Scared horse won't lunge on right rein

[admin]

Dear All,

I am now teaching Laura's big sister as well as Laura and really enjoying it - and they seem very happy with me, so I can't be doing too much wrong!

Anyway - Rebecca's pony is very sweet and loves the whole family and trusts them - bit is VERY VERY scared of strangers. REALLY tense, jumpy as soon as I go near her. This is much worse as soon as I pick up any kind of stick.

I am sure at some point some one has REALLY REALLY beaten her - you can see how she tenses herself ready to be hit.

She also won't be led by me on lunged on the right rein. She is very scared and will do anything to escape back onto the left rein. Although the family can lead her on the right she won't lunge for anyone on the right rein.

So - can I pick your brains as to things that I can try with her to help her relax and trust me, and how I can get her lunging and leading on the right, but without making too much use of the lunge whip.

Things I am doing:

Using some treats to make her associate nice things with me - also to trigger off endorphin release by chewing

Rescue remedy for her

Carrot stretches to reduce the tension and to release endorphins when she lowers her head.

The family have "homework" of doing all their leading from the right.

I am starting to rub her all over using a short stick so she can learn that it's not going to be used to beat her

I am going to spend 10 mins of every lesson working on her lunging (without a rider). I am being quiet, but insistent. By the end of ten minutes in the first session I had managed to get her lunging on the left rein (if a bit speedy) and I got two laps of very fast nervous trot on the right rein.

I think at the moment she is too scared of me to be able to long line safely - which is my normal approach to a pony who won't lunge on one rein.

Your help and ideas would be gratefully recieved.

Olivia

[dalesponyrider]

Sorry, not got much time at the mo but the first thing that springs to mind is has she had her eyes tested? There may be a physical reason for this fear.

[greydales]

Can I ask exactly what you do when you lunge her, voice commands, body position, where you hold the whip etc. What does she do when you try and lead her? You need to take all pressure off her which means if she is very scared of the whip then don't use it at all, keep it on the floor behind you. Horses and ponies usually find it easier to lunge on the left rein and will often spin round when you try to lunge to the right.

If she won't stop then position her so she is approaching the fence and then ask her to whoa (she will have to unless she jumps it!!). Keep everything calm and quiet and if she spins or turns then just place her in the correct position and start again. Don't ask for trot until she is walking calmly.

If she is really scared and whizzy you might find it beneficial to loose school her, so she can get used to your body language and position which you can then transfer to lunging. If you've not done this before let me know!

[akehurstannabel]

Sounds like it could be a blind spot problem. Jo x

[flintfootfilly]

Olivia

I'd try to close the door on what "might" have happened previously (except for any physical problems), and focus on the moment at hand, and just carry on working calmly and methodically, and rewarding those moments, however brief, when there are glimpses of acceptance. It's her devil, and she'll take the time she needs, with fair and consistent handling, to work out that new handlers are just fine. If you can use your surroundings to help set her up to find the right rein to be her easy options at times (using the fence or another boundary), then great.

Sarah

[admin]

Thanks guys.

I did wonder about a sight problem - I'll ask them if they had her vetted when they brought her.

Re. what she does. If I try to get myself on her right hand side just to lead she hestitates then dips her head behind me to get on the other side. She does this when I try to get on her right to set her off on the lunge. If I force the issue and make her walk on with me on her right then she bounces at a trot sideways (like a racehorse!) and is very tense.

I already use the fence to slow her and stop her on the lunge - she has no understanding of voice commands at all. This is how I got a few reasonable laps on the left rein - using the wall to half halt her and therefore get her trot steadier and her listening to my voice (through what her ears do) even if she doesn't understand what the words mean yet.

When lunging I used the whip to ask her to move off - just by holding it about 3' away from her with the lash held by me and slowly moving it up and down in a sort of wobble. I tried asking her to move off without it and she just stood their looking at me - even if I flicked the end of the lunge line behind her. I then dropped the whip as she was focussing solely on that and not on me - she was also going at about 8 million miles.

