So I have had my horse, Gerry for about 3 years now. We live on a scottish island and he shares a field with my sisters pony, 13.2hh and our family shetland. He is 14hh and is a grey cob. I have been told he was broken in by gypsies (not sure if this is good or bad?) and was bought by a riding school where he spent most of his life. He was then bought by a 13 year old girl who wanted a jumping pony and although he loves jumping, he has never been capable of great heights. Then, in 2011, after my sister grew out of our shetland, we found him and although he was a bit naughty when I tried him for her, he was so friendly so we decided he was the right buy. She rode him until the end of next summer, she had great difficulty because he won't hack alone and has a habit of pulling his head to the ground quickly occasionally after a jump or going into canter with less experienced riders. She lost a lot of confidence so he was passed on to me and I swapped him for my old pony who she now rides. I was thirteen then and this was just over two years ago. At this point I knew nothing of Montys methods and was just using conventional riding club ways and we went to teen camps and a few shows where I had trouble with him bolting back our other ponies, or pulling his head down. Anyway, I now ride him both western and english and use a dually for his headcollar and bitless bridle. I try and use montys ways where i feel confident to however he can be quite bargy and confrontational. For example, he is still a pain to get out of the field by himself and it doesnt help that he is the herd alpha and to get him out of the field i have to lead him accross a grassier field in which he will try to eat. When I lead him accross I use the dually halter but I am quite inconfident about leading because he sometimes nips me or walks through me. when i try to take him out by himself, he will go for the grass and we will get so far accross the field and then he will stop and when i get him to go agaim he will speed up and go through me then gallop off back to the field and I can't hold him back. It is quite scary when all I want to do is go for a small hack with my friends. I should also mention he is insensitive to the leg and doesnt long line well as he turns to confront me constantly. The only place i can school in is the grassy field but he is so distracted by the other horses it is hard to get him to listen. I have no where to join up with him because he is insensitive to me throwing the line at his quarters and will just stand there. I really would like help on how I can get him to go out by himself and then I could start to work on the other things like long lining, join up, etc. without distractions. Thanks for your help.
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Hi. I'll try & help you a bit. You don't need a round pen to do Join up. You should fence off a corner of the field, one where Gerry has the least sight of the other ponies. You can use permanent posts or the plastic ones for electric fencing. Let him graze off the grass so there is less distraction - I think you can see where I'm heading. Study the Join up lessons. Practice on the other two ponies to hone your skills. You'd be amazed how forgiving ponies can be. When you have built up your confidence with Join up turn your attention to Gerry. Use plastic on a stick to send him away. If he really won't go away you can bang the plastic on his saddle - you may want to put a cover on it or it could get marked. My Humphrey needed me to crack a white plastic barley sack like you would a wet towel to get the creases out. Remember you only do Join up about 6 times. Then you can start working on his spookiness, his barging & just general attitude. I think you will find he will make considerable progress. It sounds as though he may have had all sorts of problems with humans in the past but my hunch is he's landed in a good place but just doesn't know how to drop the defences. If he's dead to the leg use a giddy up rope. Riding school ponies tend to be kicked in the sides all day, everyday & you will just need to retrain him. You'll find loads of help on the Uni. The lessons are clear & precise. Keep in touch - we want to hear how you're getting on. Cheers, Jo.
Hi, wow, what a little character you have :-) Fantastic that you have a Dually and are using Monty's methods Ok, some points to start with, I'm sure others will have plenty of ideas.
1. Barginess/bolting. It is really important to watch the Dually training videos over and over again so you can really get familiar with the nuances of using it. Grass grabbing is a pain I admit. The trick with this is to correct it the INSTANT you see the sign that he is going down to the grass, school him, back him up etc. Now the stopping - there is a great technique for this that I learnt from Kelly Marks. Horses can teach humans to stop. The horse stops; what does the human do? Stops and looks around to see why the horse has stopped! Your pony has learnt that if he stops, you go back and he can speed off. Have a long lead line (the longest you can cope with without getting tangled up - I use 30 ft for this but you MUST practice and practice being able to coil the loops up so that you don't get caught up), start walking and if the horse stops, KEEP WALKING letting out a bit more line and putting pressure on the Dually and then "reel" the line in as soon as he starts catching you up (this is much easier to show than write sorry - if it doesn't make sense I will try to explain a bit better). If he takes off, you have 30 ft of line to work with - there is a way to stop him but again this is really hard to explain - I will see if I can find one of Kelly's videos that shows it.
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2. "Dead to the leg" - very common amongst riding schol ponies sadly after years of chldren endlessly kicking them on. Try a giddy up rope instead 9see the Walter won't go forward lessons)
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3. Longlining - if he is turning in your positoning is almost certainly the issue - you are too far in front of his driving line. Have a look at the longlining series of videos on here.
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4. Not wanting to come away from he others: If you are clear with the Dually and work to move his feet he will realise that you are his 'herd' and will stay with you until you release him back :-) If he goes past your shoulder immediately correct him back.
5. Nipping: When leading him, keep his nose by your shoulder but your arm firmly out to the side to keep him away from you and to show him where he should be - that way he can't get to nip you.
Good luck, keep us posted :-)
JO and I have posted at the same time :-)
Yeah, but the good thing is we haven't contradicted each other!!!
Yes, great advice from you both and nice and consistent!
My 3yr old mare will sometimes when I long line her out and about will turn back to me if shes not sure about something or (as she is very brave) fancies turning back! It is frustrating but you have to be a hawk eye and and watch the tiny movements before they do it- a flick of an ear etc and then preempt it with a click or a stamp or if you need to scale it up slacken your line the side you feel they'll turn and slap it sideways against their side. It wont hurt him at all but lets them know they need to carry on. Longline in the dually then if you need to give them a little tug either on way or the other to catch their turn you wont hurt their mouths. I have to be like lightening with my youngster- it provides no end of amusement to my friend who rides out with us! After maybe 3/4 episodes of this she gives up and we have a great time. However I appreciate there is a huge difference between a sharp and experienced pony and great lumbering baby who is just having a tantrum.