HELP!! my thoroughbred horse badly trained since young :(

Question

hey so kayy

my horse i bought him may 2007 and when i bought him i did it cos of his sweet nature :) hes 16.2 hh, dark bay, 9 years old.

pic: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/natashaabbey/mostbeautifulprince.jpg

anyway, so he was trained by arabs (in dubai) and they abused him with a whip, was soo skinny but not deathl skinny but definaltly under nourished. they only trained him for jumping THATS IT. no dressage. no nothing. 3 paces walk trot canter.

i mean he wasnt taught 20 metre circles, leg yielding, flying change (not that i expected tht!!), his headset is jus so high, he bucks. and when riding in an arena he tenda ot really drift of into in the indside rein and falls in front fore, cant canter on the right rein stright off takes many trys until accomlished sometimes we dont get it.

i mean its so difficult for me cos i ride english and over last the last year because hes not young, its taken me ages to get him to even start to learn.

we have accomplished:

stopped the bucking not totally yet

hes absoltuely fine with the whip (but no non- responsive!! HELP!)

he jumps birlliantly like 140 but i want to get better at BASIC dressage i mean i dont want him to be like a jungly horse lol.

and hes become soo lazy like no that he knows i am not going to hurt him with the whip he doesnt respond to it anymore!!

im thinking spurs and my instrictor gave me thumbs up to PRINCE OF WALES although need ot buy them still.

and he doesnt go into corners completly misses them out i mean no matter how much leg i use and stuff he is strong. oh and hes on a french link bit very soft and mild.

its not cos im weak or anything, im 5,8 and weigh 145 lbs lol good size for him.

gosh i need help with him. hes not trained and its so hard on me becuase its not riding yet and riding season starts soon so that means i can get lesson with a proffessional but in the mean time i have to do it alone

please can u give me tips, gadgets, aids anything please

i really cant do this im only 15 but i will never sell him and i no him like the back of my hand

please help

im online now if u can talk [e-mail] on msn

thanks so much

Answer 1

I would get him to a trainer. Not the both of you, just him.

A good trainer will be able to work with him without becoming frustrated or overwhelmed. TBs are very sensitive to their riders and he might be blocking you out because he feels you are getting nervous/frustrated. My TB does it. Professional trainers (in my area) doesnt have seasons either.

It actually common for jumpers to be trained by less than amazing people to only have w/t/c/g and jump.

I would not use any gadgets (draw rains, excessive lunging, ect).

1) Draw reins are really easy to s***w up. Unless youhave someone who is very experienced with them to guide you I wouldnt even rry them. We had a pony at my barn that had draw reins used on him and he developed the fake 'on the bit' look. His nose is in but the rest of himis strung out. He also learned how to get behind the bit which is really hard to train out of them.

2) Excessive lunging is hard on their joints, makes them bored and is counter productive. If you constantly lunge before you ride, you are building up his muscles and conditioning him. The lunging might make im tired at first enough to 'listen' but after awhile (he is TB it wont take him long to adjust) he will build up his stamina and he will be able to fight against you more.

If getting a professional trainer (for him not you) is completely out of the question, then go WAY back to basics. My TB was also allowed to skip the finer points of flat work so we went back to the walk and started over. Stop jumping and take things slow.

Start at the walk and begin working on getting him on the bit and bending around your leg. This isnt going to be accomplished in 10 minutes. I am doing 3-4 solid hours of walking on Jazz spread out over 4-5 days. Maybe more if we hit a problem. I am assuming you know how to get a horse on the bit without sawing on their mouth (it is WAY counter productive). Walk him on a long rein for a 5-10 minutes then take some contact and begin 10-15 meter circles, firure 8s, serpentines, sprials and any other ring figure that requires bending. start with them big and make them smaller. Halts are also good to through in but remember to ride him into your hands vs just pulling on him. Ignore the rail as well. Work him in the middle of the arena.

He should be starting to go on the bit in the corners after an hour or so. Once you see even the tiniest sign of acceptence praise him and be finished. This took Jazz about 45 min. I also added a short 1 minute trot on a loose rein every 20 mins or so. Jazz seemed to work better like that.

The next day do the same thing. By the end of this Jazz was holding himself together (with help) through the entire turn and was occasionally keeping it in the straightaways.

(Jazz went lame from his first abcsess at this point but this is whatI am planning to do after he is better)

After a little back tracking to remind him what we are doing, I am going to do another lesson of just walking. Hopefully I can get him to be on the bit the entire time without the constant turns. He will need to hold himself in a 20 meter circle, at least along the majority of the ring (we have a fairly small ring) and if his nose does pop up or I loose him behind, I want to be able to gain it back without a lot of resistence.

Then I am planning to do the same thing at the trot. Lots of turns (turns = bending), getting him moving off my legs and getting a nice forward step.

Take things slow. If you rush it, you will have to go back and fix it again.

Also, if he starts getting bored, take him on a trail ride. He might take some convincing but being able to get out and see new things is good for them. I also use the wide trails to get Jazz moving off my leg. I get a loose rein and ask him to move over and he usually does. Leg yeilds are one of those things that usually hits a lot of resistence in the ring but on the trails, its fine. We did the same thing with lead changes. Its really cool actually and helped our changes on course A LOT.

A professional trainer for him is your best bet though. Good luck.

E-mail me if you have any questions....

Answer 2

maybe you can try a little western style to break him they tend to pick that up faster exspecially  if used to the whip. you can try getting a twenty foot lunge rope, and lunge him in a fifteen foot circle for a good 10-15 minutes just to get him warmed up and worn out. after that put your saddle on his back and lunge him again for the same amount of time. then add his bit and reins but make sure they are not dragging the ground or he will trip then lunge him some more after about 10 minutes of lungeing him the last time around have your mom dad brother sister who ever get the lunge rope and after you get on have them  lunge him for about 15 minutes with you on him this way he knows you mean business then have them remove the lunge rope and try on your own he should get the hint and start warming up to the ideal of it very soon. hes very beautiful

Answer 3

just start him over from the beggining. train him like he has never been riddin. that what we are doing with my thoroughbred and its working really well. idk if you are into the natural horsemanship stuff but parelli really does work for most abused horses. it worked for my thoroughbred and he was in pretty much the same shape as your horse when we bought him.

Answer 4

Lunging is a wonderful way to help a horse regain his balance, gain flexibility, and learn to yield really well to the bit.  Do you lunge him?

I use lunging for all of my horses, both green and seasoned.

Some people really like training surcingles with side reins (try dover saddlery or state line tack to buy these).  Personally, I use a little device called a rhythm collector (basically a really long lead that you feed through one side of the bit, over the poll, back through the other side of the bit, between the front legs, and tie at the withers).

You might also find draw reins helpful to get him to drop his head and increase flexibility.  (You ride with the draw reins along with your regular reins).

Answer 5

Consistancey. Its true, teaching an old horse new tricks is difficult. Just be patient, use the help of your trainer and other horse savvy people. try you www.horseforum.com

Answer 6

Sorry to hear you are having a hard time with your horse. Maybe you should hook up with a trainer who can help you both.

But a person's race doesn't have anything to do with how the horse was trained...your comment about the arab and dubai made your question seem racial. There are bad trainers everywhere. Just my own opinion.

Answer 7

arr luv him,sounds like he's hada bad start in life! be patient spurs might work but the whip has no effect as he proberly sees it as a threat! maybe re breaking him might work? maybe get sumone in who might be able to curb his strange behavier!