Riding instructor encouraging DD and horse to dawdle along at his (super steady) preferred pace

[dooit]

DD has had 2 lessons with a BHSAI recently. Our horse,(the lovely Leo)although very green at rising 5 and only backed 4 months ago, is particularly laid back, to the point of being lazy.

To hack out he has a nice spring in his step but in the school he tends to switch off and do the bear minimum he can get away with.

Now, I was always taught to ask once for a purposeful walk/trot nicely and if it's not forthcoming then to insist on it with firm leg on then a tap with the whip if there's still no response. The lady currently teaching DD is telling her not to worry about his pace as any forward movement will do for now due to his age and immaturity. The result is that DD and Leo are almost coming to a stand still due to lack of motivation and I'm finding it hard to button my lip.

Do you think she's teaching him to be lazy or am I getting het up about nothing?

Mmm, well I'm definitely no expert so hopefully someone will come on soon who knows a lot more than me. However he sounds exactly like our young cob, nice and keen on a hack to the point of being a bit too bouncy but take him in the paddock and I'm hard pushed to get him to move at all sometimes! If he ignores 'asking nicely' my instructor gets me doing whatever it takes to get him to move, whether that's a smack with the schooling whip or a 'pony club' kick. He hardly ever goes in the schooling paddock as it's usually too muddy so he doesn't have boredom as an excuse. I must admit, being a nervous type, that in the beginning I was quite pleased he was so laid-back but now I'm worried about him becoming nappy and want to nip it in the bud.

Sounds like my old man when he was a youngster, I ended up with spurs and 2 schooling whips on him.

I don't think it is unreasonable to teach a young horse that an instruction from their rider is not a request ar a suggestion, it is an instruction.

She is not teaching him to be lasy, she is teaching him that a riders aids are optional and do not have to be listened to or acted upon.

Personally I would have a word with the instructor along the lines of, he is starting slow down in his responses on rides out, I spoke to the person who backed him and they told me that we need to be firm with him for a while or he will start to get difficult to control when we are out.

After all, if you teach him to ignore "move on" aids then why on earth would he continue to listen to the "come back" aids?

id just add why not try anotehr instrictor for a lesson, you dont have to upset this one in the proccess, Most instructors have their own ways of doing things and in this case her ways dont seem to agree with your daughter? assuming it is your daughter who is not happy? as an instructor it can sometimes be hard making mothers and children happy! so try another instructor and ask dd which she prferes. Unless leo is aiming for a professional career i wouldnt get too hung up yet as long as he is playing the game, he is new to teh work lark andsome ponies wil get resentfull if you chase them to hard too soon... just try someone else for your peace of mind!

Hi chloe. We have a new instructor now. DD has had 2 lessons with her and the difference is amazing. Leo is will now do his lovely forward going movement in the school with DD and no kicking along required!

DD is being told to squeeze for 2 seconds, if there's no response tap behind the leg with schooling whip with increasing force until the moment he moves off. He very quickly picked up the change of rules and is as wiling and happy in the school now as he is on a hack. Now after just a squeeze he'll move forward before there's any need to back it up with the whip.
Result.

great! thats good news.... glad you found someone you get on with! cobs can be a bit tricky to teach if someone is an inexperienced or has limited knowledege tend to bounce between a bit wappy and backwards in the same day! got to love them! very pleased you found someone more suited and the problem easily resolved...

Ha ha, Chloe you just summed him up perfectly then. Wappy and backwards he can certainly be! Yesterday we hacked round the village, complete with loads of scary huge snowmen (a 6 ft snow penis too ) and after he'd had a look at the first one he took the rest in his stride, cool as a cucumber. Then when we came to a road works sign that he's passed at least 5 times before without turning a hair he did a full on sideways spook on to the other side of the road that took me completely by surprise, and the car that was overtaking us at the time! For a second I though we were going to end up sat on the bonnet. Silly horse but I do love him.

one lady i used to break in for bred a few welsh sec d's they were all good fun and went to great homes, however i hd some fun moments on them all! cross county schooling was great till you suddenly found somethung very different like a pile of drainage pipes? or wooden mushrooms.. then you would normaly get airbourne very veryfast!
enjoy ytour boy....and the snow penis