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<< A friend of mine needs some advice. Her 8-year-old horse who has been
seriously ridden only the past 18 months has progressed in most areas, but
has a dangerous habit of unexpectedly whirling or shying while cantering
down a familiar trail if there is something on the trail that hasn't been
there before, i.e. fallen tree limb. Sometimes, he even shies or whirls at
objects he has passed many times before. >>
don't know if this idea will help, but I own a 24 year old quarter/arab cross
gelding who did this terribly when i bought him, which was when he was 4
years old! I was the unrecommended mix of green rider/green horse--first I
will say, Tash's thousands of abrubt 180 degree spins did give me a very
solid seat! I have been riding friends/strangers horses which have executed
shies that didn't even faze me--people seeing have said "Wow! Your whole
head snapped around but your butt never even slipped in that saddle!"--the
truth is, after Tash, few shies could compare.
Anyway, here is how I finally "cured" him (this was before John Lyons and
round pen tecniques were household words--), every time I was cantering along
and Tash did one of his pirouettes I IMMEDIATLY made him WORK! Spins,
rollbacks. sidepasses--anything I could think of. I didn't stop til he was
huffing and puffing. Then I cantered on--if he cantered nice, I let him
walk. If he even THOUGHT about shying--back to work. Over the course of a
summer his unexpected shies gradually decreased--it took about 3 years for
them to vanish completely, but htey did. Through that time I stayed
consistant with the "you wanna shy? fine, lets go to WORK buddy" routine.
This method worked for me--
Trish & "pretty David"(who's trick isn't shying--its bucking, and I'm no
bronk rider!) & Tash--still a tough old horse at 24!
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