Hi, i just recently bought a new horse. She does everything, and she was taught differently than i know. The previous owner only had her for 4 months, and they only rode her maybe once a week. She does know her stuff. I have been riding for 8 years but we dont have the money to get a trainer, i say im a begginer but my friend says im intermediate. I have some questions also.

1. I cant get her to take her left lead, is something wrong?

2. Im trying to get her head down lower and im attempting draw reins, they just confuse her, what do i do?

3. I cant get her to side pass, she will do it but not for me, she will for my friend but she is really advanced, i did the same and she still wouldnt sidepass.

4. When i ride english, she pulls her nose forward, so she gets more free rein, but then she has her head up, i use a small ported kimberwick, do i need a different bit?

5. How do i collect a horse?

Thanks for your help -Confused

HI paintlover. congrats on the new purchase. If you do not know how to collect a horse, you probably are correct in saying you are a beginner rider, which is not a bad thing!! Initially i would say your mare could benefit from going back to the round pen for a few days. You say you dont have $ for a trainer but there may be other options. Lots of trainers will make farm visits and give lessons to help with specific issues. What about your advanced friend? would she be willing to help you??

best of luck

Give Us a little more info-so we can help you better

How old is she
What breed is she
How tall is she
How much does she weigh [apprx]
What is she trained to do -English/Western-Pleasure,Trail,Reining, Hunter, Jumper, Dressage
Does she only not take that lead while you ride, others ride, on a longe line, loose in a field
Who suggested the draw reins
How low are you trying to get the head and why
Do you know how to correctly ask for sideways- will she not go in either direction
Kimberwicks are harsh, what was she trained in- And NEVER use draw reins with a Kimberwick or any type of curb bit
When/Why are you asking for collection

Yes, Lots of questions, but the more info we have the better we can understand what exactly is happening and not just guessing.

How old is she: 11

What breed is she: Paint (halter bred so she has a shorter gait)

How tall is she: 15.1hh

How much does she weigh [apprx]: 1000?

What is she trained to do: English/Western-Pleasure,Trail,Patterns,Showmanship

She only takes her right lead when she is ridden i didnt pay attention to out and about stuff

Who suggested the draw reins: my intermediate-advanced friend

How low are you trying to get the head and why: under the withers for western, i show circut shows and i want to be able to get her head down with one hand and keep it there.

she will sidepass but she backs at the same time.

I use a curbed kimberwick so its really mild, and i only use the drawreins for western, this is the bit i use(attachment)

When/Why are you asking for collection: At the canter so it looks nicer

Ok,
Lets see if we can work some of this out.
@ 11, she should not be growing and should not have too many performance injuries to prevent her from doing what is asked.

May also have shorter thicker shoulder/throatlatch/neck-deeper more square chest/forearms-rounder deeper set hip.
Some of the good halter conformation will hinder her in being able to go long & low- not that she can't do it to the best of HER ability she can't/won't look the same as a sleaker built horse

Height to weight ratio-As above will only allow her to move a certain way

What makes a good Lope departure different from a bad lope departure is basically the preparation for it. You ask the horse to collect, move off your leg, respond to your hand and then depart.
For example, if I am moving from a walk or jog into a lope,
I slightly lift my hand and ask the horse to flex slightly to theinside; at the same time I squeeze with my cue leg, my outside leg, and push the horse to the lead I’m going to ask for.
I want to feel the horse move into the direction I’m pushing him. Then I ask for the lope departure with either an increased leg pressure or spur pressure and a smooch.
But if a horse is dramatically different from one side to the
other – he’s great on the left lead and cannot perform on the
right lead – the first place I go in that situation is my veterinarian.
There is always the possibility that the horse has a
medical issue or soundness problem.

Try this in a snaffle with 2 hands;
Take a hold of both reins. Pull them back and slightly up evenly at the same time so they are snug (like you would to back her). Hold them tight until she lowers her head a little and tucks her nose towards her chest. As soon as she does, release you reins. Do it at the stand still first, then when she's good at that do it at the walk, then the trot, etc.

