# Calming down an Arab



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I've got a trainer working on my Arabian mare on this right now. The basic procedure is the same as with other breeds. 'Sacking out" and teaching her to look to the human for guidance. Raising her fear level to 'stress' but NOT 'explode', and then bring her back down with ground work.

Probably the biggest part tho is working with ME. Teaching me to ride better, give her more consistent guidance, and to prevent her from getting too distracted by recognizing it early and making her work and focus on ME.

The trainer says we, as a team, should always be a 10. If her energy level is 3, I need to be a 7. If she is spinning up to a 7, I need to drop to a 3. If she hits 10, I need to be 0.

I don't think there are any quick solutions. If you have a very alert and sensitive horse, then you need to be a much more alert and sensitive rider.

With my mare, on MOST days a beginner can ride her. But those other days! She not only wants me to be in control, she needs me to be in control - and that means being able to detect what is happening and to stay incredibly calm when she is not. And I am honestly not there yet.


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

Hrosec said:


> Hi i have a 15 year old Arab, who has a lot of training on. She is good most of the time but sometimes out on the trails and in new places "scary" or exiting things such as running will slowly build up to a point were she will get extremly exited. She will start prancing, throwing, her head and just trying to run, sometimes she will sometimes even try to buck. I've tried circling her lunging her and a few other times and nothing has worked so far ounce she reaches this point. Circling just seems to make it worse as she gets frustrated. We try to keep her from reaching this point but sometimes she does. What are some good technics to help calm her down?


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

Do you actually know how much training this horse has? It sure doesn`t like alot, or at least good training. ¸

As for new things - Exposure. I train my Arabians like I train any other horse. You just can`t discipline them roughly.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

Wait--it sounds like you're galloping her on trail rides. Are you?

If so, there's your problem.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

bubba13 said:


> Wait--it sounds like you're galloping her on trail rides. Are you?
> 
> If so, there's your problem.


I can gallop my horses anywhere and expect them to come right back down. What`s wrong with galloping in a field?


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

nothing wrong with galloping. but if you do so much of it that the horse begins to anticipate it that's where you'll get problems like this.


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## Annnie31 (May 26, 2011)

It sounds to me like you are galloping her and if she is well trained she may know what a controlled gallop is but from your post you are just learning how to ride her? Can you get some lessons? Even if you have owned her for a while you would benefit from some professional help. It wouldnt hurt to have a trainer ride and access her to see how much she really knows'
If you ride her according to her training and she is well trained she should never run away with you. If she is running away with you it is dangerous. Seek some professional help with her so you understand her cues well. 
You could potentially undo her training and then you will have a huge problem.
She is anticipating running and I think you would benefit from a good instructor or trainer.


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## Monty77 (Aug 8, 2011)

My Arab is exactly like your guy. You need to be really consistent in your riding. Ride him everyday, and if he gets excited, use that forward motion, get him to move his hip, leg yield, etc. Try lunging him before you ride using side reins, and make sure he is paying attention to you.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

christopher said:


> nothing wrong with galloping. but if you do so much of it that the horse begins to anticipate it that's where you'll get problems like this.


Irregardless of how much I gallop or don't, I still expect my horse to keep it's mind in place and listen to my cues. That's why I asked if she knew for sure how much TRAINING the horse has because it does not like she has had either alot, or proper, training.


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

sadly that's an unrealistic expectation.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

In my experience, of one Arab, my mare Ace, 17 years old, I know that when she starts to get Arab on me, head goes up, nostrils flare, tail flags, that's the time for me to relax and think WOW, I bet she looks awesome:lol::lol:

As a nervous rider I have a horrible habit of snatching up and stopping breathing when anything starts happening. As a rider of Ace she has taught me just to relax and breathe and use the minimum of 'ask' needed to get her attention.

I have found that fighting with her such as her wanting to trot, and me wanting to walk, and trying to MAKE her walk slow and straight is frustrating to both of us, so we walk lots of loops, serpentines and circles, trying to engage her mind and body in something productive.

I've learned that trying to tire her out is a stupid expectation, so we just keep working through finding ways to get her to soften and listen.

My biggest tip is to listen to her and not let her get into that super excited phase, by then it's to late, and you will struggle to get her back. Lots of long slow work, concentrate on truly becoming a team, and it may mean telling the people that you ride with that either they will have to help you out by keeping the intensity down, or you may have to just ride with one very calm companion for a while.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

christopher said:


> sadly that's an unrealistic expectation.


Expecting my horse to listen to my cues is unrealistic??


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I think if we (collective we) want to gallop on a trail ride, we should be able to. With some horses it's just easier (and safer) than others.

I've owned several sensitive horses. Two Arabians, a sensitive Paint and a Fox Trotter that thinks she's an Arabian. And actually, one of the Arabians (my first horse) was pretty lazy.

Anyhow, yes, you do not want to always run in the same place. But out on the trail there are some places that are better for running than others, so there are certain areas that if I am going to run, I choose that area because it's the safest footing. However, I don't run every time I ride through that area. I do think that would cause expectations in the horse.

But, I do believe in going out and cantering, trotting, gaiting, what have you. That's part of the fun of having horses. But I try to do those activities on the way out, or at least parallel to home. I try not to run towards home, although I break that rule now and then once I've owned the horse for a while and it listens to me. 

But I guess what I am saying is this. Burn energy going out, try to give them a decent workout and then work on walking coming home. It may take a few rides. Sometimes the first ride or two the horse may be so "high" that you don't succeed in walking coming home, but eventually it will pay off. There is a big name trainer, I forget who, but I think it was Clinton Anderson, who says folks always marvel at how calm and slow his horses canter. And he says it's because they do so much of it. When he gets on they don't know if he's getting off at 7 am or 7 pm! So they learn to conserve their energy. 

