infront of the leg....

[Adele]

Ok, Ive always had a problem with lazy horses & getting them infront of the leg.
I get into a habit of constantly nagging them & making them dull to the leg.
My new guy is seriously lazy & nappy. I want to train him to go forward with a squeeze or whatever.....
In an ideal world I would ride like Anky, but I don't so how do I get this horse to go forward with just a squeeze or an aid? I know the ideals like, 1st ask & then if they don't do it then reinforce the aid with a whip....
But my guy like to kick out at the whip, which really doean't sit well with me. Also I ask & then he does, but I tend to find that I still nag with my calfs to keep him going.

I want to kick my habit in the butt before it desensitises my horse...

Any suggestions?

[Phoebe]

Have you tried spurs instead of the whip?

That could help you in two ways... firstly providing you with a reinforcement if he doesnt respond to your squeeze. Also.. I was a bit inclined to nag with my legs as well, but I found when I started wearing spurs, I was so conscious of what my legs were doing that I was trying as much as possible to keep them still, in case I jabbed the horse by mistake :)

I have a hypersensitive mare who kicks out at the whip... she did it with the spurs for a ride or two and then got used to the idea. I still carry the whip but I never really need to use it anymore.

Also make sure he only gets one chance to respond to your leg... if you repeat the squeeze too many times before applying whip/spurs/stronger leg or whatever, he never really feels the urgency to respond straight away.

hope any of that helps in some way..

[tilly]

Instead of the whip being your reinforcement, have you tried using your leg again?

Clemens Dierks said think about it being on a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the strongest. Obviously you would like your horse to respond to a 1 aid, but sometimes you have to teach him that. So you ask with a 1, and if he doesn't respond, you immediately give him a 10 to get the response, even if it is a too big response to start with. Next time, you ask with a 1 again.

Lisa Wilcox (I'm such a name dropper!!) suggests actually taking your whole leg off the horse and then giving him a "whop" with the flat of the inside of your calf. Not only is it an immediate shock to the horse, but it makes a satisfying noise too! :) She also says that as you continue along this road with your horse, the very act of taking your leg OFF acts as a warning to go forward or else!!

I think the most important thing, whichever way you go, is to stop the niggling, or of course they are going to just ignore it. Let us know how you go!

[lebasi]

Hi, I used to have trouble with "lazy" horses or to put it another way, ones that were hard to get forward and round. It was as though I had a handbrake on and couldn't find the release button, very frustrating. First you need a good instructor who first concentrates on your position. It (position) IS the basis of good riding. Some of my problems included leaning forward and it only needs to a fraction of a centimetre on some horses, gripping thighs, tense bum. My instructor has helped me fix most of these problems and now I have no problem with forward and round (laziness). My instructor also quoted a European instructor as saying, riding is ( and this is from memory and close to the figures if not spot on) 80% back (this means use of stomach/back muscles, position and weight (not how much haha but where you place it), 15% leg and 5% hand! This helped me immensely and now I use my body and my horse is very sensitive. Hope this helpsOk, Ive always had a problem with lazy horses & getting them infront of the leg.
I get into a habit of constantly nagging them & making them dull to the leg.
My new guy is seriously lazy & nappy. I want to train him to go forward with a squeeze or whatever.....
In an ideal world I would ride like Anky, but I don't so how do I get this horse to go forward with just a squeeze or an aid? I know the ideals like, 1st ask & then if they don't do it then reinforce the aid with a whip....
But my guy like to kick out at the whip, which really doean't sit well with me. Also I ask & then he does, but I tend to find that I still nag with my calfs to keep him going.

I want to kick my habit in the butt before it desensitises my horse...

Any suggestions?