Four Tactics of Wiley School Horses
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School horses can be wiley. They’re a bit like production line workers who get a tad bored and find ways to entertain themselves or make their work easier. Like a good boss, we need to know how to motivate them and keep them at their work.
Rooting
Horses root by putting their head down or their noses out, and pulling the reins through your hands. A lot of new riders think that they need to hold onto the reins tighter, or pull back when the horse does this. But, the key to riding through this tactic is in your legs and seat and they need to be applied the moment before the horse thinks of rooting. That means you’re keeping your horse at a good march, and not let it think about putting its head down. If it should manage to stop and pull the reins from your hands, you need to apply your seat and legs and tell it to march on. As you do, gather your reins up so you are holding them properly again. Knowing when the horse is likely to root helps too, as you can keep its mind busy doing things like upwards and downwards transitions, changes of speed within gaits, turns or halts.
Laying Down
This is a tricky one. A school horse that does this needs a tune-up by an experienced rider. For a beginner, as it is hard to hold your balance to cue the horse, and hold on as the horse is going down. There’s potential for injury too, as it’s possible for your leg to get caught. If it does start to happen, the counter tactic for this move it to keep the horse busy, keep it moving forward and not let it have time to think about laying down. The very moment you feel the horse start to stop to buckle its legs, you need to apply your natural and perhaps even an artificial aid, so the horse understands without question that it’s far easier and comfortable to be obedient than it is to misbehave.
Stopping or Balking
This can happen when the horse becomes frustrated, or when the horse wants to evade work. Most often with school horses, stopping in their tracks is an evasion tactic. Some may back up when timidly asked to walk on. And guess what the counter tactic is. Yes, all of the above. This is why it’s important to learn how to become a rider and not be a passenger. So many riding problems come of a rider just allowing themselves to be carried and letting the horse do all the thinking.
Drifting Around Corners, or Towards the Gate
We all drift around corners when we work - that is, we try to take shortcuts to make our work easier and horses are no different. If you let some school horses have their way in a standard sized dressage arena, their tracks would soon be hotdog shaped - long on both sides and round around the short ends. How do you stop this? See above. And, learn to use those legs to keep your horse straight and prevent it from drifting. Pick a point on the ground to turn around, and use that, rather than follow the beaten path. It helps to put buckets or pylons to turn around at the corners. But don’t let that become a crutch. Learn to use your eyes to pick your path, and your natural aids to guide your horse.
How do you deal with wiley school horses? |
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