Also do lots of lateral (side to side) bending as well. Usually, the lateral bending comes first. Take one rein and pull it towards your hip. When she tips her nose in or bends her neck, release the rein. Usually, if you can't do a lateral bend, they aren't very good at flexing at the poll.
It takes about 1,000 of them to get a soft, supple horse.
It's takes a lot of bending to get them consistant, but, IMO, it you'll have a much better headset than if you were to use devices.


This explains the aids very well;http://www.aqha.com/magazines/aqhj/c...owatrainer.pdf

Your bit is not a Kimberwick and it is very harsh;Kimberwicke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Western bits are sold under many different names-medium port transition curb-possibly
This is very long-but is the very best at explaing bits & bitting;
::: Sustainable Dressage - Tack & Auxillary Equipment - The Bridle & the Bit :::

When/Why are you asking for collection: At the canter so it looks nicer[/quote]
http://www.aqha.com/magazines/aqhj/c...owatrainer.pdf

this is the bit i use, kimberwick.bmpshe kind of runs through it, she putts her head down and really pulls with her nose, so i loosen the reins and they are never really tight. should i get a different bit. Maybe something stronger?

Do you know how your mare is bred? Some lines have specific issues that would make it more difficult for her like Ltch was explaining. for instance, halter horses that have alot of Mr Conclusion or assests in them have a much harder time with lateral flexion.

What you were explaining when she tryes to take the bit from your hands is sometimes called rooting. It is an indicator that you have to much bit (the bit is to harsh) and you are not using it correctly. Put her back in a snaffle bit and work with her in the round pen lounging and riding until she is respectful to the much lighter bit.

She has Impressive on both sides. and i tryed the snaffle bit, didnt work so well because she took off at the canter and i fell off, and fractured my Radius bone in my elbow. not being rude, so dont take it offensively. What do i do now??

Unfortunately we learn the hard way, how horses have a mind of their own, and we always find holes in their training the painful way.

Heres to a full and speedy recovery.

It sounds like this mare knows more than you and your friend and it's time for a professional.
CK- Was correct in taking the horse back to basics and riding in a snaffle.
What you found out the hard way, is that when she got strong previous people kept going to the next harsher bit and now-you- have a very hard mouthed horse.
Every horse is for sale for a reason.
Before remounting, start on the ground with a chain shank.
Lead as normal, use the word whoa, spin to face her, jerk [1 time] the shank and hit across chest with tail end of lead.
Do this until when you start to turn, she has already stopped fast.
Remember to say whoa.
Teach or refresh her to ground drive- I can explain if needed.
Now with a snaffle- I prefer straight bar rubber [not rubber coated]- use two lunge lines, one connected on each side of the bit.
Again use the word whoa, pull fairly hard- you may need to set your feet- on each side at the same time until she stops and starts to back.
There are quite a few evasions that she can do before she does it willingly.
Once she easily does this, your riding/rein pressure and headset will be exactly how/where you want.

Now, just to be fair to the horse.
Take a lesson with a good instructor.
It is also possible that your body position and ques may be asking her to do things you don't intentionally mean to be asking.
She may just be doing whats asked.

she seems to be oftley naughty latley
.
when i untack her i always take the saddle off first and then switch from the bridle to the halter. i do this in the stall and when i take the bridle off i always have the reins around her neck. but of course she spins around. i did this with the door of the stall open and she pulled me halfway into the pasture untill i let go because i didnt want to be dragged.

Also she doesnt like being in the barn let alone her stall. She eats really slowly and spins in her stall, she takes hours to eat. My mom couldnt get her to come in the barn last night to eat. so we put a chain over her nose because she seems to listen to that. And she still wouldnt go in. So we backed her all the way in.

Latley she has been pacing a lot in the pasture. There is grass but she doesnt go to that part of the pasture unless we lead her there, but she still doesnt stay for long. Oh yeah and she is deathly afraid of chickens, when we first got her home the chickens were in the barn and even after we got them out she was still afraid to go in there.

can you help me with this?

