Hello fellow equestrians. Today I come to you to ask what you guys do to keep the attention of a very calm and laid back horse when trying to teach them something new.
I have a yearling (she just turned 1 year old a few days ago) and is the sweetest, calmest horse I have ever been around, especially for her age. She's also very smart and remembers things quite well to the point I could teach her something one day, leave her alone for a few weeks, and when I go to ask for that same thing again, she does it perfectly as though we'd been doing that forever already.
I have had her since she was 6 months old and over the winter, I havent been too serious about training as i wanted to allow her to just be a baby, but have made sure she knows a few basic things and now am going to increase the training a bit more this summer.
She's already halter broke and knows how to stop, back up, give her hind quarters, lower her head, give her feet, how to tie, and is starting on the basics of lunging at just walking as I just want the basics at this point and have also started teaching her to flex her neck. Some desensitizing has been introduced as well which she doesnt bat an eye at.
Anyways, so a recent problem I've run into is that if she cant figure out the answer right away, she shuts down. I'm patient with her and give her all the time in the world to figure things out, but she gets tired of trying to figure something out and shuts down and goes to sleep.
An example of this is the other day, when I was teaching her to flex her neck, she got it within a few seconds on her right side. But on her left, she kept going in a circle for a while before stopping and rather than try to bend her neck like she did on the other side, she went to sleep. I do use a nylon halter which I know isnt nice cause she can lean on it, but her face shape is weird and rope halters dont fit at all. Food bribes dont really work with her either. So what kind of stuff do you guys do to keep their attention and encourage them to keep trying? I'm more used to working with energetic and reactive horses, but she's super calm and mellow lol.
Question 2
How do you help a horse get over their fear of men?
My filly doesnt like men, and she's decided that she's scared of the farrier. The last time he came, she literally bolted as soon as she saw him. And he's always been very calm, patient, and gentle with her. I've worked with her feet and I can hold them for longer periods of time, wiggle them, and bang on them a bit and she's doing pretty good. It's only when it comes to the farrier that she acts up.
I dont really know any other men around here or else I'd get one to work with her to try to get her over her fear as she has never had a bad experience with men, and yet she acts like they've abused her. I've only seen her be friendly with one man ever. One thing I'm hoping will help is that im going to get the farrier to give her some treats when he works with her and hope that, that'll help make it a more positive experience.
I have a yearling (she just turned 1 year old a few days ago) and is the sweetest, calmest horse I have ever been around, especially for her age. She's also very smart and remembers things quite well to the point I could teach her something one day, leave her alone for a few weeks, and when I go to ask for that same thing again, she does it perfectly as though we'd been doing that forever already.
I have had her since she was 6 months old and over the winter, I havent been too serious about training as i wanted to allow her to just be a baby, but have made sure she knows a few basic things and now am going to increase the training a bit more this summer.
She's already halter broke and knows how to stop, back up, give her hind quarters, lower her head, give her feet, how to tie, and is starting on the basics of lunging at just walking as I just want the basics at this point and have also started teaching her to flex her neck. Some desensitizing has been introduced as well which she doesnt bat an eye at.
Anyways, so a recent problem I've run into is that if she cant figure out the answer right away, she shuts down. I'm patient with her and give her all the time in the world to figure things out, but she gets tired of trying to figure something out and shuts down and goes to sleep.
An example of this is the other day, when I was teaching her to flex her neck, she got it within a few seconds on her right side. But on her left, she kept going in a circle for a while before stopping and rather than try to bend her neck like she did on the other side, she went to sleep. I do use a nylon halter which I know isnt nice cause she can lean on it, but her face shape is weird and rope halters dont fit at all. Food bribes dont really work with her either. So what kind of stuff do you guys do to keep their attention and encourage them to keep trying? I'm more used to working with energetic and reactive horses, but she's super calm and mellow lol.
Question 2
How do you help a horse get over their fear of men?
My filly doesnt like men, and she's decided that she's scared of the farrier. The last time he came, she literally bolted as soon as she saw him. And he's always been very calm, patient, and gentle with her. I've worked with her feet and I can hold them for longer periods of time, wiggle them, and bang on them a bit and she's doing pretty good. It's only when it comes to the farrier that she acts up.
I dont really know any other men around here or else I'd get one to work with her to try to get her over her fear as she has never had a bad experience with men, and yet she acts like they've abused her. I've only seen her be friendly with one man ever. One thing I'm hoping will help is that im going to get the farrier to give her some treats when he works with her and hope that, that'll help make it a more positive experience.