You have to admit, sometime or another, you have been on a naughty pony or horse. These are some tips and tricks on controlling them properly, including things that most likely they’ll be doing, which you do not want them to do, and stopping them from doing it.
!N.B. THESE WORK FOR ME I DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT THEY WILL WORK FOR YOU, AS IT ALSO DEPENDS PER HORSE. THEY HAVE WORKED ON THE HORSES THAT I HAVE RIDDEN. PIC CREDS GOOGLE.
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Keep a firm(er) hand.
If you keep a gentler hand, or same as usual, the horse will probably drive you round and round in circles until your instructors throat should be dry from yelling steer her. Instead, keep a firmer hand on her, if in an arena then keep a slightly shorter outside rein – mind you, very little bit shorter – just to keep a slight pull into the outside, to give him the message “you know what dude, stay there okay. I do not wanna see you wheeling inside.”. But be careful, keep a firm hand, but don’t keep your rein too short. From my experience on Kia, one very naughty lass I used to ride, if I kept a tight rein on her, she acted up more; keep a long rein, first 5-10 mins she is naughty, turning tight circles, fighting the bit, all that stuff, but after that she is such a sweet heart no one would have thought she could fight a bit. So basically longer rein, or usual length rein, with a firm grip on the reins, firm contact, and no slacking. Stay firm, but not short reins to the rescue, remember!
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Make sure you are not cueing the horse with your feet.
Once I was riding Arnold, and he kept on being like the most insane horse ever. He didn’t usually mind following someone, so I was terribly surprised when he fought the bit at a walk and threw up tantrums, till my instructor reminded me not to cling with my feet. I thought I wasn’t, because according me my knees where away from the saddle, but she said not to cling and grip with my lower foot. Yes, don’t stick them out, wrap them a little around, but not clinging and sticking on. That cues the horse, thus confusing it.
Now time for somethings that naughty horses do, and how to correct them:
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Circling toward the inside and not listening to you.
This is a very bad behavior from you horse, because she isn’t listening to you. Most of them will fight the bit all they can, and try their best to head where they want to. She may insist and fight to go where she wants to, but you shouldn’t let her. Pull her to where you want to go, and don’t even go in the direction she is facing, meaning finishing the circle and getting back to the outside. Nope, she proved to you she is in charge, for she wanted to go in the circle. Instead, turn her back the direction she came from, where you want to go, and join the outside again. Do NOT, ever let her go where she wants to. You are the boss, not her. Even in your free time, if you wanna go somewhere, but she is already going there, just pull her a little bit away, then make her go, so you kind of tell her, “no, wait, okay now you horse, go there!”
EDIT from the future: This is rather a pointless excercise. There is no harm in giving the horse freedom when it is okay to do so.
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Speeding up the trot to avoid cantering.
Some horses, when you cue them into the canter, they will go faster and faster, in the trot, and will not canter. If that happens, slow her back down to a normal trot. Then ask again, because you don’t want them racing and speeding away, not cantering. You want to come from a steady trot, into a steady canter, and no speeding. Most of them try to avoid the canter by speeding. Keep on slowing and asking till they do not speed to avoid, and then canter for only a little while. Then bring back to a trot, praise, then continue. Within a few days, you will see improvement. But this could also be caused by YOU. Make sure you are sitting firmly into the saddle, not bouncing or accidentally rising, because the horse will not canter if you don’t let it.
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Rearing and bucking when you ask for the canter.
Quite some horses will rear or buck when you ask for the canter. Some will rear, or buck and then canter. Others will just continue rearing or bucking. Either one is unwanted, though the former one is better than the latter. Either way, when she does buck/rear, lean forward or back as required (forward if it is a rear, back if it is bucking), and firmly and slightly roughly, say no, whatever the horse understand as no. For example, Wakker, one horse that I ride, threw his head and was acting up today. So, I slightly pulled the reins, and said firmly, “Wakker, stop that!” and again a little jerk. So kind of show him you are mad, even if you aren’t. You do not want to punish him, just correcting him, but with firmness is how you show them that, because you prove to the horse you know what you are doing.
And thats about it!
Are you guys liking these? Do you understand these?
Till next time, enjoy your weekend, wherever you are rightnow! 🙂