Horse quirks

[Anne]

Hi Judith ...

I sympathise with you ... sometimes these little "quirks" Are very unnerving, but as a quite nervous rider myself in the face of something unexpected, I found that talking quietly and reassuringly to my horse seemed to help quell My nerves, and consequently slowed down my breathing, which in turn "told" my horse everything was okay as far as I was concerned, and she responded accordingly ....

This is all very easy to say of course,and didn't help me on the ground when she wouldn't stand still when I tried to mount ... (g) but honestly, try it and see what happens ... it might just help ...

Good Luck

Anne

 

[Vicki]

Judith - Anne is right about the talking or if it doesn't sound too stupid also try singing. Our horse, ridden by both very novice husband and I, responds to the tempo of singing. He was doing his power walking bit with John, my husband, when I was out with him on a friend's horse, so to calm both husband and horse down I suggested we sang to
him.

Don't laugh but the Christmas carol Silent Night worked a treat, both in making John relax and in the end the horse to slow down. Trouble is if anybody heard us they would have thought we were loonies, but what the heck!

Don't ever get despondent about feeling nervous, it is only healthy. I found another good way to overcome nerves is to go out alongside a friend and get them to chat to you and make you answer. My friend knew as soon as I was worried because I would stop talking but she would persevere with me and gradually I would have to take some notice of her and not centre on my nerves and what the horse was doing.

Good luck and just remember to keep smiling in that way you are not setting your jaw tense!

Vicki

 

[Judith]

Oh dear! I had one of those disappointing lessons last Sunday just as I was beginning to feel more confident and in control. I was riding a lovely Arab horse but he has a habit of pinning his ears right back and snarling at other horses. Also he has quite a fast bumpy trot which added to the other factrs makes (for me, at any rate) an unnerving ride. Of course, he quickly sensed my unease and I lost his respect, he started veering all over the place and the spiral began! My teacher said (quite rightly) to ignore him. He is safe horse who just happens to have this ear habit and it shouldn't affect the way I ride him. Just get on with it and ride him forward! But I found that difficult. Do others get unnerved by these rather threatening idiosyncrasies? How can we just keep cool, let the horse do his thing, and ride?

Actually, it was in some ways a good lesson and I did learn things, but it's always a bit dispiriting to come away feeling that you're back with those early nerves when you've had some encouraging experiences in the meantime!

 

[Myrmex]

Don't worry Judith, you're not alone in being put off by face-pulling horses. A couple of years ago I went riding with some friends in North Africa. We were each given a Barb stallion and warned to keep well away from each other. And why? These horses hated each other! If they got within 10 yards of each other, the ears would pin back, the tails swish and so on. One of them even attacked the guide's horse as we started out. My horse was easy enough to ride (he was so lazy) but I spent 2 hours in a state of terror! I'd hate to ride something like that in a lesson!

 

[cynthia]

oh, we actually have a couple of geldings like this where i ride. one of them puts up *such* a tremendous fuss when he has to pass another gelding along the inside... he'll pin his ears straight back and get quite nasty.

those lessons are always a study in keep-the-geldings-as-far-away-from-each-other-as-possible.

and again, i definitely agree with the bit about talking quietly and in a low tone of voice. anne is quite right... not only does it work well for the horse, almost more importantly, it'll calm *you* down a bit. also, as easy it is to say and as difficult it is to actually practice, try not to anticipate your horse's reaction *too* much. of course you'll need to stay aware of who's around you and whatnot, but i have a tendency to anticipate bad behaviour so much that *i* freak out, instead of the horse! oops.

at any rate... good luck!

-cyn

 

[~alison~*]

The mare that I am leasing doesn't like other horses at all!! When another horse is passing by, work with the bit, work on bending his neck, just do stuff to keep his attention focused on YOU. Let me know how things are going.

 

[bettina]

BOY have I had problems with this! I used to ride this mare named Pappy (short for Papillon) with the biggest attitude problem! She really hated this one gelding named Pedro and vice versa. When my friend and I (Pedro's owner) rode in the ring at the same time, it would be like showdown at the Wild West Corral. =) Everytime we passed each other going in the opposite direction they'd go into these wild bucking fits while bolting away. And once when I was innocently walking on Pappy while my friend was in the ring and cantering around on Pedro, wacko Pedro passes us, does a sharp turn and heads straight for Pappy and I all by himself (meaning with no cues from my friend)! My friend was so shocked she couldn't get him back in time and I had to kick Pappy hard to get her to quickly canter out of the way in time. Phew... soon after that Pedro was sold. He was too green for my pretty much experienced friend. With Pedro gone Pappy is pretty much the happy little camper once more. This is definitely one of the stranger horse quirk cases huh?

 

[Judith]

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I guess one of the joys (?) of riding is that all horses are different with their little quirks and personalities and we have to let them express thatand not expect them to conform to our wishes!

Thanks to you all.