Trouble with my 3 1/2 yr old when i take her out for a walk (from the ground)?

Hi there,





First off, Sorry for the length of this message.





Ive had my 3 1/2 yr old mare for 5 months now,


i bought her as backed but green (they hadnt taught her anything eg. moving away


from pressure), as she was only 3 i decided to leave the backing untill next


summer.





Ive been doing alot of ground work and intergrated CT into her training as she


had a huge tendancy to move into pressure, and was being rather rude and bardgy


as i put pressure on.





She now moves from pressure on any point of her body in the correct way


Her leading in the arena, her pasture and around the yard has progressed alot


(she always stays behind you, keeps out of your space, dosent mug, extreamly


light. the only thing she falts is planting her feet occasionaly when she dosent


wat to go the way you want but if i click when a foot goes forward and she gives


a little it resolves the problem and is happening less and less.)





we enjoy verry much playing nose ball together =)





now, the problem i am having is as soon as we go out the gate, like today:


Our new livery decided to walk her horse out today to get it used to the


surroundings, so i said i would walk rosie out with her as soon as we got out of


the gate she was pulling forwards and refusing to stop so i pulled her in a


circle cued her to halt/back and clicked her i did this repeatingly the whole


way up and it didnt make any difference to her to wether she was infront of the


other horse or not, i wanted to click her for giving a bit but i didnt feel that


there was any behaviour that it would make a difference to.





on the way back she was getting better and i wasnt having to circle her to get a


halt/back all of the time,


although she got spooked by dog walkers who let their dog come up to her (was on


a lead) after i had asked them to walk around her,


anyway she did a spin and a rear, i then got her to stand quietly for a few


moments clicked her as she walked from behind me to start with.





when we were nearly home she decided to have a buck (as the lady with the livery horse had convieniently gone out of sight), o as she pulled and caught my leg lol i stopped her backed her up about 10 steps


then took her home,





as soon as we got home she was perfect would do anything i asked her to do and


almost seemed appologetic.





the walk was for 10 mins max.


i wanted to turn her around but the livery lady wanted to keep going and and


their mare is rather attached to mine so i didnt want to cause her problems.





Ive taken her out 4 times before shes not a particulary spooky natured horse,


she wants to go out she enjoys it , never turns for home, she gets anxious but i


could cope with her.





Anyone have any ideas (or previous eperiance mabey?) how i can help her with


this, i know i need to chunk it down verry small distance, often, does anyone


have any effective, creative tips? to make it easier for her and me.





need inspiration as the most i get at our yard is


'give the horse a good smack when it pulls' im like no thats realy not the


answer id never hit her and it wouldnt get us anywhere.





P.S please no Slagging off Clicker its how i choose to train her and it works for her,





thankyou|||I fully admit that I am not a fan of clicker training for either dogs or horses. It does have a place and can be useful but there gets a point when training gets beyond it. How can you use clicker when teaching from on top of the horse?





My other point would be that the horse is not taking any notice of you or the clicker when she doesn't want to.





All have to have respect from those teaching and want to please that person. When a horse gets excited, which it seems she was, then forget the clicker because it isn't working to get through that barrier of excitement or fear (in other circumstances) The reward is not meaningful and the respect for the trainer is not deeply embedded because excitement is far more invigorating.





I would not keep circling her, this can be dangerous for you as she could knock you over or knock herself.


What she has to know is that yes, she gets a reward for being good, and this can be a scratch rather than a treat, but if she misbehaves then there is a consequence. This in my book would be making her think that I was going to 'kill' her. I would of given her a good jerk on the halter, even put the rope over her nose for more control, waved my arms at her and if she still persisted in coming across me, used the rope across her chest. Words would of been from an angry determined voice, and she would be looking at me in a new light.





I am never afraid to make a horse think that if it misbehaves I will kill it. I do not use a whip to beat them nor unnecessarily rough but I am very determined and have been around horses a long time to know that a rope used across their chest or arm waving in their face, is never going to physically hurt them but it will make them realise that I could.





This might go against your ideal training BUT in nature, if she tried to barge past the lead mare then she would be physically punished for it and it would be far worse than I could do.





I had a yearling that was being a brat for the farrier last week. He was just being a PITA and kept moving and being as awkward as he could be. I was holding another yearling at the time and swapped with the girl who was holding him. When he started to move I immediately went into attack. I slapped him across the chest with the rope, made him run backwards from my being in his face with my body and arms and growling at him. Took all of twenty seconds. Returned him to where he had been standing and the farrier picked up his foot and trimmed with absolutely no problems. It might have looked terrible but the consequence of his not behaving was for me to take the leader role and tell him that if he didn't behave I would get very, very cross!


Had I been using a clicker then what was to stop him from picking up his foot and getting a reward then snatching his foot away, picking it up and getting a reward? There HAS to be a consequence for unwanted behaviour.|||Are you sure she doesn't have laminitis? Planting of the feet is a sign, especially if it's on hard ground that hurts to walk on. Get her feet checked by the vet.|||It sounds as though what you are doing is working for her, and for you. As long as she is making progress, it is good. Going out on her own and going out with another horse are two different experiences for her, so it isn't unexpected that her behaviour is different as well. It sounds as though you were getting through to her even in the short time you were out.





Working with your horse in a lot of different conditions will make it more versatile and responsive in the long run, so I think that this is a good training opportunity for you.|||Has she ever walked out with another horse before? It may be that it was much more exciting for her to be going out with another horse and thats why she was acting up. She may have been picking up that the other horse was nervous and wondered why.


I would try taking her out again and see how she goes before changing anything. It sounds like you have pretty good ground control with her and are doing the right way of handling her. If she spooks at something let her stand and look at whatever has spooked her so she can see it's not anything to be scared about.|||What does "Slagging Off Clicker " mean? Bashing it? I did not realize people used Clickers for horses like they do for dogs %26amp; Seals..... But to answer this in the correct format .....She is Barn Sour, and would prefer not to leave her stall / paddock / friends. Maybe to have a reason to want to stroll out some what...a bucket of treats.. of carrots or such, stand there, brush her, make her forget where she is. Go back home. Each time a bit further....mix it up. To the point that going for a walk is fun