Saturday, June 14, 2014

side passing problems

I am having "my horse thinks to much for herself" problems. She really does have a hard time just stopping to listen without thinking.
Also, pony has perm hair!
We have spent the past couple weeks working on different trail obstacles for the show. Mainly side passing and backing, since those can be our problem areas. Also, I have been working on getting Shyloh to slow down and listen to me. 
She sure is shiny!
But now, as soon as she sees that pole on the ground and I walk her up to it, she steps over it and immediately begins to side pass. While I am all, yay for side passing!, I am also, pony, you must listen to me! 
<3
So we spent a good chunk of time today getting Shy to walk up to the pole and whoa. Then step over the pole and whoa. No side passing. This was much harder for her than the actual side passing! She just wants to side pass. Frustrating. Letting Shy have the space she needed, she would walk up to the pole, over the pole, side pass to the end, then smile, like look, I did it! My horse is a nut.
Treats for meeeeeee!
But eventually, I as able to get her to stop side passing. And when she gave me nice stops at and over the pole, we quit. Since it was hot out, we relaxed in the barn and Shy got some hay that was on the ground. She loved that.
No hay for chickens!
I also did a pre-wash on her tail with white vinegar. We have a show next weekend already! And we are so not ready for riding. . .

8 comments:

  1. My girl is all smarty pants about things like that too! Shylo is gorgeous - I love haffies!

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  2. I had EXACTLY this problem on Sunday. For the two backing-up exercises, Aero was supposed to stand at the start, just behind a pole. Well, he sees 'pole on the ground' and goes 'yup, I know what to do here,' straddles the pole and starts side-passing. You & I need to invent a few new exercises with poles on the ground so the horses don't know what's coming and have to listen to us.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed! I am trying to switch it up with poles on the ground so Shy has to listen to me to know what is coming next.

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  3. I feel like you just wrote a post about Q. I'm seriously more and more creeped out by how similar these mares are! Except in this case, Q would probably go over the pole then try to go see her friends lol

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