Brent's answer to why a colt won't move forward under saddle

bit

Hi Susan

I've started a few horses under saddle... at least 3,000. And I've helped a lot of others get their first rides going.

I'm betting he's doing exactly what he's been taught to do. Here's one of the most common things we see with so many colts, and maybe it's a big part of your situation... the colt gets worried, and the handler makes them stand still.
I see it a lot when the trainer "sacks out" or "desensitizes" the horse. We tell the horse to stand still and put up with whatever it is he's being exposed to.
Here's kind of what the horse hears...

Stand still when I catch you.
Stand still while I pet you.
Stand still while I put this blanket on you.
Stand still while I put this saddle on you.
Stand still while I step up in the saddle.
Stand still while I ask you to turn your head.
Stand still, stand still, stand still... when you worry.
Ignore everything that's going on around you.

So when we ask them to go after going through this, they.....
Stand still when we cluck for them to go...
Stand still and ignore our legs... just like we've taught them to ignore everything else...
Stand still when you are worried.

I like to encourage movement right from the beginning. Forward and calm is usually the answer. If the horse is worried about something... fine... move, but in a productive, forward way. Then we can channel that movement.

If they understand that it's okay to move forward from the beginning, they will move out under saddle, too.

I don't want to "desensitize" the horse. The opposite of sensitive is dull.... I don't want a dull horse.
I do want my horse to trust me and accept whatever I expose him to, though. So I need to figure out how to develop that trust.

After a month of riding, your colt should be moving out quite well. So we need to figure out how to help him move out. It's really hard to give accurate advice over e-mail about a horse I've never seen, with a rider I've never seen ride.
We've done quite a few clinics the last couple of years in California, not too far from you. We have one coming up in September, one in October, one in March, and one in May as well as one in Oregon in April that should be relatively easy for you to get to. It would surely benefit you to find your way to one of those and I could help you a lot more by working hands-on.

Otherwise, I have to just guess.

You can have someone ride a going horse, and you just follow them. Use their horse for bait... hopefully your young horse will want to be with the other horse.
If you have someone on the ground with you, and you haven't gotten your horse dull to a flag, you can have the person on the ground use a flag to help get the horse moving... assuming you haven't already taught him to ignore the flag.
You can ride with a flag or something of that sort, to help the horse move when his feet are stuck.

If he gets his feet stuck and you are alone, there are a couple of different things you can do to help him move out since your feet make him mad.

If you ride with a lariat rope on the saddle, shake the coils of your lariat rope against your leg to help him move out.
Make sure you are not staring at his ears... look out more where you'd like him to go.
Tip his nose a little to the right, and ask his hind feet to step to the left, then let him walk forward.
Tip his nose halfway to the right, then halfway to the left, then halfway to the right, then the left... when his feet start to move, leave him alone and let him walk. Don't be real soft and mushy about it, either... bring his head fairly quickly until he starts thinking about doing something different than just standing there.

These are just a few suggestions. Again, my best advice is to come to a clinic where I can get to know you and your horse and really be able to help you.

For the horse,
Brent

cynthia peterson

Can you imagine a Clinician giving you a answer for FREE like Brent did? The poster wasn't even a student. That is so Brent like

People here,- didn't you think when you joined the Savvy Club and Parelli promised you all that "help" it was going to be something like this? Even having a Parelli staff giving you a simple answer? Oh those days when we believed...

Just goes to show who really cares about horses and their riders...

PasoBaby_CarolU

Good point Cyndy, I know many professionals and few give ANY advice, and those that do typically just tell you to "take the horse to a professional."

whisperingwindfarms

I just love that man . . .

merle

PasoBaby_CarolU

Getting back to the subject, I think this is what Pat refers to as "sticky feet," and it's a point where many people mess up with young horses. My experience is that they stop because they are confused. People apply to much pressure right then and get bucking or rearing or teach the horse to refuse. This is where you go slower or ask differently.

I remember years ago training a big QH I had, and I think we did zig-zags for two weeks before he finally took 2-3 straight steps and figured out he could keep going beyond one step. Hmmmm, that was some time ago.

Clarissa

Pat does say (or did used to say) that everything you do at the standstill you need to also do on the move. Including all the desensitizing stuff like carrot stick & string thrown over the horse while standing still, then while leading the horse & then driving the horse & then doing it in higher phases etc.

Same goes for bagging with the saddle pad & ropes.

Then there's the situation of whether the horse actually responds to the person's energy levels or whether it waits to receive a cue from the tools (halter or stick). Once the person is mounted & asks the horse forward by raising their energy & squeezing their cheeks, does the horse understand & respond properly or does it just stand still because that is what it has been taught to do until it receives a cue it understands?

To my mind there is a tendency with NH to create dull horses that have been taught to stand still far too much.

Hertha

I think a lot of it also is about the pendulum effect a rider's body has on the horse's back. We tend not to realise just how a small movement of our upper body gives a large pendulum effect on the horse's balance.

If you' ve had a child riding on your shoulders, you will know the feeling. If the kid wiggles around up there, you feel compromised.

Sure, horses have four feet, but they don't really know what you are doing up there and what you want them to do. They are also probably more sensitive to balance than we are.

some other things that seems to work:
- Teaching verbal cues for 'walk on'.
- Lots of shadow game walking together on the ground with synchronised energy levels
- for Boots, I set up a series of cones in a line and put a crab apple on each one. Did it for three days, putting them further apart each day in a big paddock and suddenly it was no longer an issue. She understood that going forward was the thing to do.
- Cynthia Royal teaches it at liberty. The horse already knows to come forward for a treat, so her hubby just gets on and she keeps playing with the horse on the ground doing what he already knows to do.
- if you don't have someone with a nice quiet horse to ride with, a person walking or on a bike work too.