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Post by LMSmith on Apr 5, 2014 20:35:13 GMT
I have a 14year old mare who has been there done that. My problem is when she is asked to do something on her own without other horses involved, I.e. dressage that she just starts going mad and spooking at everything.  She has been ridden in the Caldene arena at HOYS, shes been round the big indoor at the Cherif without batting an eye lid however get her in a dressage arena on her own and those white boards suddenly sprout really big teeth that are going to eat her alive. She will also happily hack out as long as she has something to follow and dosnt bother about buses, motorbikes, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, cement mixers etc. If however she has no one to follow she point blank refuses to go past anything at all! What I want to know is how people would go about addressing this problem? Ask her to lead on a hack for a little while on a quite road? Start introducing foreign objects into the school when she is in there on her own? Any help is much appreciated as this pony could easily affiliate with BD if she would just get over her crazy fear of dressage boards due to having nothing to follow. Thanks! |
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Post by robrocks on Apr 6, 2014 14:49:56 GMT
I don't think the boards are the issue it's being in dependant and able to work without relying on the company of another. I'd start doing arena hires on your own and lunge her til she settles. If they will put out white boards for you all the better. I've had a similar thing but to a much lesser degree and this is how we have progressed. With regard to the hacking, have someone walk(on foot) at her head. As the ride progresses they should gradually fall back til eventually your Mare is in front. Good luck!
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Post by robrocks on Apr 6, 2014 14:51:47 GMT
I don't think the boards are the issue it's being in dependant and able to work without relying on the company of another. I'd start doing arena hires on your own and lunge her til she settles. If they will put out white boards for you all the better. I've had a similar thing but to a much lesser degree and this is how we have progressed. With regard to the hacking, have someone walk(on foot) at her head. As the ride progresses they should gradually fall back til eventually your Mare is in front. Good luck!
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Post by aengusog on Apr 8, 2014 14:47:45 GMT
Your post bears little resemblance to the title of your thread.
Given your mare's behaviour in company, and her confidence on hacks, I'd say that you are riding her with confidence and commitment as long as you, too, are in company. It may be that, when faced with solo situations, as you describe, your confidence wanes and that is greatly affecting your mare's confidence and so her behaviour.
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Post by LMSmith on Apr 8, 2014 19:05:48 GMT
Thanks robrocks for the reply. I will try the hacking with someone walking and then falling back and see how she gets on. I have hired loads of places with and without the boards and as long as there are no boards she works fine? She was also on her own when I hired places out and again it didn't seem to bother her. Can I just add that when she is in the field she is never with the heard and will happily stay out alone even when everything else has been brought in.
aengusog thank you for taking the time to reply. Sorry if you don't see the resemblance in the title to the actual context. I want her to build trust in me to go near the white boards and also desensitise her to the boards, flowers etc when we are on our own? Hope this perhaps clears it up for you? In regards to my confidence I can assure you it is not me that is causing her to act like she is doing. If I had confidence issues with this pony I would certainly never take it anywhere again! It rears up, runs backwards, shoots sideways etc all when faced with going near white boards and I will happily keep getting on it while it does theses things as it really dosnt faze me.
She went out at least once every 2 weeks last year to compete at dressage and we still didn't manage to complete a test without spooking harshly at one thing or another....
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Post by hack on Apr 8, 2014 19:40:06 GMT
Can you create an arena with white boards in her field/your school, so it becomes normal? Let her get used to it on her own? Lunge her around the boards etc before getting on?
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Post by LMSmith on Apr 8, 2014 20:11:23 GMT
Can you create an arena with white boards in her field/your school, so it becomes normal? Let her get used to it on her own? Lunge her around the boards etc before getting on? Thanks for the reply  I have done this before and she does eventually get used to riding next to/round the boards. However it dosnt seem to make much difference when we get to an actual competition  I don't know if I am just hitting my head against a brick wall with this and should just accept that she dosnt like it but if she could just get used to it we could easily affiliate with BD! |
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Post by hack on Apr 8, 2014 20:17:20 GMT
Have you tried taking her to a venue, working in, then walking round and going home? No pressure for either of you, you may be more relaxed, no expectations of her?
