reschooling

Question
Hi i have a five year old new forest geilding , ive had him almost 3 months, all i want is a gentle hack as he has navicular but his previous owner came and rode him once and he was crazy , she held very tight to the reins and he didnt walk he jogged and hopped , i wondered if it would be possible to retrain him so that he is a calm ride

Answer
Hi Carol!

I would like to first address your goal in riding.  You said "all I want is a gentle hack".  Is this because you want to go easy on him because he has navicular disease or is it because you truly want to go slow and easy?  There is a difference between the 2 goals.

To say you just want him to go easy because of his disease....well, it sounds like he is not in much pain if he is acting like this, jogging and hopping.  He is very young and might be in not much pain yet and still quite serviceably sound.  Has he been correctly diagnosed with navicular by a vet or is this just a guess on your part or the previous owner's?

If you just want a gentle hack because this is your personal goal, you have picked a very young horse for the job.  It is possible for him to do it but, it may require some consistent and lengthy training to teach him to be a proper mount for you.

A gentle hack requires a knowledgeable mount who will go through, over and around anything, anytime, anywhere.  Your young guy sounds to me like he has a little too much mental and physical energy for "a gentle hack".

Having only owned him for 3 months, you two do not really know each other very well and you may have asked him to do too much too fast.  This is a common mistake that new owners make.  They feel the horse just "knows" what to do, just automatically "knows" what the new owner wants and will just do it.  This is not true.  A real foundation of trust and respect must be built between the new owner and new horse so that correct communication can flow between them and all riding goals can be achieved.

I suggest you speak to your vet, farrier, tack shop or local Pony Club and ask them to recommend a local trainer.  Have the trainer out to see your guy, discuss your riding goals and evaluate if your new mount is really capable of doing what you want.  You need some help in determining what his real issues are.  Is it a simple case of "over-fed" and "under-exercised" with too much young energy or is he really inappropriate for your ideal situation?

The trainer can work with you both on some exercises to learn to communicate with each other and show you how to properly dominate his mind so you can control him whether you are on the ground or on his back.

Taking the time and spending the money now to correctly train your young horse can give you 20 more years of a wonderful riding partnership  :-)

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

Solange