PLEASE help me with this horse problem?

Question

my aunt just got a horse. and i went to the stables she keeps her mare at and theres this horse there. a paint horse named casper. HE IS BEAUTIFUL!! the owner of the stables wife is sick and now he has to take care to the horses but dose not have time to ride them. I now have a job there.I take care of casper and he asked me if i wanted 2 ride him , and i said yes(im 14 years old ) grown up with horses had horses rode horse was in a show everything. This horse was trained by the best Of the best and he hasn't been ridden in a year or less. Now what do u think i should do to get this horse back into riding any tips anything .should i just get right on and ride. Please help me i relle love this horse and i relle want to ride him !!!

Answer 1

You probably should lounge him first.  If the stable has a round pen, that would be a good place to start.

If this horse is well trained as you said, my guess would be he is like my horse.  By this I mean, no matter how long it has been since someone was on his back, you can just saddle him up and he is "ready to go" as if he was ridden yesterday.  He has been well trained, has a willing & positive attitude and just because he has not been ridden in 1, 2, 3, 4 years does ot mean he forgot everything and has to be retained.  Hope this information helps you.

On the other hand, if you are not confident enough, please have someone else mount this horse for you so you can see what needs to be done if anything.

Answer 2

lunge him at first then get on and start at 30 min work out till he is in shape then u will be able 2 ride him allot

Answer 3

just start out with walk/trot and getting to know the horse and work on the basics with him like activly doing up and down transistions and getting a proper bend and then when you both feel confident move up to canter and do the same thing just work on the flat for the first few months and then if you jump start out low and work your way up SLOWLY making sure to do lots of grid work

good luck :)

Answer 4

If he hasn't been ridden in a year there will be muscle wastage so you will need to check that his tack still fits and make any necessary adjustments or alterations.

I'd suggest lunging him daily for about a week before you even attempt to get on him - just to get all his muscles working again.

When you do get on lunge him for 5 minutes or so first and have a sensible person hold him while you mount.

Answer 5

thats so lucky!

you should lounge him a couple times before you get on, just like 10 or 15 min of light work (remember a year of not working = a very out of shape horse) so don't over do it! if he is acting fine tack him up and hop on! start with short rides, lots of walk breaks. work on making him good to your aids (though her prob hasn't forgotten, he might need a couple reminders)

as you start to ease him back into work, think about getting him into shape, lots of trot work, lots of transitions, and lots of patterns will help.

he probably will get sore, i suggest a good dose of Vetrolin (which is a liniment) in a bucket of water and sponge him all over!

have fun!

Answer 6

Lunge him first in a bull pen if there is one there only about 15 minutes or so.  Do that in the morning and evening for 4 or 5 days.   Watch him carefully to see if he allows you to know what bothers him, or if he is listening to you... Be sure he knows what Whoa means....Then put a saddle on him, and three days with that, morning and evening.  Don't let him break into a sweat... all you want to let him know is what you are doing, and you want him to enjoy it.  

Then about a week or so of this, ride him in the bull ring both ways, at only the walk and trot.    Do this for several days.

Next, if they have an arena, ride him in the arena after you have lunged him.  NEVER just toss a saddle on him without lunging first.... sorta rule number one.  The idea is to allow the horse to first get used to demands upon him, and that you are not going to hurt him.  Then you can ride him.... during this time, you ought to be able to see if there are things that really freak him out, and if there are, at least if you get dumped, it's in an enclosed area, he won't get hurt, and neither will you.

Don't ever  just get on him and ride off into the sunset.... you don't have a clue what this guy is like under saddle and you want all the information you can get before you swing your leg over and sit.

As well, I'd always suggest you lunge him  every time you take him out on to say a trail, to get the kinks out.

A careful rider (you) is one who doesn't get hurt.

Answer 7

Tack him up and lunge or free school him in an arena/pen. Try and push his buttons to make him hoon around a little and have a buck if he's got one in him. (most will just for fun, they love showing off and the attention since they haven't been worked hard in some time).

Then have someone hold and lead him while you jump on and get the feel of him moving. I'd keep my feet out of the stirrups just incase.  Check his stearing and brakes work okay.

Let him know that you are in control, plenty of outside rein, inside leg and push him forward. Make sure he has brakes at walk and trot before you try canter.

Congrats on the new job!! Have fun :) :) :)....

Answer 8

I would suggest lunging him first....you don't know what he will do,my horse is fine without a ride after a year but my cousins cant go a week without being ridden or he is a pill....

Answer 9

I'd try lunging the horse first without tack, try all 3 gaits and see what the horse remembers. :) Then once that goes well, try it again with tack on.. I'd deff tack up on the cross ties first in case the horse kicks or something, especially when you tighten the girth since a lot of horses don't like that and you want to reduce any risk of being hurt. So if lunging with tack on (and bridle, too!) goes well, I'd say start to mount slowly. You can do this by having someone hold the horse if you need to, then get on a mounting block and just slowly place yourself over the horses back, like your stomach in the middle and you hanging over the horse. This is safer cause you can get off fast if the horse acts up. Then just take it slowly from there, with putting weight into the stirrup, then getting on... take is slow and have fun!!