Planted horse - how to move?!

[marigold]

When my horse encounters something she doesn't want to do, she switches off completely and plants her feet. Nothing I have tried will budge her, and I hate turning her in a circle to move her (the only think that works) cos I have to haul her round and I hate that :-(
She will not walk over this wooden bridge made of what looks like decking. It has a muddy stream going underneath which doesn't help either.
ANY ideas on how to move a planted horse?
I plan to overcome the bridge by doing some groundwork involving her stepping onto stuff and then lead her don to it and see if that helps...

[Sutton]

Get off her and lead her? Otherwise wipwop rope may be? You are already turning circles to unplant the feet, that's the usual method to get them off balance and then walk forward.

[marigold]

Yep tried getting off, her brain just switches off completely! I have improvised with a leaft twig - is a wip wop really that effective? Just cos its a bit pricey!!

[Val (Toons&co)]

Groundwork should help. Also, don't forget to follow up on your groundwork by doing the same exercices on-board. This being said, when Toons plants there is sometimes just no going forward - no matter how much groundwork we've done in the past. I usually try and give him some legs and time to consider his options or use my reins (western) behind my leg (I don't whip, just touch). If neither works and he starts backing up or spinning, I used to back him up passed the obstacle but he hurt his hinds' tendons doing this once so I no longer do the backing up. If there's another horse, I try and get the horse to lead (they often won't unless bombproof as they feel there must be a reason why Toons won't go in the first place) and as a last resort I get off and lead myself.

[Val (Toons&co)]

Didn't see your last post. Groundwork does help with getting her to trust you on the ground at least. Toons will follow me fine.

[pip]

The circling is the thing usually recommended. Otherwise you can move the head from side to side, trying to unbalance them so that they move their feet.

This is an obience thing - they should obey your leg. Yes, they are frightened and nervous, so that is taken into consideration, but ultimately you are saying "go there, it will not eat you" and they should obey your leg and trust you enough to do it. You are not asking anything unreasonable.

I think it might be OK to get off and lead if it is something really frightening and you want to avoid a fight, but then there are two different schools of thought about that! For instance, I have led a young horse through a puddle of water, when he was being quite reasonable that he didn't know how deep it was. I also had to get off and lead a new horse through water, in the end this one would go through water quite happily.

[marywelsh]

hi my friend had exactley the same problem a little wooden bridge with a stream running under (you don,t happen to be from barnsley)
her horse use to plant itself, what we did was put my horse first, but we also found that the girl would start thinking about her horse refusing so got tense and also she use to use her leg aids voice etc to get the horse moving but as soon as the horse moved she would stop using her aids, eventually the horse did go over with no trouble but it took six months
good luck

[naria]

Sometimes asking for a step or two sideways will help, or as Val said backwards. Almost anything that gets them moving will then make it easier to get them going forwards, but turning them round is difficult if they are genuinely unsure because they won't want to take their eyes off the scary monster! As a general rule if I think a horse may rear I won't ask for rein back in this situation & if I think it may bolt I don't ask it to turn round & take it's eyes off whatever is worrying it. Sometimes if it is a light horse swinging your weight to one side of the saddle can also make them take a step to rebalance - not so effective on a four square cob though.

Can you feel her slowing down before you reach the bridge? If so that's the point to ask & rather than use both legs at once use altenate ones in the rythym of her walk to keep her going. Likewise if you want to get off & lead it may be better to do so just before she plants herself so that you aren't encouraging her behaviour.

[marigold]

Thanks all!
Have tried getting off - she was growing roots by that point and had wound herself up to believe that there were big monsters under it. Her horsey friend was grazing happily on the other side, so an equine lead didn't help either.
so so far have tried; another horse leading, soothing talk, crosser talking, leg legs legs, circles, leafy whooshy stick....AHHHH!
How long do you reckon a horse would just stand until it got bored? I tried that for a bit the other day and she started to wonder what we were doing and I though MAY have tried in the end, but the others on the ride got bored of waiting....
Groundwork must be the answer.....!

[marigold]

Ooh and no not barnsley, sussex.
And I don't want to try backwards steps as I feel this has the potential to lead to napping backwards and I don't want her to learn that one!

