How to Work Through a Riding Problem

[@sherigaynorcreativeawakenings]

I sure wish you lived closer to me! Your videos are fantastic and I wanted to stop by and say thanks for all you are giving to those of us who want to be better partners with our beloveds!

[@DARKhorses73]

Sheri Gaynor agree 💯 with you !!

[@brendafisher3095]

I love your videos! I am a fairly green rider training a 3 year old through lessons. I rode for years but on a very well trained horse so I never really understood what I was feeling, how they learned, etc. He was an awesome horse but didn't teach me more than to just sit and ride. I am now understanding how everything works and love the challenges followed by success. My challenge right now is extending the jog and getting him to lope.

[@VildeOpien]

One of my horses, Mefistho, has really been struggeling to relax when we do flatwork. He has a lot of tension and is a nervous horse, so it took a year or so to get him to a state where he is actually able to relax and work properly. My other horse, Mikkel, is a standardbred, and we are working on the canter, as well as moving off the inside leg when I ask for it.

[@hmmm2183]

I rehabbing my OTTB after he went lame last spring... It was an off and on type thing that responded to a minimal Bute dose. He would go three legged lame one day, I'd Bute him and he would be sound the next and for sometime after but over time it got worse and the Bute became less effective. So, I called in my Vet to do radiographs and lameness exam... Long story short the radiographs showed an alignment issue in pastern... My Vet recommended putting him on a full Adequan cycle (I dose every 3 days for a month) along with corrective shoeing by taking off more toe back to p3 and squaring off his toe to speed up his front feet along with re-aligning his pastern. My Farrier (who has been working with my OTTBs over the last 15 years) looked at the radiographs and agreed but wanted to add some wedge to improve his alignment. It did... It took him from over at the knee to almost straight up and down. It was alot of change and Trevor went dead lame and the Bute had no effect, turn out had no effect (it was very hard seeing him canter up on three legs) ... The Vet gave me a prescription for Surpass, a sole paint to toughen the sole and instruction to cold hose as much as possible... So all summer we have been Cold Hosing and turn out with the topical nsaids but It really didn't seem to be making much progress... Then the abscess started erupting, Three of them over the span of a couple of weeks (two in the lame leg and one in his good leg (that one took off half his frog)). I kept cold hosing and turning out because Trevior is a race trained Thoroughbred and would have hurt himself more stalled. But, it seemed as though the ruptures were what was needed and he started walking on all four, then trotting, then a slow canter.... Towards the end of Sept he was doing a full Gallop and beating all the others back to the barn. After a re-exam my Vet said he was good enough to start back in work... Even though he doesn't look lame at liberty... Under saddle is a different story. I've gotten him up to a clean walk but he is still limping under saddle beyond that... I'll let him do some steps of trot but don't want to push it so I pull him back before he tries to Canter depart... Its hard because the Canter is how I've improved my OTTBs gates and I believe its a release for them... Now I'm pulling him up when I normally would have given him his rein to blow off any tension from listening to me... I know you can't make judgement calls without seeing him but I don't want him dependent on drugs to preform and believe he will resolve more of his lameness with body conditioning and stretching exercises (leg yields, stretching long and low into the bit, etc...) Does this seem reasonable? Thanks for time and consideration.

[@teresawort9124]

Love the headband !... Great info thank you. The challenge I have is biting.

[@jeannemarie9185]

I'm back to riding after 30 years off, and I'm using a school horse that has her little quirks :) I'm trying to figure out a checklist approach to sorting out my issues with her (which ones are for me to work on related to me, which ones are for me to work on that are related to her.) I know I'm not going to solve everything at once, but would love an overview of categories for self-assessment, horse-assessment so I can begin to address specific things over time.

[@vexilee1]

I always have trouble with the lesson horses wanting to go back towards where the gate is in the outdoor arena. We'll be heading the opposite way and I'll be asking for trot and they just won't start trotting until their body is facing the gate and as soon as they get there, they stop and stand there waiting for me to open it. Haha it's pretty frustrating and I actually am usually just riding by myself so I don't have an instructor with me or anything and I'm still very much a novice so idk what to do really but this video was very helpful! I'm going to keep thinking about this as I go have my ride in a few hours and see if I can figure anything to improve.

[@tracygray1535]

Vexilee Sounds like they are barn sour!

[@jordanwhite5470]

My instructor would tell me to anticipate it ---- be sure you've got the horse going forward at the speed you want them, and perhaps turn a little early. Good luck!!

[@bernadettebijmankroon6522]

Dear Kelly, I love to watch your video's. Especcially this one was very helpful, because now you were riding an avarage horse and not some faboulous one that is fully trained. (Sorry for my English, I'm from Holland). My problem is that my horse sort of falls into canter and only wants to canter really fast. If i try to slow down, he falls back into trot. It must be some problem with collecting, but how do I solve it? In step or trot this is not a problem.

[@jeanclayton565]

Great video I wish I would of seen you when I first got my Charlie almost 5 years ago he was a holy terror he would not move at all no matter what I done kicked used a crop he had all feet planted to the ground wouldn’t budge, so I moved him, and bam he changed I got somebody to help with him now I can saddle him up and ride don’t have to even kick him I just lift the reins up and he goes, now he did test me at first but we work through it, he’s been on a lot of trail rides, finally got me a sweetheart, I have to add he’s not a real spooky horse unless he comes up on horse eating frogs LOL.

