Richard Maxwell works a horse that's lazy to lunge

21m 40secs
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Made by:Horse Hero

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Lincoln is a Prix St Georges dressage horse who's lazy to lunge. Behaviourist Richard Maxwell explains it's common for horses to get emotionally switched off and then need constant nagging. Also, over-familiarity with his trainer puts Lincoln in a position of disbelieving what he's being asked, so he does his own thing and slows down. Then when asked to move on, he over-reacts and accidentally learns that his size, speed and strength are a useful advantage. Richard demonstrates how to get Lincoln to take more responsibility. The result is a proper 'teacher-pupil' relationship, an open channel of communication and a clear understanding.

Comments

Nola 9 Jun 2010 Enjoyed watching this video ... but would like to see a follow on to show the horse eventually working more consistantly "in front of the leg" as I felt that was the initial aim of the training.

Richard Maxwell 8 Jun 2010 Thankyou for the comments, we are hoping to do some more filming with HH later in the year, so can hopefully cover some more of the ridden work and how it all fits together with the groundwork.

Mamie 8 Jun 2010 Very clear, informative video. I have a 5 year old friesian/percheronX who is very much like Lincoln. Where can you find the rope halter you are using? I have a rope halter but it has 4 knots across the nose and I think is too strong for the lunge. Also, the question was put earlier about slow to the leg when riding. I would love to hear your response because my horse is about to wear my old legs out! Many thanks, happy to discover you, I am going online to try to purchase your materials!

Richard Maxwell 11 Mar 2010 Kylaky do you find that your pony is slow to respond to your aids when your ride, is he behind your leg and slow to respond to questions asked? I normally find that horses/ponies that are slow or reluctant to repond to ground training are this way ridden.....perservere and keep the sessions short and sweet but work daily, once you start to see the improvement you want then you can back off. Don't be surprised if you do get some negative behaviour as you have found him out and he is now going to have to work for his living, :-)....but you will see an improvement in your ridden work once he becomes more responsive from the ground. keep me posted. Max

Kylaky 10 Mar 2010 I tried this yesterday and I had a real job trying even to get my pony to move away from the twirling rope. In fact I had to whack his neck with it really quite dramatically to get him to move out on the circle. He begrudgingly trotted around sloppily with a face like thunder and his ears back and his head lolloping down and when I twirled it at his quarters he threatened to mow me down with his shoulder. He half-heartedly barged into me instead of away from me. I did it again this morning and on the fourth attempt he was a little more receptive. Should I try this a few times a week or every day?