I love high energy horses, but admit sometimes they can be a pain. But in the end, if they are ridden a lot, I think they will calm down. I don't like fighting my horse. Sometimes it can be hard to avoid. But generally I try take *long *rides on hyper horses (until we have an understanding). Burn energy on my terms, going out, in a way that pleases me (cantering, going up hills, etc.) and then when I feel they are less hyper, turn for home and ask them to walk. If they don't walk, I will do some more hills, head back out again, or if on a schedule, just try to work them around bushes and trees on my way back to keep them down to a dull roar. 

For me, trail riding is the ultimate activity to do with a horse. And I enjoy a nice canter or gallop now and then.


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

WSArabians said:


> Expecting my horse to listen to my cues is unrealistic??


no it's unrealistic to expect that if you do (relatively) lots of galloping around, the horse will not make it a habit. and once it's a habit the horse will ignore other cues in order to achieve it.


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## bubba13 (Jan 6, 2007)

^ Especially if you aren't an excellent rider with the ability to defuse a horse's tension.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

bubba13 said:


> ^ Especially if you aren't an excellent rider with the ability to defuse a horse's tension.





christopher said:


> no it's unrealistic to expect that if you do (relatively) lots of galloping around, the horse will not make it a habit. and once it's a habit the horse will ignore other cues in order to achieve it.


So what are you guys saying? (I'm a bit confused). That's it better not to let the horse go fast for fear it will want to go fast in the future? I would rather go fast on my terms than ride the brakes on a nervous, high energy horse. I would rather the horse have all that "stuff" out of their system and think going for a canter is normal.

But I do realize that you have to put in a lot of miles to get the horse to the point that cantering is no big deal. If they are a high energy horse that is. But I always try to reach that point because I do enjoy going fast, often once or twice a ride. My horses calm right down again (well, the Fox Trotter is a work-in-progress, but she is getting better and better). I have one horse I trust to truly gallop (the Mustang). But mostly we canter. The Fox Trotter I have never let run all-out. I know we are not ready for it. We may never be ready for actually "galloping." But I do practice short stretches of cantering with her. It's fun for me. It's good for the horse (in my opinion).

I guess I don't think it is unrealistic to go for a bit of a run and have the horse walk again afterwards. That's kind of how it should be. Now if you ALWAYS ran, that would be different. That would be like training them to run. But if you don't always run, then you are actually expanding the horses training by going faster under control out on the trail.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

That's like saying you shouldn't trot too often or it will become a habit. It's just another gait - how you handle/ride it is the only difference. 

People see gallop as this scary, out of control thing. They do it rarely and expect their horse to be stupid. Because they do it rarely, of course the horse is going to be stupid!

Gallop is just another gait and IMHO should be practiced so it is as commonplace as the others. I gallop my horses regularly. My disciplines call for gallop and control at a gallop, so my horses all know how to gallop calmly and in control, then come back to a loose rein walk. 

People gallop their horse once in a blue moon and wonder why the horse is uncoordinated and silly. If you rarely cantered, or trotted, would you expect your horse to be calm and coordinated when you did?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Hrosec (Aug 9, 2011)

Thanks for all the great advice will defintly try to work more on the way out and less on the way in. She does have a good basis of dressage but before I started ridding her she rarely ever was allowed to go faster then a slow trot, and when she cantered she was held back to an extremly slow cantered that seemed to just frustrate her. I rarely ever let her gallop and never full out. Shes good when we're cantering most of the time it's really when you ask her to slow back down to the walk and the trot especially if you haven't been going long. Then she will get upset, she always does stop but sometimes it takes a bit. She is much better in the arena about slowing and being responsve to you. Probly since she was rode a lot more on the arena. And we're constiently working on leg yields and transitions, which she normally does very well in are arena at home. She is also very hard to tire out, you'll think she is tired but after you walk her for a few minuets she's ready to do it again. It's also hard to tire her out since we ride her out with her companion a 4 year old quarter horse who always gets tired before she does. I wish I could take lessons on her but at the moment we don't have the money.


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

i agree that it's just another gait and not to be avoided etc. but as is the case with lots of barrel and race horses, too much galloping (again relatively, by that i mean too much galloping compared to everything else) and the horse assumes gallop even when the rider wants to go slow. and as bubba13 said "if you aren't an excellent rider with the ability to defuse a horse's tension" you will probably end up with a horse that "will start prancing, throwing, her head and just trying to run, sometimes she will sometimes even try to buck"


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

See, that's just bad training. Too much gallop not enough slow work = horse wanting to gallop. Too much slow work not enough fast work = horse unwilling to go forward. I guess what I'm saying is you should do everything in balance. My gameing horses can all do the races on a loose rein at a trot/canter or they can do them flat out.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## christopher (Feb 11, 2011)

that's exactly what i mean wild_spot


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## Annnie31 (May 26, 2011)

We dont gallop our horses when we are riding them on trails. We lope, we walk, we jog....we dont ask any more than what they have been trained to do. Our pleasure mare will gallop and act a fool out in the pasture in turn out and thats exactly when we want her to do it, not when we are on her back.


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## Annnie31 (May 26, 2011)

and I hit enter before I was done ...however it depends on what you are doing with your horses and if you barrel race, great or if you dont show, great. It is what works for everyone and what is best for the horses mind you are riding.
Personally we dont do the canter thing out on the trail, we could but we dont.


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