heavy owner of a Heavy
Aug 17, 2009
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Perthshire, Scotland
Anyone else have issues with their horse not standing still while tied up. He's a pain - I normally withstand it cause he's only there for fifteen minutes max - to be groomed and tacked up.
Unfortunately today is going to be a lot longer - we have a pretty significant burrs incident, pig oiling to do and surprise surprise, a willy to clean. He'll stand like a rock for the willy cleaning (typical bloke) but wanders during everything else. I'll put some hay out but he's not on hay yet - keeps turning his nose up when there is still grass (it's good hay honest!)
He's just annoying, especially when I'm grooming his mane, he wants to walk around and I end up following even though I have the rope tied relatively short. It's gonna get muddy really fast. Think this might be a clicker training opportunity but just interested in what others have done/ do with this. We also have a problem with our ridden stands in hacks unless hes knackered he just wants to keep going so see this as an ideal practice situation.
 
Izzy isn't big on standing still but fortunately he is ruled by his stomach and if he has a haynet he will stand forever.

Have you tried a lick-it? THat will be a bit of a pain if you are doing his mane as his head will be down.

Do you have a stable? Izzy is better at standing in his stable. If I tie him to a pole he does the pole dance without food.

I am having my first go at clipping today so will have to have him standing without hay so could be interesting!
 
Lol pole dancing, I should have used that title instead!! Good luck with the clipping, think I'd have broken headcollar and leadropes for that situation!
Unfortunately we dont have a stable no, and I've still got horselyx left but I've stopped feeding that as too many sugars which is making him footy. :unsure: Thank you though.:redface:
 
Could ad advance and retreat work, i know micheael peace uses this method with horses afraid of clippers, basically continues with his activity folloing the horse around (horse on a long line in a menage) as soon as horse stands still the activity that they dont like stops hence the reward for standing still.

Alternatively, the other approach could be, 'if u want to move then move a lot'i think this ca monty roberts method.
 
My boy is a fidget . . . particularly when he's anxious to go out or be fed. I don't mind the odd shuffle but he swings his bum around which causes me to move out of his way . . . so he's essentially dictating HIS space rather than respecting mine. When he does this, I reprimand him verbally, look him in the eye and ask him to step back away from me. Every time. It is working . . . he's becoming alot more respectful. I also insist that he doesn't cut across me when being led . . . he has to stop when I stop and walk on when I do - on a loose lead rope . . . he's the kind of horse who needs everything to be black and white or he takes the mickey.

Do you know why Flip fidgets? Is he trying to see what's going on behind him? Is he just showing disrespect and moving your feet? Is he respectful/disrespectful in other ways . . . good to pick his feet up, step away from you if asked, etc.?

At our previous yard Kal moved alot to see what was going on . . . where we are now he can see everything perfectly well from where he is standing on the yard, but the habit is now ingrained.

And I know he CAN stand still because he stands beautifully for the farrier, the dentist and to be clipped.

I hope that helps!

N
 
I just dont tie Pickle up inless he is travelling :eek: :eek: he so often just unties himself with me that its just easier not to as I darent tie him so it cant be untied quick should there be an emergency

Flipo's Mum said:
a willy to clean. He'll stand like a rock for the willy cleaning (typical bloke)
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if you can clean Pickle's? I would pay £100! after 5 years I am lucky if I get to squirt some cleaner in the general area, vets have even tried, after 2 intraveanous doses of ACP and a dose of sedivet on top of that its a no go lol apparently he had enough to knock a Shire out :frown: and he isnt even half the size of one :smile:
 
I cant stand it when they just shuffle around constantly and will not stand still! :redcarded:

Really does annoy me!!

Finnley tends to do this in the morning before he gets turned out.
He just can not stand still some mornings and it ends up taking twice as long to take his fleeces off and put his turnout rug on.

My most current tactic is too go up him as usual to take his rug off, if he starts his silly shuffles when i will just leave him and do somthing else. Then try again a min later and if he still wants to shuffle then he can wait even longer.

He hasnt been very shuffley last couple of mornings so hoping its set in now!

I also growl at him and say in a stern voice 'STAND!'

he will get a smack on the neck aswell if he really takes the P*ss. I was trying to undo his belly straps once and he just barged straight into me to turn around and do some shuffling.
This really got to me to get got a slap on his neck. He stood stil then :redface:

Not got any advice to give really just perservier with it i guess, do the whole 'stand' in a growly voice and when he does as his told lots of big pats,strokes and kisses :biggrin:
 
Given it's an ingrained habit, I'd be inclined to cross tie him with a haynet then be very business like while doing whatever needs to be done. When finished, untie him, give him a treat, and turn him straight out.

I have to do this with Dolly occasionally as she knows better than to fidget, but if it were a baby horse that was still learning I'd do things differently. Eg Nelly's not that used to being tied up and will occasionally fidget and wander round at the end of the rope. With her, I tend to just put her right back where she was (very quietly and calmly) then praise her massively. She's catching on quickly with this method.
 
YEs maybe look at cross tying?

