At 05:47:37 on 24.03.10, Jade22 wrote:
Hi Chica - sorry to hear you have a trainer that yells. LOL My suggestion would be to check out www.montyroberts.com site (he comes to your country a lot for demonstrations of his Join-Up techniques) but see if you can find a copy of FROM MY HANDS TO YOURS by Monty and learn how to communicate with your horse in the sense of making her feel confident in you taking care of her and keeping her safe. The comments about not letting your fear or nervousness be transmitted to her are correct. I always make people laugh when they comment on how well behaved my horses and my Queensland Heelers dogs (3!)are and want to know how I achieve that - and my response is: "Simple! I'm the Alpha Bitch in the house, and the Lead Mare out in the corral...and everybody knows it!" But the serious part of it is they trust me to be their leader and take care of them, so they usually do as I ask of them. And I have earned that trust from them. You can do the same. Good Luck! Jade

At 18:08:45 on 24.03.10, Angelalain wrote:
Won't be much help about the jogging, but the circular ride idea, plodalong! Doesn't work with my pony, she has this bit of elastic attaching her to home, on a circular type ride as soon as we are closer to home than away from it she speeds up! You can tell when we pass the point furthest from home cos the walk speeds up lol. She doesn't get joggy or anything, she just has this compass in her head that tells her excactly where she is! As she turns for home the elastic pulls her back faster.

At 18:38:48 on 24.03.10, plodalong wrote:
it was just an idea that i thought may be tried in the trial and error game,

At 18:58:24 on 24.03.10, Flicka wrote:
My husbands mare is a terrible jogger on the way home and a head tosser-she is in a standing martingale but that just stops you getting smacked in the face but she tends to brace against it which I don't think helps-it can end up as a bit of a crutch .And like you say Angelalain she has an inner compass!!I used to really try and relax my seat and not get wound up about it, then ask her to slow and then release my hand straight away. My mother in law said she used to sing to her TBs and I do think it helps as it makes you breathe. I know it sounds simple but worth a try!! Or if you feel too silly doing that just make sure you really slow your breathing and make your out breath longer than your in breath. Good Luck!!

At 20:11:31 on 07.05.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Try bitless or get a nose net this can help, if it is purely behaviour everytime it happens stop if you cant stop turn a circle, this could take a while but don't set off again until calm is restored do it every time eventually it should stop.

At 03:42:30 on 08.08.10, Polkadotpolly wrote:
When you get home ride straight past the gate for quite a wee bit and keep doing it till she settles down, then each time you rid shorten the distance past the gate a little bite more until she learns not to get to excited. All horses know when they have reached that half way point and no matter how tired they think they are it is amazing how they always find that extra oomph when thay have turned for home... Try not to get frustrated with her, keep your hands soft so she doesn't have much to pull on...but just try to keep relaxed and remember if you are not reacting sthen she may not try so hard... I had a friend who used to ride her horse home backwards ( she backed him all the way home ) she did it only a couple of times before her horse realised that jig jogging and head tossing is not as much fun as it used to be. I am not so sure turning in circles is such a good idea as it could lead to swapping one bad habit for another !!!

At 03:46:26 on 08.08.10, Polkadotpolly wrote:
I just thought of something else my daddy taught me when I was quite bit younger and when we used to break in a lot of youngsters...redirecting their attention is a huge talent to have and he taught us to sing to the horses...it distracts them from that big ol scary thing that could be bothering them and they concentrate on your voice that should be a comforting constant in their lives. I have to admit that it does work, and I still do it today, not because I have to distract Polly from anything scary but because I love to sing !!!! The cattle and the sheep don't seem to mind it either !!!!

At 02:34:32 on 10.08.10, wrote:
Hmmm I have this problem with a difference...I ride my aged mare almost daily within our back paddock (a couple of acres) and around the dam. When we first start out she goes really well and attends to me and my requests for about the first hour. At some point she decides it is time to head home (back to the area she is fed, groomed, tacked up etc) and the jig jogging and head tossing starts. She then pulls towards home (as if attached with elastic as described by Angelalain). When I ride her past the yard (with much encouragement)she will sometimes stop and put her head down for a series of small bucks. She seems to fight against the martingale to get her head free for a run towards home. Turning her in a circle works sometimes although at others she turns her body but fights for her head which makes for one unbalanced horse. When we halt she snorts and paws the ground and when I release the pressure on the reins to reward her for stopping she moves forward again...I will try singing and relaxing in my seat as well as dismounting away from home and walking her in and let you know how we get on.

At 18:29:17 on 06.01.11, Donna wrote:
My horse used to do this all the time, i was watching Clinton Anderson's Down Under Horsemanship he recommended the "Tree of Thought" for horses that would rush home. My horse would generally get fed when he got home from a ride or turned out in the paddock for a roll and a frolic. So i thought i would try the "tree of thought" Now when i get home Cocoa is tied to the tree of thought for 20 mins before he is fed to give him a chance to digest what he has learnt or achieved. While he is tied im pottering around tidying the yard and cleaning tack. So now he doesn't have anything to rush home for !

At 19:03:57 on 22.02.11, whittenberg wrote:
I know exactly how you feel. my instructor is exactly the same, any problem, normally the answer is: be a bit tougher on ur horse maybe what your horse needs is to feel calmer, dont know if it will work and maybe you allready do but if you try and have a completely calm mind set and sit completely normally in the saddle as if nothing is happening and let the reins loose a little bit so you can still feel the mouth but his head should stretch out a little more and he should feel more relaxed as you are...:\ hope this helps...