Pony tries to lay down with my daughter still on him?

Question

We go this sweet pony about 3 weeks ago and every time we go in the sand school he tries to lay down and roll , I dont think he is doing it to be nasty as he has a real sweet temprament but it has started to scare my daughter she is 8 . I had a thourough vet check so i dont think its a health issue. Please someone out there must be able to help, my daughter loves this pony to bits and is already not as keen to get on him.

Answer 1

more an likely a bad vice(habit). he just wants her off and he will pull that stunt every chance he gets cuz he knows he can get away with it. gotto be stern with him but not abusive. it will take time but he will stop. earn his trust and love and he will do anything for you. they are alot smarter than people give them credit for.

Answer 2

:3 He's definately just not sure he's not suppose to. He just says "ok, time for me to lay down." I don't think he's being mean, my old horse used to do it a bit with young riders when he thought 'alright, I'm done working'. He never rolled but would just lay down because he knew they didn't know to make him keep going.

I was working a young horse when I was 11 and she began to lay down, well, my mom knew back then I had a good enough seat so she spooked the horse. She jumped and ran towards it, I was hanging on well enough she scared the horse, so the darling realized it wasn't the right thing to do. I definately would NOT reccommend this, but laying down is not safe. So every single time you see the pony wanting to lay down, have your daughter give it a little firmer kick. Depending upon how the pony responds to nudging. I would definately say as soon as the pony starts looking like he's wanting to lay down - putting his head down, etc, have your daughter give him a little kick and a scold. Don't let him think about getting away with it!

Good luck, I'm so very excited for your daughter! I started riding when I was 7 :3 good luck to her!

Answer 3

A friend had one that did this too - even going at a nice clip, one time he came across a nice sandy spot and dropped without a thought.

The nice cool sand feels good to them - and the abrasiveness may help the itchiness.

I agree with many of the comments here - and the first answer sounds like the best one - it is what I would do.

Things that might be making the pony itchy could be things like perhaps you're using a wool saddle pad - if it's wool get a different one and try that.

My thought though is that he's learned he can get a rider off him by doing this - if the daughter get scared and won't ride again, the pony has gotten what he is looking for.  Even if asking him to go faster - and making activity geared to push him to not lay down when he sees a sandy spot doesn't work, when he does it and she gets off successfully, she should get right back up and require him to work - this doesn't mean getting ON - but simply immediately making him turn lots of not-very-fun circles for a bit (say 10 of them) then lead him out of the sand and allow him to rest for a moment.

The rest is the horse's reward for working properly.  It will take time and quite a bit of effort to get him to not do this - and remember he's not doing it to try to hurt anyone - it's either a physical reason or he's learned he can win something by doing it.

My guess is that a former owner has taken him to nice sandy spots after riding and coaxed him to roll - which has increased his thought that rolling when there's sand is what he's supposed to do.

Perhaps a good idea also might be to look for a Western Horseman book on Problem Solving - there's a good one, but I don't remember if this exact problem is tackled in it - if not, probably something close is.

good luck!

Answer 4

It sounds like you have a lazy horse on your hands!!!  You should crack a whip behind him when he tries to lay down. Still it could be itchy tack. Good Luck!!!

Answer 5

When one of my daughters was 5 her pony pulled this at a show.  We decided it was because of  the depth of the sand, and she just found it harder to work in...the footing in the arena at home was much less deep.

Answer 6

Try have your daughter riding on the lead, whenever you think your pony is going to start to lie down, increase the speed to a trot so he doesn't have a chance. Make the mentality: "Whenever I want to lie down, I'm going to have to work harder, so I'm not going to try to lie down!" After he stops doing it on the lead, do it on the lunge line, and after that, if your daughter feels confident, get her to do it off the lead riding independently. Tell her if pony starts to slow down, go faster.

Good Luck.

Answer 7

well this used what happened to a horse at my barn i guess it's a sign that they are tried but maybe he just likes the way feels or maybe he has an itch every time you go in the arena so first try to make sure he has enough water before going into the arena next make sure he's thoroughly brushed.

Answer 8

get a trainer to get on the pony and teach it that it is not okey to do that. Maybe you shoulddo it to and have urdaughterget on and have you lead itif it triesbe sure to let it know that it is not a goodthing. good luck!

Answer 9

make sure she knows he just wants to roll, he isn't trying to hurt her and to kick him and pick up his head, if he starts,my friend used to have a pony that would try to lay down in the water lol anyway also you might let him roll after she is through? i don't know if that will help but he will thoroughly enjoy it!

Answer 10

Before you have your daughter get on him again try to lunge him if he tries to get down and roll crack the whip or snap the chain ( if you have one if not just use a whip ) Be sure to have him fully tacked up. Watch him carefully and see if he is sweating quickly for he might be colicing some horses role when they have colic.

Answer 11

He may be sweet but this still may be a bad habit he developed.  I would try to lunge him saddled up.  If he goes to lay down let him, but then lay on his neck/head.  Horses are defenseless laying down and they know it.  After a few minutes let him up.  Then try again.  Worse comes to worse, when he goes down lay on him and cover him with a tarp!  May sound cruel, but it does work and wont hurt him.  If you dont want your 8 year old to get hurt you need to break him of this habit or find her a new pony.

Answer 12

Perhaps you could try leading/lunging your pony in the school without tack on to see if the tack is effecting him.  If the tack is not the problem lunge him without your daughter on but with his saddle and get him use to walking forward, if he attemps to roll click him on or flick the whip gently.  Maybe he was previously turned out in a sand school so treats this as  a time to chill out or relax?  I hope you get to the bottom of this!  Good Luck!

Answer 13

His previous owners may have let him get away with those kind of things. Which has created a bad habit. Id try Parelli, they learn respect and will do about anything you ask them... it amazing. but if you dont want to try parelli use the "do it wrong youll work" method. When he tries to lay down make him trot or lope, so he learns that if he does that its wrong and hgell have to work. Send him to a trainer last resort.... deeper info email me.

Answer 14

This is really common - especially of young horses.  They usually are hot and sweaty.  If they didn't have a rider on them it would make total sense for them to lay down and roll!

They usually give you some warning signs that they are going to do this.  They will slow their gait down greatly, many times drop their nose and sniff the ground, and may begin to paw at the dirt.

When they give you that warning, it's your cue to tell them to move forward!  Forward motion is the key.  Have your daughter push the pony forward - he needs to keep him head up and continue walking - she can even trot him through it.  Depending on the size of the pony and how sensitive it is - and the size of your daughter, spurs or a crop might be essential to teach him forward motion.  Consider having an older, more experienced child or small adult ride the pony through it to get him to learn that it's not play time - but your daughter will still have to be aware and push him forward for a while until he learns.

So - remember, as with most things to do with horses - forward motion is your friend.    He's probably not doing it to be mean - just because he doesn't understand that it's not acceptable with a rider.  It will improve with time - I promise!

Answer 15

maybe a piece off the tack is itchy or rubbing

Answer 16

maybe the saddle mite be to smal or to big maybe its itchyfggggggggggggggggggggggggggggffffff...