i have a 14.2 cob named rosie, she does what i want her to do, but i have had her almost 6 weeks and i am getting no connection with her. She was in a riding school before i bought her, and i think she just blanked out after a certain amount of time because she was so sick of being ridden and petted.
what can i do to bring the "umph" back into her?
Agreed with the fun little trail stuff. Play lots of games with her. When I was bomb proofing my horse we had one of those exercise balls. One of the huge ones thats about 3 or 4 feet across. He found this ball hysterical and LOVED playing with it. I would push it to him and he would nudge it around. I ended up giving him a smaller one for him to play with in his paddock and it kept him busy all day hahaha. Also spend a lot of time just being with her. I used to bring a comfy seat and sit with him in his stall with a book in the evening. Dont give up:) surprise her and challenge her with stuff shes never done.
ground work is a big thing. i see this happen all the time at my barn which is why i wanted my own horse. horses would come in with all this personality then within a year alot of its gone when they go from rider to rider every day. try some free lunging or even free jumping you can do some things like bouncing the ball off her side or walking over a tarp. just keep things intresting never do the same thing and it 'll keep her on her toes which is the opposite of the daily schedule of the riding schools
There are a bunch of different disciplines to try. If you mostly do hunters, try dressage. If you mostly ride, try some ground work . I would recommend checking out
http://unbridledrider.com/. Its a great free website with all sorts of access to free training guides in dressage, hunter jumper, and ground work, and it lets you track your training. Horses tend to get bored with one thing, so you should try some new training. Good luck and have fun!
Have you tried lunging her? She probably never did that at the riding school. That might interest her and make her work more interesting. Lead her around and let her graze for a while. You could also make her trot in hand. Take her over to some scary things. Like put a small tarp on the ground and let her look at it. See if she'll walk over it.
You did not say how old she is or old you think she is? Maybe she is very old and just is what we call jaded, spirit gone maybe just worn out from ride, rid, ride.
Just soundds like she's bored. Like other people have already said, tarps or a few jumps (either lunging over or riding over) or maybe some races? That should mix some things up that she didn't have at the riding school.
don't lisent to the 1st comment he is an idiot! My pony is called rosie and when i had my 1st pony he had that problem just try hacking or diffrent activities! luv horseymad gurl123887
you probably have an excellent horse, they are just getting bored. make the lessons your doing more interesting.
Sell it .. it will make your wallet happy too: D