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Post by LMSmith on Apr 8, 2014 20:29:36 GMT
She works in beautifully every time in the collecting ring without fail. We did manage to do a test at Addington Manor when we went to the Cherif and we did a good Novice test getting 66%, this was only possible because they have purpose built arenas so we had no white boards (As shown in picture below).  |
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Apr 9, 2014 7:37:01 GMT
I would paint some planks white and set them up in the field with her and just leave them there. I think they get used to things much better if just left to stick to their own comfort zone, which will get nearer and nearer as they get more relaxed, than if asked to go nearer the hazard than they are comfortable with. This is how I traffic proof my babies, they go in the fields alongside the drive, and at first rush off when car comes down but it's not long before I can stop and stroke them out of the windows. And buy some big garish plastic flowers, set them up in your yard and totally ignore them.
In parallel to this I'd do some halter work in hand with the pony, teaching her to go back, forwards and turns on the forehand at a very light command to build up the bond between you.
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Post by aengusog on Apr 9, 2014 8:35:09 GMT
aengusog thank you for taking the time to reply. Sorry if you don't see the resemblance in the title to the actual context. I want her to build trust in me to go near the white boards and also desensitise her to the boards, flowers etc when we are on our own? Hope this perhaps clears it up for you? In regards to my confidence I can assure you it is not me that is causing her to act like she is doing. If I had confidence issues with this pony I would certainly never take it anywhere again! It rears up, runs backwards, shoots sideways etc all when faced with going near white boards and I will happily keep getting on it while it does theses things as it really dosnt faze me. I see the connection now, thanks. My point is that if you want a horse to be trusting of you, then you must appear to the horse to be trustworthy. It could be that you are anticipating a spook when you are actually competing, so the pony is spooking as a direct response to that. If you are at all nervous or mindful that a spook may occur, the pony will certainly pick up on that and react accordingly. It may also be that, because you are competing and have to spread your concentration over a wider area than just the white board problem, your mare is taking advantage of that and using it as an opportunity to evade. A rider can have great confidence in their ability to sit any ride, but the mind and its energies can influence the horse as well. Of course it may be something as simple as that your mare may have, at some point in the past, touched a board with her feet and has a memory of being frightened by it. Can I just add that when she is in the field she is never with the herd and will happily stay out alone even when everything else has been brought in. This is probably significant as well, but I'll not venture an opinion on why. If I was addressing this particular problem, I'd be inclined to use groundwork, lunging and a technique I saw demonstrated by Richard Maxwell at a demo at one of the shows. I saw it on a video which can be watched in three parts on Youtube. I'll try to find the link. He had been presented with an Arab mare which would not stand at the mounting block. By the end of the demo, he had the mare standing by and being mounted from the block. |
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Post by aengusog on Apr 9, 2014 8:49:38 GMT
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Post by LMSmith on Apr 10, 2014 10:28:45 GMT
Thanks aengusog Ill have a watch of that. Please feel free to give your opinion on my mares behaviour in the field, I know my mare is not perfect and I can assure you we have many other problems aside from just dressage boards haha! |
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Post by Kerbeck on Apr 11, 2014 9:26:35 GMT
I had a similar problem with one of mine out hacking, not as bad as yours as he would go out on his own but was a jibbering wreck, 200 yards down the road and my legs felt like they were going to drop off! He has always happily gone out with my little boy riding him and me leading. What I have found to really help is to long rein him, that way I am fully in control but can stay quite a distance behind so he has to pass things he's not sure of first. I have been doing this once or teice a week for a couple of months and yesterday we hacked out for 45 minutes alone and the difference was incredible! I don't really have any answers regarding the boards but I bet if you get her more confident out hacking it will reflect in her dressage tests as she should be more confident all round.
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