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Balmoral Aus · May 4, 2015 2:38 AM

Hm... I'm breaking in my pony. It's my first time breaking in. Doing everything professionally and safely. As training horses is my job, so I would like to offer breaking as well - maybe...
My welsh has been mouthed, driven, wears all his gear happily. He has impeccable ground manners and a good level of respect for humans.
First and second ride he was great, walk, trot, steering, halting, rein back.
Third ride he shied, reared, bucked, took off and I bailed.
Fourth and fifth ride he was good, just walked around nice and relaxed.
Today... Sixth ride, two steps in, back came up and he had a fair bronc. Head between his knees and big twists. I managed to stick it. Walked some more, called it a day.

I feel he's going to try it again. And I just wanted to bounce some ideas off people.
I was contemplating 'cow bboying' it and just sending him forward any time he tries. But we've not really gotten out of the walk?
Someone else suggested I take him up the bush with another quiet horses and again, just go forward? Somebody else suggested I work him in a frame so I have more control of his head? At the moment I'm just working him on a long rein...
Just wondering if anyone had any advice or potential plans of attack!?

Gael4ce · May 4, 2015 3:14 AM

I think most of them go through a "you can't make me stage" a few times in training and half a dozen rides sounds about right for the first big blow out.

I'm a big believer in just riding it out. Most horses are lazy beast by nature, going through all that effort and having to do his job anyway is a lot harder than just having to do his job. Going through that effort and having to work harder than usual afterwards is even worse. At this point, he's likely not going to have the development and balance to really do anything too challenging to stick, so this is the time to cowboy.

Letting him do it and discover it does no good whatsoever is, IMO, the best way to discourage it. If you go with the more control of the head or using another horse or whatever, then he's likely to learn when he can't do it...not that he shouldn't. (IMO)

Balmoral Aus · May 4, 2015 5:12 AM

Phew, that is a relief to hear. Thank you. Will go with the cowboy method I think. Most people I've spoken to have said horses rarely have episodes being broken in... Then again the horses they've broken in have all been well handled since birth... And friesians, the most lazy of the bunch. :))

DreamCrest Farms · May 4, 2015 10:22 AM

I would generally go for the "make him go forward through it" route. If you make him acting up HARDER then it is for him to behave well...only so long before he makes the "right" choice.

Also, there is zero point in "riding him in frame" as a baby. Frame is learned through self-carriage and requires balance. A horse just learning to carry a rider is not balanced.

Gael4ce · May 4, 2015 1:49 PM

Frisians are.....different, lol. I helped a friend with one, I've never seen a horse so hard on himself. You didn't have to scold him, if he did anything wrong. he damn near burst into tears all on his own. Seriously...the lips would get all tight and the ears and tail would get all droopy. I never had to praise a baby so much in my life. I think he'd have died of embarrassment to buck with a rider.

Yeah, forcing a frame is BS and causes more problems than it solves.

If you don't want to do speed at this point, dragging his ass in to very small and tight circles for 50 laps or so should work just as well. I'm a big fan of small tight circles to discourage naughtiness. Some horses get too excited from speed, I'm about reducing excitement. Circles make them think about their feet so they don't trip themselves and it
seems to do a good job of distracting them.

Jemimapuddleduck · May 4, 2015 2:47 PM

Welshies are intelligent and can be opinionated so he could well be trying it on with you especially if you bailed out the first time he played up.
So long as he's physically mature enough and you can be sure that he's not sore then I think riding him through it is definitely the way to go. They're just too smart as a breed to risk backing off as you'll end up with him walking all over you.
We had a gorgeous section D stallion on a yard I was on a few years back who had learned he could intimidate one of his owners, he was a complete thug when she was handling him but a lamb for everybody else. We also had a Welsh x Lusitanio x warmblood in for breaking who could bronc for England, sticking it out and riding through it fixed him and he turned into a lovely and talented boy.

Balmoral Aus · Jun 10, 2015 12:40 AM

I totally forgot to reply to this!! But thanks guys! :)
Friesians definitely are very different!

I spent two weeks doing ground work every day. I think I wasn't consistent enough with him. I also put him into a paddock by himself, so he had to bond with me. He's lovely now, we've got the trot downpat. Asked for canter today and we just got a huge trot ahaha, but even with all the pressure he hasn't tried anything naughty again. I think I will try asking for the canter out on the trail, we've got some nice sandy slopes, so thinking uphill will help too. :)

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