restarting a middle aged horse

Question
I have a 10yo solid paint gelding I would like to make some progress with but am a t a stopping point. He lives out 24hrs a day with 1 other gelding and 3 mares. He is middle man on the totem pole. I can give you more background on him if you'd like. He free longes in the round pen well, not perfectly mind you, but well. but when under saddle in the round pen, won't budge. We have had a few issues while longing as well, but we'll get to that later. At this point our goal with him is to teach him to longe on a line and to walk-trot-canter both ways. He came to me as "broke", but the more I work with him the more it seems he is not so much defiant as confused/uneducated. I guess I am at the point of "where should I start?" I just want to do it the right way. I reschool horses and ponies pretty frequently, but it has been a while since I had one who wouldn't do anything at all under saddle. Let me know if I can provide any more info. Look forward to hearing from you.

Answer
Hi Elizabeth!

Whether your gelding is being willfully stubborn or is truly not trained must be treated the same way.  Back to the basics, start by building a real foundation of communication and dominant respect that he will want to listen to.

I suggest you Google the Monty Robert's "Join-Up" method. This is an excellent way to communicate with an untrained or willful horse.  You can also get info on it from your tack shop.  These round pen exercises will get you thinking like a horse and get his hooves moving in the right direction...all this leading up to transferring when you have him under saddle.

Lastly, teaching a horse to longe on a line AFTER he has learned to free longe can be difficult.  Again, the Join-Up method will help you with this.  You must be very clear in your instructions to him and always, ALWAYS be consistent in your cues.  He will love knowing what you want and will enjoy your praise for doing it.  Longeing is like a dance between two partners.  You are leading and he is following.  Some people think it is just running the horse in circles to get the bucks and sillies out.  That is such a waste of a vital training tool.

I complete and cement all my greenies cues in the round pen and have never had a problem with it transferring to when they are then under saddle.  I also longline every single horse prior to mounting.  Again, this step is often skipped because people don't know about longlining or cannot do it themselves.  I suggest you have a professional trainer out for a few visits to teach you this technique if you have no familiarity with it.  

Be firm, be patient and above all be consistent  ~

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange