Several Issues with Manners at Shows

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm having several issues with Max at shows.

1. He won't stand still in halter classes or showmanship. He starts walking sideways, closer to another horse, or goes forward, etc. I've started shanking him each time he looks like he's gonna move. Is that something that I'm doing correctly? He eventually got the hint 20 minutes into attempting to get him to stand still.

2. He will NOT stand still when lining up for the judge when I'm riding him. He will walk sideways, go forwards, toss his head up, lower his head, go backwards, anything but stand still. The worst thing is when he is pawing. Is there anything I can do to stop that?

3. He's doing better at standing tied to the trailer, but unless another horse is tied near him, he starts pawing and at some point will get REALLY pissed off and pulls. I suppose the rope halter worked because he's stopped pulling, but he did break a really good lead rope.

Any ideas? And please...he's not a bad horse, just needs some attitude adjustments.

On an unrelated note...there's a mare in full-blown heat in the pasture. She has "selected" Max I suppose. He was following her doing the Flemming response and was preparing to mount when I whistled for him to come to the gate for feeding.

I'm thinking it's just because of the in-heat thing, but even when he came up to the gate he acted like the sweet XL dog that he is.

 

[w c]

He was probably just fresh and excited because he hadn't been to a show in quite some time. I think knowing why the behavior occured is good, yet still correcting him when he does the wrong thing, like you did, is the best approach. It seems like the people who had him while he was gone from you did not do very much with him. If they were trying to keep him from being noticed, they probably kept him in an awful lot, so he didn't get out much.

The other thing is that after being away for so long, he might take some time to get back in synch with you. I don't know too much about that as I've never had one lost for a year and returned, but I've heard people say things like - a month or two, for horse and rider to get back in synch together.

I would probably shank him and quietly say whoa, but try to time it very carefully to when a foot actually moved. I would always be looking at how he reacted to the correction as some horses that are more anxious and tense than your horse, sometimes if you keep correcting them they get hysterical and things go downhill, so with another horse, I might even be thinking at some point, well, it is time to leave the class. But your horse has such a good temperament it probably wouldn't come to that. In fact he seems exceptionally kind and calm.

I'd probably work with him at home after the show, not getting angry or punitive, but just practicing standing still when there were distractions around. After that was good I'd trailer him to a few different places and 'play show', though they do realize the difference, it does help some.

I had this problem with my young horse when he was about 4 and just gelded and I had just gotten him, that he would not stand still to have his feet picked out. Just very calm, persistent repetition, just shanked him when he moved his feet. Then after the feet are under control then you can start correcting him for tossing his head, in my experience that works out best.

As far as reacting to a mare, most geldings retain some small amount of reproductive behavior, sometimes very ah...obviously. I had one like that and it never was any real trouble at all, he would always respond to a 'no' and a little tug on the lead shank.

From the description he is a real gentleman about it. Geldings often wind up noticing one mare more than others and the mare paying attention to them. In the herd geldings sometimes function as kind of an 'uncle'. They will spend time with one mare. If/when the mare has a foal they will babysit it. It's all a very gentle low key thing usually.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I would try to verbally train him on a command like "stand" and teach him to do it at home for practicing halter, practice standing in the lineup. mounting, bathing, farrier, vet, etc...

After he's halted, tell him to stand and if he stands quietly for a moment or two pet him and relax, increase the moment a little each time.

At a show, there's lots of new stuff to look at. He just wanted to look, Ma