This last wednesday I was riding in a private lesson with my horse, %26amp; there is this one corner he always spooks at no matter which direction we are going. So I decided before i got on i would walk him past the corners and let him check them out and sniff them. He did fine. Then i got on and did the same thing in walk. He again did just fine. There were about 3 other riders in the ring which he didn't take to well too. He absolutely hates when there is a horse behind him. I'm not quite sure why. Well anyways we walked and trotted around the arena and past the corner just fine, no problems. Then in canter(right lead)(he has a problem with going left. He always wants to cut the corners) we were cantering around and then we came up to the corner, no one was near it and he spooked pretty bad %26amp; i almost fell, I fell onto his neck. So then i let him smell the corner again before continuing. Then we began canter again, he did perfect. We went around a few more times before switching direction. Here is where the major problem is. When we go left whenever i ask him to trot he will shove his backside out towards the inside of the arena and his head into the fence, and this is i guess how he learned to pick up trot because no matter how much i push him to get over with my left leg her wont get over. I repeated letting him sniff the corners in walk and a bit in trot. Then I asked him for a canter he picked up the wrong lead, which he almost all of the time does going left. I am like 98% sure it's something i must be doing wrong.[[doing canter from a walk he always picks up the correct lead]] But cantering left going around that corner he just went berserk. By this I mean he went up into a rear came down and just ran around bucking. %26amp; Obviously, even before he finished his rear I was off. I landed straight on my butt. I saw the fall coming I could tell he was going to do something so the fall came as no surprise to me. But hey, I mean if you don't fall then you cant learn from your mistakes. That was the 6th time i have fallen off him in about a year a half. I came directly behind him so I shot up not wanting to get kicked. My trainer Then got on and rode him around, I thought it was something I did. Again going around that one corner he bucked. She got off him and we continued to jump- she said it was all because he was just happy to be out of his stall. %26amp; said I wasn't doing anything wrong. Which I think I did. Well The corner is right where all the horses enter the arena and where the barn door. Its always close but sometimes makes a hissing sound when the wind blows. Its about 34 degrees outside when this happened. Could It be he is scared of the hissing noise or is the cold just making him energetic?
Please help %26amp; sorry it was so long.|||First of all if he is having problems picking up the left lead get a chiropractor to realign him as he is probably out through his left shoulder right quarters.
Secondly you want to stop allowing him to mess around and when he spooks at the corner do not stop and allow him to sniff but set him to work on a tight circle in that corner at a trot or canter. Keep circling for at least three minutes and then gradually make the circle bigger - if he spooks make the circle smaller again.
Get cross with him and when you feel him going to spook give him a HARD kick with your inside leg. When he bucks keep you hands up and drive him forward and again keep him moving on a circle.
Sounds like he needs leas hard feed and more hard work.|||lol. he's very clever. he's worked out that if he spooks you will bring him back to walk and relax. he doesn't want to work.got you well trained.
when going towards that corner bend him to the inside with inside leg on. if he spooks DONT STOP YOU PACE keep him working. you can Always put a cone just in side the path of that corner. and i guarantee he will go in the corner then, to look at the cone on the inside of him. he's taking the mic out of you
also fox is right get him checked. horses always have a good and bad side, but not that bad|||The other 2 posters are right on. There is no point to letting your horse sniff the scary corner. He's not really scared of it, he's using it as an excuse. So what if it makes a hissing noise sometimes? You can tell it's just an excuse because he walks over to that corner just fine. It's when he's having to really work that suddenly he's "scared." Your horse is just being naughty. Your trainer is right about the cold making him more energetic, but he's channeling his energy into bad behavior.
It soundsl like your horse needs a strong rider to push him through this problem. The correction is to insist that he bend correctly and move away from the rider's inside leg into the scary corner, and maintain the same rhythm/speed the entire way around the ring. Your horse knows that he can get you off, and if you really get strong with him he's likely to do so again. I'd have your trainer ride him for several rides and remind him who is in charge. No, I'm not saying she needs to whip or abuse him. He just needs to be ridden a few times by a professional who won't let him get away with anything. I think that will help alot. Your trainer also needs to work with his other problems such as picking up the correct lead, staying straight in the canter transition, etc. When you ride him again, stop rewarding him by letting him walk and smell the scary corner. Just make him work his little butt when he starts that c r a p.
I also think you should have your horse evalutated by a veterinarian who specializes in chiropractic work. I've seen it work wonders for horses, and their behavior problems "magically" go away.|||One technique for the corner is to spend a couple of hours with him in halter and make him stand by that corner/door, that way he cannot throw you and you can have better control with him on the ground. If he throws a tantrum, show him you are angry about it (Not through physical force, but maybe by backing him up and yelling at him). Make him trot around for a good five minutes with you on lead. Then stand him right back in that spot. Repeat until he stands nicely for you :). Of course, if he never spooks while you're with him in halter on the ground, then it's a an issue of him not respecting you under saddle.
In that case, maybe you should do some longeing for 30-45 minutes before getting on your horse if he is just "happy" to be out. If he continues to throw you in tantrums, then he needs another rider to ride him regularly and SHOVE him into that corner (There's always a better rider than ourselves out there, even if we hate to admit it!). If this does not fix it, then he may not be the right horse for you :\
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