I'm going to add in my two cents here and ladies please correct/help me if I am wrong on any of this.

What it sounds like is your mare has had bad experiences inside a barn/riding arena. A lot of why she could be acting the way she is could be due to what she's picking up on from you (i.e. - fear/uncertainty) This does happen but how we learn to over come it and prove to our horsey riding partners that "we" are good people to be with can vary. One thing I didn't see listed on the posts would be to go one step further back to the beginning with bits. Why not try using a bosal (not a mechanical hackamore! These can be just as severe as a curb with the chain on them) I have a 13 year old Haflinger gelding (affectionately called "Punk" - and yes he can be one!) That would literally pull through a snaffle bit. I'm not a fan of harsher bits and have usually ridden in a loose ring snaffle, tom thumb snaffle, mullen mouth short shank (to name a few) but not very "severe" bits. I'm not saying this to be put down to any one here but any bit in the wrong hands can be severe. It does sound like your horse needs to learn to give to pressure instead of bracing against it. What I have found with the bosal is that they learn to give to the pressure a lot easier and with less pressure. Punk has responded well to it and Chance is very light in this.

Just a word of caution on the chain shank. When I first got Punk back in February, I was told that I needed to use a shank on him. I found out the hard way that this wasn't the case. What he would do is wait until the chain was tight around the top of his nose and it was "off to the races" and quite a few heel shots towards me at the end of a lead line. Thankfully I wasn't caught by his large hooves but the chain shank hasn't been used on him since. You might want to check into a rope halter for your mare. I have found that one with the two knots on the nose works very well on my boys. You can also use this halter to teach flexion as well.

Another thing you might want to pay attention to when you doing the flexing exercises is when you release pressure. I have found that my two boys have learned quickly when pressure is released at the correct time. Clinton Anderson shows how to do this with a lot of his exercises (I don't stick with one style of training. I use what works best.)

As for the chickens. This is going to take some time. You're going to have to teach her first that you're the "Alpha" in your heard of two. Once this has been established you might want to pick up a chicken (providing you can catch one, lol - had chickens at home years ago) and bring it over to her stall to show her that the "chicken monster" isn't going to hurt her. Chance used to chase the chickens around at one of the stables I boarded him at. He looked at them with a weary eye at first but then realized that I wasn't upset about them and decided to have fun chasing them out of his paddock.

Hope fully this helps and check your area to see if there are any local clinics going on. You can find a invaluable amount of information there. Also see if you can have an instructor come to your location for a lesson. With a trained eye they can see exactly what's happening and help you to correct it. Keep us posted.

I am curious as to what reason they gave for selling her after only owning for 4 months.

Do you NEED to own her.

Not a personal attack against you- but it seems it would be in your best interest to go to a facility and lease a horse for awhile, hang out, learn daily routines, stall cleaning, leading, feeding, grooming, ground work, riding different horses.

Then try horse ownership again.

Remember- It is suppose to be SAFE and FUN.


With the chain shank-It needs to be loose and be a jerk/slap. Yes, if it is sitting tight across the nose you can be drug.

Little things like that is why I suggested the above.

Unfortunatly it seems that this mare may have a few too many issues to fit your situtation. Either suck it up and get professional help for her or find a professional that is willing to buy her. After-all it is much better for your mare to have a fufilling and happy life at someone elses barn than go to waste in a pasture right??

I know it sucks but sometimes we have to do whats in the best interest for our babies.

concerning the left lead...does she take it on her own without a rider? if not you are probably looking at a problem if she does take it naturally... you can assume rider error.

Concerning the Lead: as a general rule a horse that dosn't canter on both leads may not necessairly have a problem (well, a physical one :P ). My bf ropes and lots (read most) of their horses only run on the left lead, mainly b/c thats all they were ever taught. Recently I have had alot of older horses brought to me to train. An older horse that was never taught to canter on both leads early on often has a VERY difficult time learning later in life. Kind of like toddlers being ambidextrous but adults not being able to function as lefties (or righties, depending)