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[RC] Teaching the Trot-out to a STUBBORN Horse (long) - RDCARRIE

My husband and I are at our wit's end...well, mostly my husband (Ross), since 
it's his horse who is the Little Monster.  <G>  The horse is an 8 yr old Paso 
Fino gelding.  We've been told now by 3 different vets that they are a 
stubborn breed.  We discounted the first one ("he must have had a bad 
experience with a Paso"), but are becoming believers!  The horse, Diamante, 
is *very* smart - learns new things quickly.  For example, he quickly learned 
our method of trailer loading (walk in by himself, and back out when signaled 
by a tug on his tail).  Now, every once in a while, he just decides he 
doesn't feel like loading...he'll walk up to the trailer, cock a hip, and 
that's it.  **sigh**

As for the trot out...we've been working with him since we got him last 
summer.  He's terrified of crops and lunge whips - apparently had some harsh 
training - we've had to work to gain his confidence, but these devices still 
scare him.  So, the usual method of having one person on the lead encouraging 
him to trot, and a second person encouraging him with a lunge whip as needed 
just panicked him (forget having the person on the lead hold the whip to tap 
him - he just spins in terror around that person).  We've managed to get him 
to do a *fairly* respectable trot out at home and after conditioning rides by 
having the second person haze him to get him moving (without a whip), the one 
on the lead rewarding him with cookies and ear scratches for a good effort, 
and have now been able to pretty much do away with the hazing.  His trot out 
is not very inspired or enthusiastic, but it's there.

However, remember I said he's very smart...Ross gets to a ride (he's done 3 
LDs on him), and Diamante refuses to trot out unless I'm there to haze him 
very firmly.  I'm there at the pre-ride vet in, but I'm not around at the 
mid-point vet check and post ride trot out, as I generally do 50s.  Any ideas 
for improving consistency?  The horse knows the difference between 
home/conditioning and an actual ride situation, where he's discovered that he 
can get away with murder (or at least, acting like a murder victim on the end 
of the lead <G>).  Ross is thinking about getting a short whip and just 
working with the horse till he realizes that even though Ross is carrying it, 
he's not going to use it, as long as the horse trots out.  Ross is very 
frustrated at not being able to present the ride vets with a decent trot out, 
but it's not for lack of trying.  I know there's a lot of knowledge on this 
board, and surely some of y'all have run into something like this before.  
Suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Dawn in East Texas

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