Staying at a gait

Question

Misty   QUESTION: Hi,
My horse is a 4 yr old paint who was abused when she was one year old, so
she can spook easily sometimes although she is a lot better than when I first
got her.
I have just started trotting her under saddle and now she thinks that she can
always trot. She will walk fine at the start but once you trot her once it is hard
for her to stay at a walk again.
Can you help me on what to do to get her staying at the gait i've asked her to
be on.
Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Summer, first of all, I wanted to praise you for the time and patience you've put in with your mare, sounds like you've done a great job. As far as her not maintaining the speed you want, my suggestion is to make "doing the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard". So, for example, let's say you want her to walk and she wants to jog, instead of pulling on her mouth and starting an arguement, let her jog but make her work, do some rollbacks, push her into a faster trot, do some small circles, changing directions frequently, you want to do it with enough speed and encouragement that she gets a bit winded and as soon as you feel her want to slow down, ask her to do one more circle, then relax and let her walk, on a lose rein. Horses learn from the release, not the pressure, so it's important to acknowledge the "reward" of letting her walk, which was of course your goal in the first place. It will take a few days, but soon she'll learn if she stays at your speed, regardless of what the gait is (walk, jog or lope) there is no pressure and it's easy but if she speeds up, she has to work harder and that's not as fun.

Best wishes, Jen

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have one more question and it is about picking up her back feet.
What would be the best way to go about getting her to pick them up without
kicking me? I can touch them but when I go to ask for them she pulls them in
making as if she will kick.
I also need some tips on getting a spooky horse ready for the farrier.
THanks again!

Answer
I would suggest staring with alot of desensitizing, all over her body...starting with something simple like a long lunge whip or even a rope, then moving to something a bit more scary like a plastic trash bag tied on to the end of a lunge whip or a tarp. Remember horses learn on the retreat and removal of pressure, so you want to proceed very slowly, and reward her keeping her feet still by immediately retreating and removing the object. That said while she moves away from the object, keep constant pressure on her...this could be from 6 feet away or 6 inches, don't try to touch her with the object at first, even if you think you can, get her used to it flapping and flailing all around her fist, both sides, front and back.

After she's comfortable with that, I'd start with a long soft cotton rope and run it up and down her body and her legs, you can loop it, holding both ends, behind each leg and let it rest behind her fetlock and actually stay standing and gently pull the leg off the ground. You want her to give to the pressure, so in the begining, you just want her to move her foot, not pick it up, gradually you can begin raising it off the ground with the rope and get her started on being comfortable on three legs that way.

Jen