Horse "refining" questions
Hi everyone! I recently started leasing a Tennessee Walking Horse mare. I have some questions for you all..
So, I've been riding for about 15 years, hunter/jumper on TB, QH, warmblood types. Never any gaited. So Libby is my first gaited horse experience. Anyway, she hasn't been doing alot of regular work, and her owner mostly does trail riding with her. I'm not looking to retrain her or anything crazy; she already goes pretty well English. But there are a few things I would like advice on :) And these are things her owner wants to work on too; but we're not often at the stables at the same time.
Libby is very sane and wonderful trail horse (will not spook at construction equipment, chainsaws, motorcycles, or anything else, bless her heart) but she is opinionated! She resents working in the pasture (there's not an arena; it's either an empty pasture or trails to ride one) and she's not fond --initially-- of going away from the barn. She's not HORRIBLE, she'll toss her head, swish her tail, and try to veer in the direction she wants to go. Sometimes we tend to move in a serpentine as opposed to a straight line. My usual response is to push her forward, using opposite rein/leg aids (common sense! lol). If she's really bad and wants to circle, I'll make her go in a circle a couple times till she realizes she's not getting anywhere. Is there a better way to work through this? What I've been doing is taking her partway out on the trail, turning her toward home, stopping, turning back out and heading away again, etc. I'll also dismount in different locations. I do similar things in the pasture. I guess I'm just worried about having her get a bad attitude about riding in general if we do all this stuff she doesn't like. Don't get me wrong--when we're enough away from the barn, she stops being silly and has a good time. And, we definitely take time to go on "fun" rides, too.
Also.. she doesn't really understand leg aids all that much. When I noticed this, I started making extra sure to use leg aid EVERY time we turn or whenever else it's appropriate. Is there anything else I can do to help her connect leg pressure=moving away? This is something her owner definitely wants to work on, too. Oh, on the ground she knows to move away if you push her gently.
Another thing:she doesn't seem to want to do a SLOW canter. She has a LOVELY canter, and even fast it's the smoothest thing you will ever feel. Buuut she doesn't seem to know how to slow it down. She's never out of control-- she will always stop or go back down to a gait (running walk? whatever the heck it is.) She just won't slow the canter down. Maybe she needs more muscle/balance to be able to do this? She is still a bit out of shape. I try to do what I can on my part, but nothing has clicked yet. I'm at a loss :)
Also, I don't know if she understands lead changes. We don't canter in the pasture because she tends to get very strong and tries to drag me to the barn. lol. So, that's waiting until she listens better. And on the trail I don't really pay attention to her lead. Soooo once she understands slow, controlled canter... I guess we'll work on lead changes? Any advice on this, for a horse who doesn't get what legs mean?
It's not like she's a green horse or anything. She's just been used for purely pleasure riding on the trail. She probably knew all this at one point in time--except legs. Her mom said she's never really understood them, lol.
Thank you all for your time!
So, I've been riding for about 15 years, hunter/jumper on TB, QH, warmblood types. Never any gaited. So Libby is my first gaited horse experience. Anyway, she hasn't been doing alot of regular work, and her owner mostly does trail riding with her. I'm not looking to retrain her or anything crazy; she already goes pretty well English. But there are a few things I would like advice on :) And these are things her owner wants to work on too; but we're not often at the stables at the same time.
Libby is very sane and wonderful trail horse (will not spook at construction equipment, chainsaws, motorcycles, or anything else, bless her heart) but she is opinionated! She resents working in the pasture (there's not an arena; it's either an empty pasture or trails to ride one) and she's not fond --initially-- of going away from the barn. She's not HORRIBLE, she'll toss her head, swish her tail, and try to veer in the direction she wants to go. Sometimes we tend to move in a serpentine as opposed to a straight line. My usual response is to push her forward, using opposite rein/leg aids (common sense! lol). If she's really bad and wants to circle, I'll make her go in a circle a couple times till she realizes she's not getting anywhere. Is there a better way to work through this? What I've been doing is taking her partway out on the trail, turning her toward home, stopping, turning back out and heading away again, etc. I'll also dismount in different locations. I do similar things in the pasture. I guess I'm just worried about having her get a bad attitude about riding in general if we do all this stuff she doesn't like. Don't get me wrong--when we're enough away from the barn, she stops being silly and has a good time. And, we definitely take time to go on "fun" rides, too.
Also.. she doesn't really understand leg aids all that much. When I noticed this, I started making extra sure to use leg aid EVERY time we turn or whenever else it's appropriate. Is there anything else I can do to help her connect leg pressure=moving away? This is something her owner definitely wants to work on, too. Oh, on the ground she knows to move away if you push her gently.
Another thing:she doesn't seem to want to do a SLOW canter. She has a LOVELY canter, and even fast it's the smoothest thing you will ever feel. Buuut she doesn't seem to know how to slow it down. She's never out of control-- she will always stop or go back down to a gait (running walk? whatever the heck it is.) She just won't slow the canter down. Maybe she needs more muscle/balance to be able to do this? She is still a bit out of shape. I try to do what I can on my part, but nothing has clicked yet. I'm at a loss :)
Also, I don't know if she understands lead changes. We don't canter in the pasture because she tends to get very strong and tries to drag me to the barn. lol. So, that's waiting until she listens better. And on the trail I don't really pay attention to her lead. Soooo once she understands slow, controlled canter... I guess we'll work on lead changes? Any advice on this, for a horse who doesn't get what legs mean?
It's not like she's a green horse or anything. She's just been used for purely pleasure riding on the trail. She probably knew all this at one point in time--except legs. Her mom said she's never really understood them, lol.
Thank you all for your time!