All of my girls got to go actually! My mom took Dolly, a friend of mine took Roxy, and while I could have taken some other more broke horses, I wanted to take Nova. She did great! Nova has been on trail 3 days in a row, and she gets better every time. We usually just go around our block. Which constitutes a very quite back road, with some horse property on one side, and a very busy road with lots of large vehicles on the other side. It's perfect, you want a quiet ride go down and back the quiet road. Want to see some obstacles go down the road side. But today we went far. We went all the way down under the highway, about 2 miles down the busy road. Nova was great. She spooked at a couch yesterday, didn't even flinch today when she saw it. She spooked at a car coming up behind her really fast once, and that was it. She amazes me. Roxy and Dolly were both great as well.
My girls before the ride.
Overall I am super, super happy with Nova. She is amazing. However, she won't pick up her right lead. Does anyone have any suggestions for training techniques? My trainer's daughter says to ride more aggressively, but I really don't want to. Nova is so sweet, and so gentle, I really don't think riding her harder and reprimanding her is the right approach. She's not being naughty, I think she honestly doesn't know how to do it. Does anyone else have a gentle approach to encouraging picking up leads?
I've always trained horses to pick up leads using repetition and reward. Pick up canter. Not the lead you asked for? Slow to a trot or walk (whatever they are comfortable with) and try again, and again, and again. Once she gets the lead you asked for, let her keep it for a while. Then slow down and reward by praise and walking for a whole. Make sure to cue the same way every time, and alternate which lead you ask for. Repetition is key. Good luck with her!
ReplyDeleteI could see this working for a horse that knows how just doesnt do it on command. But Nova doesn't know how to lope on the right lead at all. Even loose she just uses the left. I've tried asking her a thousand times but she just doesn't know how.
DeleteI have a horse who wouldn't pick up the correct lead. Does she pick up the right lead when she canters in her field? If she doesn't than it might be a medical problem.
ReplyDeleteWith my horse she would always pick up the wrong lead. I think what I started doing is counting out her front feet footfalls and when her front lead foot left the ground I would cue the canter. It encouraged the correct lead by setting her up for it. Another thing I did was ask her to canter when we were in a turn. This also encourages her to pick up the correct lead. We also did lots and lots of circles, in part because she is really hyper all the time, but I think she figured out that it was easier to canter on the correct lead.