I have a rising 7 year old cob who I’ve owned since he was 3. I didn’t personally break him to ride he was broke at 2 before I bought him. I got him and turned him out till he was 4, then started riding him again.
I’ve noticed as I’ve started to up his work load, he gets sour and doesn’t seem to want to do anything other than the bare minimum. He has a meltdown over lunge lines around his bum, we’ve gotten a lot better at this but obviously not great. Recently he’s had roughly a month off work, and it has me thinking about just completely restarting him, but my way. Work from his ground work up, and just act like he’s a newly broken pony. He’s due to get his saddle checked Wednesday and if it does need replacing I won’t be able to replace it straight away, so I’ll have to stop riding him for a bit anyway till I can replace it.
Any time I’ve mentioned re starting I’ve always been told what’s the point because he’s already backed but I want to see if I can make him a better horse all round. Except I’ve never re started a horse. I’ve backed a horse, schooled them and whatever but I’ve never restated one already backed. My plan is to just act like I’m backing him all over again. Introduced him to lunging like he’s never done it. Long rein him. Get him use to lunge lines everywhere. Take him on walks. Just make his ground work solid. Is it possible to do that with him? I don’t mind putting the time in but I hear a lot of negative comments about re starting ponies when you can already ride them..?
I’ve noticed as I’ve started to up his work load, he gets sour and doesn’t seem to want to do anything other than the bare minimum. He has a meltdown over lunge lines around his bum, we’ve gotten a lot better at this but obviously not great. Recently he’s had roughly a month off work, and it has me thinking about just completely restarting him, but my way. Work from his ground work up, and just act like he’s a newly broken pony. He’s due to get his saddle checked Wednesday and if it does need replacing I won’t be able to replace it straight away, so I’ll have to stop riding him for a bit anyway till I can replace it.
Any time I’ve mentioned re starting I’ve always been told what’s the point because he’s already backed but I want to see if I can make him a better horse all round. Except I’ve never re started a horse. I’ve backed a horse, schooled them and whatever but I’ve never restated one already backed. My plan is to just act like I’m backing him all over again. Introduced him to lunging like he’s never done it. Long rein him. Get him use to lunge lines everywhere. Take him on walks. Just make his ground work solid. Is it possible to do that with him? I don’t mind putting the time in but I hear a lot of negative comments about re starting ponies when you can already ride them..?