Hi everyone
I got a 4 year old Arab gelding last week, he is a calm horse I think he has never been trained except for halter basics and he was in the veld untouched for more than a year, he`s life before that is unknown. The first day I had to trick him to go in to a large cattle crawl as it was the only place I could trick him to go in because I could not catch him in the veldt and did not want to spook him, I left him in the crawl, the next morning I did join up with him, it went so well about ten minutes we joined up I could put a halter on him, led him to a smaller place as there was no round pin on the farm, there we did lead training walking and jogging, with the jogging I had to pull on the duly three times from there when I walk he is by my shoulder when I run he is right there with me even if I suddenly stop he stops without bumping in to me, I put the saddle on ran a few rounds no problem, then the long lines he worked with me without any problems, the dummy came on he did not even buck ones and then the rider working slow in order not to spook him all went so well I was still giving the queues from the ground for a few rounds then I let the rider steer him all went so good I was so surprised to see such progress and that is without any force.The second session went great, the third he worked together with very light hands on the lines I was ecstatic. From the fourth session he did everything well except for the long lines, he just refuses to move if I put the long lines on, I had someone run in front of him then he goes forward until the turn he turns and he just stops until the person in front pulls on the lines, he even backs up with the long lines but going forward does not happen, can someone please tell me what am I doing wrong it has been three session now that he is doing this.
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Horse Behavior and Training
Freezing with the long lines on
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Hi Colleen
I think some patience may be needed Colleen, you've had him less than two weeks!! :-)
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It is no coincidence that he will go forward if there is someone to follow but stands still if not. It can be very scary for a horse to be driven forwards when you are behind - he has no one to guide and may not be used to this. You're asking him to do something he has no idea how to do. Let's backtrack a bit.
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Have someone walk at his head/lead him with you longlining from behind if that's what he feels comfortable with, then progress step by step by taking the line off, person at head dropping back a bit but still there to support him and then work incrementally till he finds his confidence. If you can find a smaller space to work in, longline him in a circle so that it is less daunting for him and he still sees you (Revisit the longlining series on here its really good)
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He has had no settling in time and I think you and he have done remarkably well so far, seems you bought a good one :-) But you may need to just slow down a little and give him some space and time to learn. Good luck!
Yes I think because he was so willing and doing so well I got anchoes expecting too much too soon, yesterday I did not put long lines on only the saddle letting him run around a few rounds and then I got on his back only walking around in the pen steering and stopping him it went really well.
Thanks a lot sometimes one needs someone just to tell you to slow down.
Hi Colleen. You should be very proud of your progress. However, it seems you forgot the golden rule - when the horse just doesn't " get it " go back to where they were comfortable & work your way through again so that they have a chance to catch up. Should you find that, despite revisiting the relevant lessons on the Uni & checking your own body language, your Arab uses the same tactics to 'challenge' you & you appear to have a stalled in his training - that is to say he only progresses to the same point 3 or 4 times you can consider using lots of loose, floppy plastic on a long cane to encourage him to move forwards. Don't go small - if it's really spooky keep it far away from him & if he still freezes bump it on the saddle so it crinkles. Good luck. Cheers, Jo.
Hi Jo
You are right I have forgotten the golden rule to go back a step or two. As for the long cane with floppy plastic on it, I did that on the first day because he seemed spooky, after doing that he is no longer afraid of the plastic it did not encourage him at all.
Thanks
Hi Colleen. I'm willing to bet if you went really large with the plastic he'd move on. Something like 2 or 3 plastic feed sacks split longways - that worked for my Humphrey who if he was any more laid back he'd be horizontal. Even then I had to flap then energetically but he got the message, bless him. Good luck, Jo.