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Horse Behavior and Training

Fun activities for my young horse?

By:

lily.jones

Date:

2013-Mar-31 at 05:48AM

Hi everyone,

I was wondering whether anyone had some suggestions for fun activities I can do with my young horse.

He is a 5 year old thoroughbred gelding who has been off the race track for 1 year. He is very obliging and kind, but he gets bored very easily. I fear he is learning bad habits because he grows restless while we are riding.

Thanks heaps!
Lil.

Denea 2013-Mar-31 at 10:59AM

Have you tried looking into some of the Trail activities they use in western pleasure? Just as something to change it up? Or you could try introducing games such as the types played at pony clubs and some adult riders?! Try googling horse games and you should be able to find directions.

As something different for when your not working you could try introducing games to his stable area as well. I've found that a cheap rubber ball used for dispensing treats is great when it's stuffed with carrots and they learn really quickly how to get the carrots out and quite enjoy doing it. I've found putting it under a large cone is a really good way to just increase the challenge.

vicci - UK (North Wales) 2013-Mar-31 at 03:12PM

Hi Lil

Are you sure his restlessness is down to boredom when you are riding? It could be very many things - a very likely one is back pain. Just a few things to consider; he stopped racing at 4 - why? Please forgive me if I sound rude but what weight are you? Remember jockeys are very light. Has he been retrained thoroughly after racing? Racers run with a different weight distribution than other horses and soemtimes need some extra training to shift their weight behind them a bit (depending on what you want to do with him long term). I can't really tell from the picture above but he seems to have a long back? Does he, or is just the angle of the picture? A few things to help us all look at it a bit more Lil :-)

studio_me 2013-Apr-05 at 03:16AM

Hi Lil, you may also want to check his tack. Make sure nothing is pinching or squeezeing unnecessarily make sure padding is adequate. All these can make a horse seem restless too.