Whenever I ask my horse to spin in a 360, especially to the left, he drops he's head and tips his nose in as well as tossing his head, backing, and ,moving his hips opposite where I want them to go. On and off the barrel pattern. Why does he do this?
I know I'm not a professional or anything and this was 2 years ago so you may have already found a solution, but I had a horse that used to do the same thing and it is most often stress related. Take him back to the basics and make sure he can is confident doing those first. Make sure he is confident taking the correct lead, lead swaps, collecting, etc. So he doesn't feel like he's being asked to do something he's not capable of. Do a lot of walking and trotting the barrel pattern without asking him to do anything that you wouldn't do in a run so he understands that its not stressful. My biggest suggestion is to give him a break, take him away from the barrels for a week or two maybe even a little longer and do some trail riding and basic arena work where you don't ask him to do anything challenging. This will give him a chance to absorb the things he's learning and clear his head. with my mare, the minute I stopped her at the barrel and asked her to collect and put her hip in she swung it out and flipped her head and started backing up. The first thing I did was give her a break because I had been asking her to do a lot of new things. After two weeks of absolutely no barrels she was like a different horse. The minute I stopped her at a barrel she put her hip in and collected. I also suggest making sure your horse feels okay! A lot of issues can go undetected like sugar intolerances, ulcers (ulcers are very common in performance horses and a lot of the time we don't realize it, it can cause a horse to be very very stressed out. It's not a big deal thought and they are for sure treatable), tight muscles, or even things as simple as muscle soreness can go undetected as well. You probably have fixed the issue now but if not good luck! I'm definitely no trainer so I don't mean to sound like an internet trainer lol
htankx for these videos, they really help!
xD
Yes it is and thanks for commenting!
Your welcome, that's the reason I uploaded them. Stay tuned, I have some more on different horses, just have to get them loaded in HQ...
Whenever I ask my horse to spin in a 360, especially to the left, he drops he's head and tips his nose in as well as tossing his head, backing, and ,moving his hips opposite where I want them to go. On and off the barrel pattern. Why does he do this?
I know I'm not a professional or anything and this was 2 years ago so you may have already found a solution, but I had a horse that used to do the same thing and it is most often stress related. Take him back to the basics and make sure he can is confident doing those first. Make sure he is confident taking the correct lead, lead swaps, collecting, etc. So he doesn't feel like he's being asked to do something he's not capable of. Do a lot of walking and trotting the barrel pattern without asking him to do anything that you wouldn't do in a run so he understands that its not stressful. My biggest suggestion is to give him a break, take him away from the barrels for a week or two maybe even a little longer and do some trail riding and basic arena work where you don't ask him to do anything challenging. This will give him a chance to absorb the things he's learning and clear his head. with my mare, the minute I stopped her at the barrel and asked her to collect and put her hip in she swung it out and flipped her head and started backing up. The first thing I did was give her a break because I had been asking her to do a lot of new things. After two weeks of absolutely no barrels she was like a different horse. The minute I stopped her at a barrel she put her hip in and collected. I also suggest making sure your horse feels okay! A lot of issues can go undetected like sugar intolerances, ulcers (ulcers are very common in performance horses and a lot of the time we don't realize it, it can cause a horse to be very very stressed out. It's not a big deal thought and they are for sure treatable), tight muscles, or even things as simple as muscle soreness can go undetected as well. You probably have fixed the issue now but if not good luck! I'm definitely no trainer so I don't mean to sound like an internet trainer lol
Yes it is and thanks for commenting!