wont go out

dancing lucy

Member
May 23, 2008
554
0
16
stalybridge
A lady on our yard has a lovely mare (14 hh ish) she is not very confident rider but is fine just walking and trotting and she was told this horse was ideal for her, she has had her quite a while and she is great in the stable and field but she cant get her out of the yard. She will be tacked up okay but only walks a few steps then stops her tack all fits well and she doesnt seem to be in pain she has tried going out with others but no good she still stops. Last week she has asked an experience rider to take her out and the first couple of days she managed with another horse accompanying to get her down the lane and onto a small estate and back again on the 3rd try she messed around going off the yard so they decided to stick to a bridle type path but she only got about 500 yards and started to back up and almost knocked the other horse down a ditch, she doesnt buck or rear just wont move or walks backward owner is now at end of her tether anyone else had experience of this.
 
yes and tried leading her off farm to ride her back, i walked my mare with her but she got fed up keep stopping and I walked round the block when I got back to the farm they were still on the lane trying to get her down
 
Ah, I feel for her... I think maybe the pony isn't confident either. Has anyone else tried riding the pony to see if it's the pony or the lady? Lauzy's idea is a good one. If the lady shows no confidence then it will be hard for the pony to make up for the both of them. I think the lady needs to build her confidence first so what about going on a group hack then gradually reduce the numbers of you that go and eventually the lady will become more confident as she gets used to this pony and eventually they'll be ok.

Another thing to do is work in th school first then go out and do short ones praising the pony everytime she goes a bit further. You have to try these things. Tedious but will reveal the underlying causes sometimes.. :)
 
If this is a problem with the pony too then I'd be looking to address the pony's issues first.

Personally I'd be doing that from the ground. There are a number of things that can be tried but getting a fell for the pony would help with the decision of which to try and in what order. Start small and work in pigeon sized steps towards the goal.

My thoughts are to start doing some in hand exercises in a place the pony feels comfortable first. Then gradually move where these happen a bit further out each time. I'd be doing thinking about teaching some lateral stuff. Then when you do this further away the pony has other things to concentrate on.

In hand grazing might be an option too (although beware about setting up the expectation of grazing whilst out) as well as considering where itchy spots are and doing so before you feel the pony is going to stop, you stop and itch. Oh and standing about to give a pony time to settle is no bad thing depending on the pony too.

As things are progressing look at introducing more company and try to have whoever is handling do so without the expectation the pony is going to stop, in fact maybe try ignoring the pony and having a wander and a gossip with a friend. I do feel that we can inadvertently give our ponies cues through our own expectations.
 
newrider.com