[@jojo42775]

Great video! My biggest challenge I'm having with my horse right now is his desire to "test" me at the beginning of each ride. He is 4, a Holstein/QH gelding and has been termed "lazy and belligerent" by his trainer. I ride almost every day. I always start with groundwork/warmup (desensitizing /backing up /lateral flexion /moving his hind legs, then front) all before getting on. Depending on his mood each day I might also lunge him if he needs to burn some energy first. But every time he still wants to "test" me to see if I'm really still in charge. Btw, he's only "dull" in the RP and Arena. Out on the trail he has no problem w/ the trot, canter, jumping, or anything else his breed is known for! Factors I think are involved are: Genetics (Personality), Physical State: His age (he's been checked over and is as healthy as they come and has great feet), and probably Past Experiences (I don't know what his first 3.5yrs of life was like since I've only had him for 5 months) I figure the only way to deal with his "testing" is to keep being consistent, always make the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy, and stand my ground. Hopefully time will help with this issue, and it not end up being something I have to still work on ten years from now! :) At any rate, thank you for your amazing videos, even though I'm a western rider (with an Aussie saddle lol), I always learn something from each one! Happy Holidays!

[@MrsLirs]

In order to solve problems that pop I usually go back to the basics and often write down what I see, what may cause the problem and how can I fix it. 1month ago my mare wouldn't trot and would stop too often, I would kick and expect her to go "more" forward but nothing would change . So I worked on the lounge line, perfecting voice cues for trot. She was starting to get better in the trot but would stop a lot. So I changed her environment and boom! She wans't stoping anymore and was "more" forward.

[@mistyadamson4771]

laura areias My mare does the same thing...Just randomly stops when we are walking around the indoor arena. What did you do to change your mares environment? Just out of curiosity 🙂

[@MrsLirs]

I don't have an arena to work with mine. I do train her in a small pasture. I found it she got bored training in that small pasture. I just went for a trail ride (the first I ever did with her) honestly. I went to an area of our woods that seemed like and old football (european style) field, it was way bigger than our small pasture. She didn't stop anymore, and we stayed there for about 2 hours. In that time she only sttoped when I asked her that and was more responssive :)

[@zantekatz5778]

This video is really helpful

[@Breyerhorselover-js7nb]

Do you think you could make a video on slowing down a green pony from rushing towards a jumps?

[@missequestrian3448]

Breyerhorselover8916, yes, a video on helping with a horse that rushes jumps would be great. I am working through that with my horse as well.

[@bobbettepierce5756]

I always go out groom .Ride.massage.He response to. .me .So proud. Of my man. Splash. Paint Quarter. He has turned out to be a great tail rider. Partner.Trail riding .Is way bigger then the arena.Go out in the woods go in and out the trees. And up and down hills.😄

[@MsOmnia89]

Thanks a lot I have a problem when steering the horse, I can't use my legs and reins at the same time , and so it ends that the horse stops

[@lafemmefatal]

I have my own horse and she's great but if I don't jump her a few times a week the next time I go to jump she gets a bit crazy and races to the fence, jumps totally flat and then bucks after. =O

[@melwilson5608]

Can you help me not feel like I bounce around when we are going over trotting poles? Thx in advanced

[@ast5515]

My biggest issue is stiffness and difficulty bending. The problem is not with the cues, because it all works perfectly in a smaller circle. But as soon as I make the circle bigger, it kinda falls apart. Stiff neck, head up.

[@melwilson5608]

I had my lesson the other day with a experienced horse and I was working on my posting trot. My trainer asked me to lead the horse over trotting poles and keep my posting trot, but every time she went over the poles, I felt like I stopped my posting trot and just bounced around and started posting when she was done going over the pole

[@lillyhogan7027]

Mlpandlpstv here’s a tip just try put all your weight in the stirrups ! It helps aloy

[@jennarosezierke2416]

How can I work with my horse that hates leaving the pen because she was in a pasture by her self for we think like 3 years. She has even been willing to run me over so she wouldn't get caught.

[@missequestrian3448]

Jennarose Zierke, depending on what her intent is -- is she afraid of outside, mad to do what you want-- doesn't want to leave her buddy etc, your approach to the problem may differ. I think treats and a good groundwork session may help. Treats will help her want to come up to you, and some ground work should help her respect and not run over you. It also may make a difference what you do when you take her out, (ie. If you take her out and do something she doesnt like every time she won't want to come out etc) look up some 'joining up' ground work stuff, it may help too. In the end, I would say get someone to help figure out why, if you know why your horse does that, I think it will help greatly, but either way, I hope this helps some! Good luck!

[@missequestrian3448]

Oh sorry, it says she's by herself, so ignore the leaving her buddies part, lol!! Sorry!

[@jennarosezierke2416]

Miss Equestrian she is not by her self any more. Infact she is with 8 other horses.

[@missequestrian3448]

Oh, ok! Thanks! I'm no experienced horse trainer, but maybe she is buddy sour then? It's definitely a possibility. Hope my tips help!

[@jennarosezierke2416]

Miss Equestrian thank you