Although a longer term solution would be ground tying - or some variant of that. I didnt really see a necessity of ground tying - but its actually come in really handy. I did it totally by accident the first time, but its hand. I do it like training a dog to sit :eek: though not sure thats how its meant to be done :giggle:. Do some leading work first so he knows it is work time, lots of stand/walk transitions. I then tell her to stand, and walk away facing her repeating the command. She then gets a bucket feed (if you can call it that!) as a reward. We had serious standing issues, she used to wander into a road in impatience, but its really really helped having the "STAND!" command actually associated with an action (which I thought it was...but it wasnt LOL)
 
I have a feeling he fidgets to just be a pain! Well thats how it feels anyway. All it is sometimes is him moving his head, then taking one step, then another, then swinging his bum round and walking the other way. All while I'm trying to plait his forelock which is why it inevitably ends up squint over one eye. Today I caved, he was snoozing down the bottom of the field and I decided to take advantage of him stood still. Got a bit of it done with him without headcollar but then he started shifting around so I put the headcollar and leadrope on and ground tied him (hah - don't I feel chuffed that a couple of you suggested that! I'm learning!!!) I also dropped my canter spray and that actually ended up acting as a marker for where we were standing - he started his little step here, move my head here, and I just kept bringing him back to the spray bottle and rewarding him after he stood for a moment. It took me about two hours in total to get the burrs out his mane but he was relatively well behaved throughout. Think the only part of that I'm missing is the appropriate command attached so I can transfer the learing onto other situations.
So what does the cross tying entail? Sorry showing my ignorance here. I really think he's sort of doing it to move me around, checking he's in charge. He tries it with the trimmer (who has none of it - he ends up looking like a petulant little child by the time Nick's finished with him - standing meekly). Gonna start growling!

PS Tots n Dots - Willy cleaning is our speciality, think we may do a tour at some point, show the masses our skill - we have a bit of a recurring dirty bits problem - Flipo will shift into position so I am almost underneath him, just so I can clean it.
 
My boy Bertie used to be a real pain, kept trying to walk off as if he wasn't tied up, daft thing.

In the end I tied him up and got on with something else, completely ignoring his carry on, after about half an hour of acting like a numpty, he stood still and had a kip, never been as bad since.
 
Ah, now I get it, not sure if I've got anywhere I can do that though. Innocence, thats how he was when I first went to see him, he'd been left tied up for at least half an hour and was just standing dozing. He was like that on the three subsequant visits as well. And then I bought him! I did wonder about trying the tie him up and leave him way but he's learn't to pull back and I've so far lost three headcollars and on last count seven leadropes to his strength when he's had enough or gets spooked. Bailing twine is a waste of time with us.
ETA - and lost two metal tie rings as well. forgot those.
 
DollysMum said:
With her, I tend to just put her right back where she was (very quietly and calmly) then praise her massively. She's catching on quickly with this method.
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This is what I've been told to do with Raf, ideally without moving my feet but I can't always manage that. When he came to me he stood perfectly to be groomed, tacked up etc, but I must have let things slip without noticing and it was on my first lesson with my RI that she pointed out what was going on - he wasn't doing anything bad, just taking liberties and moving away from me or into my personal space without permission. So now I have to be really consistent and make sure I always put him back where I want him if he moves, if he takes so much of a tiny step forward when I'm bridling him I dig my fingers into his chest to make him step back (making sure I don't move my feet) and its amazing how well it works. He's back to being the well behaved horse he was when I got him (usually anyway!) Sound good don't I? I'm not, it's usually a lot messier than that but it does work, even for me!

My RI can go into a stable with a horse and make them move round how she wants just by using her body language, it just fascinates me. I'd love to be that good, but sadly just don't think I've got the knack and I think I've left it too late in life to have time to learn it now. I've just got Klaus Hempfling's DVD Dancing with Horses, the Art of Body Language which I'm looking forward to watching and marvelling at!
 
You don't need to be in a corridor to cross tie - I often just put Dolly in the middle of two tie rings and attach a rope to each one. Works just as well :)
 
Or, if you have lots of time, every time he moves, make him move, really move him. Not just one or two steps but lots of steps especially backwards and firmly so he feels he has done something wrong, and then let him stand again. It won't take that long to figure out that standing still for him is much easier than fidgeting. (Can you tell that I have been busy with my NH exercises for my bad pony?!!)

Toby had this scenario this morning - one thing I hate, hate, hate, is when they have to be right up against the stable door and you are trying to do rug clips in front. He was very good then, stood away from the door and stock still!! Probably hates that I have started all this NH!!
 
Hi
I had a Lusitano that had the same problem, you have to be patient with him, & the better he works on the lunge & anther saddle this problem will go away. The problem with riding, I had a horse, he is in my book, that took me & him about a year to stand still, the problem that he had his back was hollow & was painful for him to stand, and after that he managed to round his body & to bring his back up by the help of the hind legs came closer to the tail, I was able to bring him to Holt with the finger after half Holt & was able to stand for long time with no problem. (Many people don't understand why horses refusing to stand still, for young horses or horses that haven't got correct aducation it is difficult, & many people pulling them in the mouth, the reason is, horse is not between leg & finger).
www.faibishclassicaltrainer.com
 
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