Question
copain my horse
ok so my horse (not mine but i say so) well he used to do carrage driving but went to a professsional trainer and was broke under english saddle. but the thing is he was broken like 10 years ago or more cause he is now 18 but was never really riddin much and the owner said i could ride him. we hjad the vet check him he is perfectly healthy exept a bit over weight from not working much but i am, working on that. so 2 mon ths ago i started working with him doing groudwork and lounging and free lounging he is really good has good transitions walk trot stop and all exept for canter but thats because the pen is a little small and he hs trouble picking up his ccanter.. but when we get on him he will not move forward exept if somebody is holding him. we did geet him to move but he only moved a couple steps. we dont know what to do we wroked with him all afternoon could trot jump walk in hand with rider on back with someone leading him he can turn when we tell him so had no problem with us mounting doesnt move a step exept that he got bit by a wasp and almost bucked me off but i dont blame him but i dont know what to do to bring him to walk forward on his own without someone leading him.... o and we did get him to lounge but had trouble because he wouldnt go out but usually does will work on that. i doubt it be the sadle because we were bareback in a regular o-ringed snaffle and i tried not to be in his mouth only to steer
AnswerChloe,
You've asked a question here that I could write a book on! He's a Belgian, or Belgian cross so you have to deal with the draft mentality here. They are very nice horses but aren't the brightest bulbs on the equine tree. They can be very slow to learn things.
First thing that I can see as a possible problem is you are not riding him with a saddle. If he was trained with a saddle he is going to associate that with the work you want him to do. Bareback is nothing he has any experience with and he doesn't know what to do. You're going to need to step back a little and work with him,under saddle, on the basics. Remember, he's been driven so is used to different signals than you use under saddle. Put him under saddle and put his bridle on over his halter. Have someone hook a lead line to the halter. I would suggest you carry a crop since he apparently doesn't remember what he learned about leg commands when he was saddle trained. As a carriage horse he will be familiar with whip signals so start there. With your handler next to him start by asking him to walk, use the verbal command "walk", tap him on the shoulder with the whip and squeeze your legs. Have the handler start him moving after you give him a chance to respond to your requests. Walk a few steps, stop, and repeat the process. You will have to be patient, praise him lavishly when he does take a step so that he realizes this is what you want. Do not get impatient with him. It will take him a little while to catch on. Use the handler after you have given the command, not at the same time. You will need to walk him around with the handler for a while until he's "got it". I usually have someone on the horse's head for a number of sessions when I am starting them under saddle to provide support for the horse as they learn. The handler can unfasten the lead and drop back and away from the horse gradually; how long this takes depends very much upon the horse. Once he has walking and stopping down then you can advance to trotting but don't rush things.
He looks like a sweet boy and will try to please you once he understands what it is you want. He should be familiar with verbal commands from driving so you just have to teach him what to do under saddle. I've trained a lot of horses to drive first, then be ridden, and they all did fine but remember that they don't understand leg commands at all when you start.
Be kind and patient and he'll figure it out eventually.
Lyn
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