I have a wonderful four year old Quarter Horse gelding that I am having a little bit of trouble with. When I am working with him on things that he is not confident with he will come too far into my space. I don't really know how to describe it but its like he only feels relaxed when he is touching me. He will come strait towards me but then walk forward enough that his head is past me so that I am standing right in front of his shoulder. He never tries to actually move me he will actually walk all the way around me with just inches between our bodies. As long as I let him stay close he will do anything I ask very softly but if I ask him to put space between us and then ask him to do something that he is not very familiar with he gets very stressed. That being said I don't want to make him think that he cannot come in for comfort and reassurances but I would like him to be confident enough to know that he can move away and still be ok. Any help would be great but I do not want to reprimand him when he is already unsure. I want to build him up so that he knows no matter what I am asking he can try to find the answer with no worries or fear.
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If you work on leading & standing still, he will gain confidence in finding the "sweet spot", when he's following your movements happily you can then stand in front of him, give him a reassuring rub on the head & take a step back away from him, he's bound to come forward to follow you, i find if you use a palm up stop hand signal, it helps; when he steps towards you, calmly & quietly gently correct him with the Dually by just putting him back to where he was, when he's stood still for a few seconds, step to him & give him a rub, walk him a few steps & repeat. Don't ask for too much or too long too soon as a tiny bit thats rewarded will make him confident far more quickly than keeping on asking.
It won't stop him wanting to come to you for comfort, it'll build his trust in you providing you don't chase him out of your space, but respectfully ask him to respect your space. He's just a baby & is learning where his boundaries are.
If you watch the leading lessons on the uni, you will see how to do it.
Let us know how you get on
Spot on advice Beryl!!
I'm working on a horse with similar issues this week. I'll blog out how she's done next week sometime.
Mel
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Interesting article in this quarters edition of Intelligent Horsemanship's (Kelly Marks) magazine, written by IHRA Liz Pitman on this very subject. "A horse who pushes into your space is often worried about a lack of leadership". I agree, Beryls advice is great as is the Dually DVD.
Great! thank all so much! This is the first response I have received that does not involve punishing him until he learns no to come into my space EVER. LOL I appreciate the ideas and will be testing them out this evening. Knowing my self and my horse I think it will work great for both of us. The lack of leadership is a good point also because I believe if he truly had faith in my leadership he would not be so worried when I ask him for something new. SOOOOO it look like a have a lot more stuff to work on with my baby :) which is always great! thank you again.
the last thing you want to do is punish him for coming to you looking for leadership, as thats just what you do want from him, it's just that he wants to get in your pocket to be protected at the Mo!!! Bless him
Let us know how you get on Ash, its a great journey of discovery but people often forget its a discovery of ourselves too :-)
Spot on Beryl. Interesting my Quarter horse is a bit similar and just too joined up to me yet he is a spooky boy. Just gentle persistence with the dually is the answer -exactly as. Beryl advises. Good luck with it.
I have worked with him on this for the last two days and it has been working beautifully! Thank you so much for the suggestions :) He has started watching very intently so see how far in i want him to come which is pretty much exactly what I was hoping he would start doing. We still need a lot more practice but it working great. On another note what do the ribbons below everyone's names mean?
Brilliant! Well done you. The ribbons show the number of Monty's lessons you've completed on the uni.
That is great. If you have time I wonder if you would be willing to explain how to get to the lessons? I am not the best computer person and have been having trouble figuring out where i am supposed to go and what to do. If you are busy it is really not a big :) I hate to be a pest! Thank you Beryl
Hi Ash&Tuff. Great advice from everyone. As for getting into the lessons at the top of the page there are tabs, Dashboard, Forum etc there's one with Lessons, click this & I would start with the watch me lessons as it explains what to do. I usually use headphones so I don't disturb the otherhalf. Hope this helps. Enjoy the lessons they're very interesting & informative.