When lunging I use a limited number of words and alter the tone and speed of them depending on whether I want the pony to speed up or slow down. So a walk command from halt is a sharp, higher pitched "Walk on!" where as if she's trotting and I want her to slow down it is a deep down "waaaaahhhhaaaalllllkkkkkk" I also use "steeeaddddy" to slow the speed within the pace.

With body positioning. WHen I'm asking her to stay out on the circle I stand square on to her slightly behind the girth line and maintain an eye contact. I match my body energy to the amount of energy I want her to expend. So for example (and this doesn't apply to her as I'm trying to get her to slow down atm!) if I want a pony to trot on I might bounce on the spot, if I want a canter I'll jog a little bit. When the pony is focussing on my energy (Tilly and I got quite good at it) then these energy signals become quite subtle, but with horses who aren't used to it I have to be quite obvious.

The energy levels apply to slowing them down too. So I relax my body right down, drop my shoulders, move my body to an obtuse angle to them and try to move slightly in front of them. I also use the fence to steady and slow if it's a horse/pony who's more whizzy and not listening.

What I do with a whip depends on who I'm lunging. When I'm lunging Laura on Frosty I keep to the traditional "triangle" with me the apex, the lunge and the whip making the two sides and the pony the base. With Tango (this pony) I started off with it tucked behind me under my arm and then dropped it. With Tilly she gets "warning" that I'm going to use it and I whizz the lash over my head once before either bringing it down behind her hocks (gently - not a crack) or laying it over the top of the tail - again - not really hitting her but it does make contact.

Does that shed any more light?

Cheers

Olivia

[shaklana]

olivia, she's probably just scared to look at you from her right eye because most of her handling is from the left. she just feels much more confident looking at you with her left because it's more familiar. if you can try to set things up so "good" thing happen when you're on her right she'll change her opinion. i would use back-up at first - back her up until she looks at you with both eyes then let her stop. turn away for a good few seconds at this point so you have removed all pressure. it won't take many repeats untill she learns what to do to stop you backing her. now you can progress to you moving to your right as she backs up, only allowing her to stop with you in her right eye. you can speed this up by having a fence on the pony's left side to stop her moving the hindquarters over. add in more exercises where she only gets to stop with you on her right and it will quickly become her idea to put you on that side. it might also help if the owners do more catching, leading, tacking up, mounting and dismounting from the right.

[harleydales]

Jenny won't lead on my left, she has to be on the right, so she can see me with her left eye. Her retinas are damaged, so it could be a sight thing with your pony. Jenny is impossible to catch if you approach her right side.

[julie]

Lead her from her right side, use whip stroking her as you have been doing and sack her out on right. Get big polythene square, fold tiny and ru all obver then open one fold continue rubbing and gradually open more.This helps all fear. Lunge on right at walk onlyt until she is relaxed. Just give her more time Olivia - as usual you have got it right!

[admin]

Thanks guys. Lots of useful tips.

She was MUCH calmer last night. She has obviously got a lovely rapport with her rider as we were doing handy pony and with a couple of things she was a bit unsure of, but when her rider asked she did them.

We did some carrot stretches which both ponies and riders LOVED doing - bless them.

We then finished off by doing a tiny bit of lunging. I started off by rubbing the whip all over her, placing it on her and only removing it when she stood still. We had a little bit of whizzing round in circles, but she very quickly got the idea. I then did leading from both sides which was a million times better than last week. The owners had been leading from the "wrong" side all week adn that had obviously help. Once she was walking confidently I just moved further and further away from her. By the end of the session she was walking circles with me about 1.5m away. She ground to a halt it if I stood still, but that's not a huge issue. I was just delighted to have her walking calmly while I held a whip (even if it was tucked away under my arm). SHe was attentive and listening to me and was fairly calm. We finshed off by rubbing the whip over her again. We only did about 10-15 minutes, but that was more than enough.

Ideally we'd be repeating this more than once a week - but the owners aren't experience enough just yet. Once I get her going in walk and trot on both reins nicely I'll suggest that the dad has a lunging lesson to make sure he doesn't accidently undo the good work.

She's a very sweet little pony and the little girl loves her to bits.

Thanks for all the help