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Horse Behavior and Training

Horse responding to tap with dressage sick by kicking

By:
sharonforde
Date:
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Hi, im trying to train my horse to respond better to my leg. He will move away from the leg with a tap rather than a squeeze..he just goes into the pressure and pushes back. I use my leg with a small tap of the heel..if he does not respond i try to use the dressage stick just behind my heal..im not hard but just want a response to either move forward or sideways. However my horse just kicks out to the whip. I am doing ground work with him..and getting him used to the stick by touching him all over. I do think my horse has been used with very severe equipment, on his nose are old wounds from years ago when he was in Spain..they use nosebands with metal spikes on...Any suggestions. My teacher tells me to squeeze with my legs..this does not seem to help and he eventually kicks out...help!

Miriam (Holland&Germany)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed 650 lessons completed

Hi sharonforde,
What your horse is telling you, is that he remembers being abused, when he was younger.
So what you have is a remedial horse with a history. We might be able to correct some things by starting at zero and building from that, but we will not be able to rewrite his history.
Where you can start is with building trust, never demanding, alsways asking or inviting.
Did you do Join-Up with your horse? From there you could build up trust with groundwork, yielding to pressure ( see the lessons by Florian Oberparleiter on this UNI ).
He has a strong memory of pain, so your task should be to help him find out, that what you're asking doesn't hurt him. Try to come away from signals that get stronger and stronger, instead of that show him the path of least resistence. He will thank you for it!
Please let us know how things go,
Miriam

sharonforde
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Thankyou so much, i am doing join up, only started a month ago..he is getting to be more trusting..and i have some days when he is really relaxed and calm but as soon as i put too much leg or tap with the whip he is very stressed. I will look at the Florian Oberparleiter things and try these too. We have many horses here that have had very bad treatment and abuse...i will keep in touch and let you know how we are doing..thankyou so much for your reply.

Miriam (Holland&Germany)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed 650 lessons completed

Hi sharonforde,
Another thing you could try, when you've established trust between yourself and the horse, is to use a "Giddy-up-rope" to encourage him to go forward when ridden. This can be seen in the "Walter won't go forward"-video's on this UNI. Using this technique to get away from signals and aids he distrust, you can build up from there. Always make sure, that you leave the reins long enough and be prepared for forward motion, so you'll not confuse him, when he goes faster than you would have expected.
Sensitive flanks is what we prefer, hypersensitive flanks show us we need to look for other ways of communicating what we want form the horse.
Keep us posted!
Miriam

Mel - Ramsgate UK
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed

Just add a little bit onto that, remember slow is fast!
they way he's been treated is a method to get the horse do do what they want in the human time scope and not he horses.
Work at the horses pace when they accept what you are trying to do you'll get the licking and chewing. Work from the ground first, wait for the lick and chew, then aim to get the same in the saddle.
You might need to use your body more too, try to lean forward from the pelvis keeping the legs still until he moves a step forward then reward, Each step reward with release of pressure. First do this on the ground .... stand at his side ask for walk on but lean your body forwards too before you take a step, he'll associate the leaning forward with moving forwards when you try in the saddle.
Mel x
"It's all about the Horse"

beryl
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed

If he's responding to a tap of your heel, then thats fine, work with what you've got; as soon as he moves to that tap, make a huge fuss of him letting him know yes, thats just what i wanted, thank you! taking the pressure off immediately even if you only get one step.
If he doesn't go forward, try gently encourage his feet to move by using you rein & body weight to get any foot to move to unlock him, it doesn't matter which direction, at this stage, you just want a movement to the tap of your heel - there should be no negative consequences at the moment, only positive encouragement when he does, or tries to do the right thing, you need to be very quick with the praise & release of pressure, to begin to get the fear out of him, so please, no schooling whip as that is reinforcing his fear that he's going to suffer pain if her gets it wrong! Even just carrying it is a threat to him.
Beryl xx
Nothing Forced is Beautiful

vicci - UK (North Wales)
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed

I support all the above, particularly ditching the whip and working from the ground upwards. Make it as light and easy as possible for him to do the right thing. good luck, let us know how it goes.

Rudi - Pratteln, Switzerland
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed 350 lessons completed 400 lessons completed 450 lessons completed 500 lessons completed 550 lessons completed 600 lessons completed

Dear Sharonforde. If you want to teach your horse to start moving after squeezing your legs you can easily do it with two persons, one in the saddle and one on the ground. After the squeeze of the trainer in the saddle, the one on the ground starts moving and the horse will follow. With a good cooperation between the two trainers the horse will quickly understand what you want.
Rudi

beryl
Hello! 100 lessons completed 150 lessons completed 200 lessons completed 250 lessons completed 300 lessons completed

Good comment Rudi

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