Hi Ash&Tuff I can answer this one for you as I am not great with computers either. Scroll up to the top of this screen where there is a tool bar with a number of titles. The first one is Dashboard which you have clicked on to get you into here where the latest forum discussions are.. The next is Q & A if you click on that you will find questions and answers to and from Monty, then there is Forum which includes all our past discussions classified under a number of titles, then Instructors where you will find all Monty's Instructors from around the world who have done his Certificate Courses and next, bingo, Lessons. Click on this title an all his lessons will appear in a list and then you can just click on the one you would like to view. These lessons are also presented on the initial Introductory Page to the Uni. where they are listed with photo icons, their title and a brief description. You can view a sample of them there but you can only view them all via the green Tool Bar above once you are a member. Once you have watched your first 100 lessons you will get a reward of a ribbon under your name. After you watch the lesson you need to complete the Challenge multiple choice questions found on the lesson screen in order for the lesson to count towards a ribbon. It is very exciting to receive your first ribbon and then you get another after viewing another 50. The number of lessons you have completed will appear under your name on your home page. I have slowed down lately due to lack of time but I am going for my 4th ribbon. Note Beryl has her 4th already as do some others. It takes time - I have been a member now for over 3 years and still enjoy the Uni. Good luck with it and have fun.
Hi Ash, there are two parts on the lessons, first you'll see the video, then there is another tab on that page that says Monty's challenge, you'll see it just above the video. Click that tab and you'll have some questions from Monty, check the answer with your mouse then when you've done the challenge you get moved into the next lesson. Well done with what you've done so far, you've started on a loving journey, one built on trust and understanding, not violence and punishments!
Mel x
Me thinks we. May have all responded at the same time! Hope you worked it out Ash&Tuff
Looking like it Maggie, great minds.
Lol, what's the chances eh!
Neat just checked the time too!!!
LOL thank you! I discovered that I was not logged in every time because by other half was logging me out :) that why I was having issues! Thank you all for the help it is greatly appreciated!
That makes sense!
I have another question!!!!! :) sorry hope I am not bugging. I was wondering if anyone knows how you can tell if you have true join up with your horse when he has never had any interest in being away from you. I got my baby as a weanling and was the first and only person in his life until I was able to get him quiet enough for the vet and farrier. He has never let me get away from him when we are together. Even when I would go hang out with him in the pasture for no reason he wouldn't let me get more than about 10 feet from him before he would walk over and check in then go back to grazing. So when I did the join up with him he did everything the horses in the videos did but I wonder if its just because he has always been at my side and not because I actually did join up right? I am just wondering if there is a clue as to whether or not he is truly joined up?
I don't think you can really question that he is joined up to you????? He can't get any more joined up can he?
Join up is a process of communication, not a set of exercises.
He trust you, thats join up be happy. xx
As Beryl says - he is definitely joined up with you so there is really no need to do a join up as such to confirm it. With some of these really joined up horses attempting a "join up" sessions simply confuses them as they can't understand why you are chasing them away.
Oh well then I will just relax and quit over analyzing! Thank you again!
Indeed, time to move on with his training, horses get very bored going over & over the same old stuff so the more inventive you can be, the better.
Ash&Tuff, are you Ash?
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our BamBam was similar and even though he's coming on 4yrs, I've only ever had to join up with him once, but that time he was being very naughty, it wasn't long after we got him age 2ish and he had a big ducky fit in the yard, didn't have the dually at the time and he was quite uncontrollable even at his small 11.2 hands at the time. I released him into the field, not a big one, and sent him away, he knew I was cross and this was the first time he'd actually looked at me as leader, amazing what your eyes express :D I've never had need to join up with him again. Training new things he always for a couple of minutes disagrees, then the fuss is over and we move on to the next thing. Not all in one session!
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Yes I am Ashley and Tuff is my coming 4 year old Quarter Horse gelding :) Tuff and I usually have a few minutes of the "but are you really sure you want me to do that" discussions also but as long as I just relax and keep being persistent he always agrees in the end :) He is such an incredibly smart horse! BamBam is a really cute name! what kind of a horse is BamBam?
You're going to have some good times with Tuff :D
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BamBam is a Welsh D x Arab, we're hoping he'll reach 14hands. He was 11.2h when we got him and currently stands 13.1. Was sold as a roan but he's been changing well over the last couple of years summer coat looks like a dapple grey, face is now nearly all white. we tracked down his parents and they are full greys (white)
:D
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