[roo]

You neednt worry about going backwards making a nappy horse marigold. It doesnt if you make sure you "own" backwards. Monty and Kelly both say you need to be able to control the horse backwards as well. Thats why Monty trains newly started horses to step back on the long lines when he starts them. I'd suggest getting an RA out to help you if you can. We have a cob who plants for England......our record for being "stuck" was over three hours in February 2002... (I remeber it well as it was freezing cold and sleeting!)..because he wouldnt move out of the school !! It was before I found IH and I figured if he wouldnt move we'd just sit there till he did move. I then discovered Adam Goodfellow and IH and I now "own" backwards. He does still plant sometimes but the second I ask for backwards he moves forwards now. Get some RA help if you can.

[Yann]

Getting an RA out would be a really good move even if you haven't got a big problem, being shown how to do groundwork exercises and getting a feel for timing and release will be incredibly useful.

You're right about groundwork being the key to helping this problem. In similar circumstances if my horse was suspicious rather than downright scared then I'd get off and work her towards it from the ground using sideways lead rope pressure trailer loading style to encourage small forward steps, with lots of rests and praise. You could put a headcollar under the bridle for this purpose, I don't like messing with reins for obvious reasons.

We've been able to get past and over quite a few scary things out hacking by getting off and leading, the groundwork does come through, and it has improved Rio's confidence.

Re. the wip wop, I use a soft lead rope with the buckle removed and tied in a loop, which can be carried over my shoulder when not needed. If Rio needs any encouragement swinging it round myself once or twice so it smacks on my body protector usually works a treat. Sometimes just lifting a hand to touch the rope is enough

[dingus]

I tried a lot of these things, and even tried leading, but the only thing that worked for me was 1. food - I had to get off, feed then remount which was pointless as he stopped again as I got back on lol, 2nd, and this is the one that worked, was taking both reins in one hand and just swinging them lightly onto his neck so that it makes a noise and he feels something (please note I did not, at any stage, hit him or cause him any pain or discomfort, it merely got his attention) - this got him moving as it took his mind off not wanting to move. If all else fails it could be worth a try.

[not sure]

More more pleassseee. I want to get someone out to help me but cannot afford it at the moment. My horse also plants - very scared when out on her own although will lead well. I use swishy leafy sticks on my boots which work sometimes. I circle her and back up but eventually she gets very agitated and runs back or feels ready for flight/bolt. so it just feel ineffective. And there is always soething or someone around to add to the problem - last time the shepherd started driving a flock of sheep towards the gateway we were making a little bit of progress in I can lead her anywhere and will go do more groundwork but any details ideas would be much appreciated. It is jsut part of a larger confidence problem which I am going to have to convince her she can get from me.

[chrissiew]

Marigold - not a very narrow bridge over the Adur near Henfield, Sussex by any chance! As I had several battles with my old mare there years ago - spent about an hour and half one day (yes I waited that long ), even though we had been over it before.

I tried everything - friend's 3 year old! walked across the bridge loads of times in front - nothing. Friend's horse disappeared round the corner and whinneyed - nothing. Have to admit smacked her - nothing except nearly reversed into river Got off, tried to lead - again nearly ended up in river! Got back on, tried all the turning circles, backing up, legs, legs, legs, cajoling, pleading! everything.

The minute I gave up, the little madam decided that she would go and calm as you like walked across the bridge - grrrrrr!

This horse was a napper (the planting or going backwards type) when I got her as a 4 year old, but over the years we came to an arrangement and I could take her anywhere, anytime and she would go, but the biggest thing I learnt was that it just took time and some days I didn't get what I wanted, but in the long term I did. I think the biggest thing was giving her time to get to know me and trust me. The problems I had were in the first 2 or 3 years I had her (and yes she did do it probably worse with other more experienced people). It was a trust issue and took time to resolve.

I don't think there was any one thing that helped, except I did get off before we got to things that I knew would set her off. If I was leading her before she had an issue, she usually would follow. If I left it until she was in planting/fighting/switch off mode, then nothing would move her.

The best thing was to avoid the battles (easier said than done I know) and try to be one step ahead all the time, even if that meant avoiding certain areas for a while. One yard I was at she refused point blank to leave the yard because she didn't like to go through some houses at the end of road. I even tried having a friend with a bucket of food walking in front of her one day! It didn't work! In the end I just avoided the battles for a year, went the other way or led her through. Lo and behold, one day I thought I would try and she went through sweet as anything.

Sadly I lost this mare as a 10 year old, but boy did she teach me a lot.