Misbehaved Horse

Question
QUESTION: Hi. I have a question about a horse of mine that I hope you can answer. I am currently riding a 5 year old thoroughbred/quarterhorse/arabian cross mare and for the most part I enjoy riding her. But every time I bring her to a new place ( we travel a bit going to gymkhahas and barrel racing) she acts up and starts to get excited. She gets very pushy, rude, and I have barely any control over her. The last time I went somewhere with her was about one week ago, and I coudn't do anything with her. I want her to learn how to stand still while I am mounted, but all she does is move like crazy. She refuses to be still, and won't listen to anything i tell her to do. Yet at home, she is really behaved. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you for your time.

ANSWER: Hi Mia!

The environment at a show, clinic or competition is very different than at home.  YOU feel different!  You are excited, nervous and amped up and that feeling drains right out of you and into your horse!

The best way to deal with the excess of emotions at a show is to plan for them.  Give yourself and your horse a routine of ground work that will help the both of you achieve your ideal performance state.  That is a way of feeling calm, focused, controlled and sharp, both horse and rider.  

You have not yet learned the classical ground school that I use, you will have to learn it.  The best way I know to do this, short of attending a clinic, would be to watch the Ground Work DVD by Buck Brannaman.  This will show you all of the elements of a classical ground school.  You will also see lots of missing part and pieces in your horsemanship and when you can accomplish the majority of this ground school, you nervous issues with your horse will be gone.  

For now, learn how to disengage the hind quarters.  This will be one of the first things you will see on Buck's DVD.  This classical ground school is the basis for the Natural Horsemanship "stuff" and was taught to me by Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, Ricky Quinn, and Bryan Neubert.  I am gong to carry on and explain things to you AS IF you KNOW this classical work.  I know you will have questions about specifics, and  if you need a clarification, make sure you let me know.

At home, I always check out elements of my ground work to make sure all of my bases are covered.  It may be as little as turning my horse left and right in hand before I get on or as much as really getting to the hind quarters, using my flag, maybe using my lass rope and roping up a foot and getting them to lead up off of that feel.  For you, I would make sure you could get to the hind quarters, get your horse moving softly around you in both directions.  I would be using my flag and getting to the point that you can be really careless with the flag and have your horse remain calm, secure and confident.  I would also be getting her used to a tarp and a slicker!  When you head to the show the first thing I want you to do is to ground work your horse!  It may only take you a couple of minutes or a couple of HOURS!  It depends on how well you have studied your ground work and how much time you have spend doing it at home.  When you start your ground work routine at a show, you are going to continue until you get a change in your horse.  You want her of OFFER to stand quietly not be made to stand or forced to stand.  She has to be in the right mental frame of offer to stand.  It has to feel good to her.  If she can't, put her to work.  Keep ground working her using as many different elements of your ground school as necessary to get her to understand and change.  When you are dillignet with your ground work at home and you start doing the same thing at a show, it will be something that your mare knows and is comfortable with.  This brings comfort to your horse!  It is a routine she knows and feels good about.  When you get control of the FEET, you will get control of the MIND!  

Hay, Mia I have to go.  I'm going to send this portion of your answer now as I don't want to lose this work.  Send me a follow up question and I'll continue this answer...Thank You! Barn emergency.

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QUESTION: Thanks for your reply :D I have a show coming up next weekend and I wil be going there an hour ahead of time of everyone else to make sure me and my horse are both mentally prepared to deal with it. Did you still have anything else you wanted to add?

Answer
Sounds like you are on the right track Mia!  Establish a routine that helps her feel good about being in a high stress environment, use your ground work to help with that, don't MAKE her stand, have her work until she can OFFER to stand and feel good about it and....breath! We can't help our horses until we get our own emotions under control.  

Ended up with rock dumped in all the wrong places, such is barn life!  

Enjoy your weekend!

Denise