Hi John,
I am in the business of Re-training Racehorses from life after the
track. I have 1 four year old at the moment that is causing me a
little grief. When i first purchased him I was able to mount and
dismount him with no problem at all, the 2nd last ride I had on him
he was fine to get on, but after i had finished his ride, I just
walked him around on a loose reign to cool him down, found a old
shoe in the paddock, stopped prepared him so I could get off as I
attempted to dismount, he took off sideways, I picked up the shoe,
remounted to walk back home, found another old shoe on the way,
stopped again, and he violently took off sideways, got away. After I
caught him, took him into the round yard and tried to mount again,
and took off while I tried to mount. Caught him again, calmed him
down, rubbed him all over. Prepared to mount, managed to swing my
leg over but in the mean time he took off, me landing behind the
saddle, legs in flanks, went round and round the yard like this
until my dad came and held him while I got back into the saddle.
Then I couldn't get off him, didn't like my weight being shifted
from side to side, he was very touchy around his flanks now, I
patted him on his shoulders while stopped, walking and trotting but
nothing was really working, every time I attempted to
get off, he would rush sideways. I eventually just stopped him and
then just jumped off pretty much, as he took off again. So now I am
a little unsure as to fix this problem, lovely natured horse, just a
spooky one. Your help would be much appreciated.
Kind Regards
Liz .
You meet them Liz. Probably copped
a bashing or a battery. Quite simply, the evasion, which
is the key to the compounding of your problem, must be
nipped in the bud. These horses need something else to
take their mind of their mental problem, which it is,
and I use one of 3 things. Tie the horse up and
mount/dismount from both sides as many times as it
takes. You have stopped the evasion. Go to the round pen
and put a front leg strap
on the horse and with passive
persistence, keep following the horse up endlessly
whilst wanting to mount it, let fatigue start to kick in
and the horse start to think rather than panic.
Mount/dismount from whatever side you like as many times
as you like. Set of stockman's hobbles and repeat
procedure.
Do not back off. Once you have the horse
accepting the procedures, mount up each day with hobbles
on and dismount immediately. Undo hobble straps but
leave them hanging on the legs. Mount up. Relax, pat
horse, survey the scene then ride off. Now, I would love
to have the time on this site to get all Zoological with
you but in short, the three things I mentioned, rather
than action as a restraint pure and simple, actually
become the mental crutch for the horse, a dummy.
Graduate to front boots to replace the hobbles but use
your brain here. Where would you install the boots??????
Can't tell you everything :) The horse will use
the boots as the same comfort zone, thus dismissing his
memories of the 'flight from rider' . If you want to get
real sophisticated, graduate to two band aids. and
later two kiddy gold stars and finally, one touch with
a finger on each fetlock. Success, proof and time
will fix the horse. MAKE ONE MISTAKE and you have lost
it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Don't let your guard down. I
presume you are mounting like this and practicing all
the one rein techniques that are explained on the
problems index on this site??????
http://www.horseproblems.com.au/horseproblems_problem_index_page2.htm
