Training Question...

Question
I have had, and trained many horses in my life. However, I recently purchased a 3 yr old paint gelding who has me stumped. He had 30 days training at the breeder last Sept. was purchased this May by a woman who shortly after realized she did not want a green horse. Now he is  mine. He is awesome on the ground, lunges, great to tack up and fine to mount. Now the problem, he is terrified to move forward with me on him. He will walk off if someone leads him, but spooks shortly after. He is also VERY sensitive to leg pressure. I have a feeling he was not broke in the kindest of ways. I have all the time in the world to spend with this colt, and I know he has great potential! I just want to do what is best for him. Please help!
Thank you!

Answer
Hello Nichole,

Thanks for your question.

This is a great exercise for horses that get spooked when walking off as a green horse.

What you can do is take an old pair of jeans and an old long sleeve shirt and make a scare crow type mock human out of them by sewing them together and stuffing with with hay. Once you have made the mock human apply snaps on the sleeves, legs, and bottom of the mock human.

Get your horse warmed up and ready to work.

Once the horse is under saddle place the mock human on the horses saddle and buckle him in. Start to lunge the horse each direction. If the horses starts a bucking fit allow him to work it out and keep pushing him forward.

Most of the time when horses react badly when a rider gets on them is the whole "OH MAN SOMETIME IS FLYING ABOVE MY HEAD" horses are creatures of flight and often run when they are frightened. This exercise will show the horse that there is nothing to be afraid of and the person in the saddle means no harm. It is a wonderful exercise for this issue.

I hope this helps!

Please keep me posted.

Thanks,

Geneva