Horse trouble

I'm working with a horse and i have some problems i need advice on. she was broke saddle and green but then wasn't rode for a couple years so i'm kinda re breaking her.
1. she is herd bound so she will refuse to follow most of the time
2. when lunging she will stop suddenly and face you in a way that you can't reach her but with the whip and will then refuse to continue.

i've never had a horse do this to me and i need help.

i might have some more problems during re-saddle breaking

1. Keep her in a stall in the barn or small pen where she can't see the other horses. Leave her there for a week or two. This will stop her from being so buddy sour or herd bound.

2. How long is the whip? If its just a short one used for barrel racing, it won't work well. If it is about 3-4 ft long, or a buggy whip, you'll have better results. If she turns towards you, tap her shoulder until she moves it over and point with the other hand where you want her to go. When she's pointing the right way, hit her butt with the whip and if she still doesn't go, keep walking towards her butt (still hitting her with the whip). She was probably taught to turn and face you as soon as you stopped pushing her forward. Hope this helps!

Thanks. It's a lunge whip so its farly long. I'm going back over today so wish me luck

I don't know much about her pervious training but she stops in the middle of my lunging her. My friend said she might be chanlenging me. But like unsaid I have never had this happen before

She might be doing that western horsemanship lunging. Or maybe it's even natural horsemanship. So your body language might be telling her to stop, do you stay in the middle of the circle? Try looking into some western lunging and see what you can find, it may just be a communication mix up.

Thanks. I will try that.

what kind of whip should i buy. she's not responding to the one i have

Americano Blue said:

what kind of whip should i buy. she's not responding to the one i have

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I think it may be your body language that is telling her to stop and face you, in which case, a whip is not going to help. It will only confuse her more. It is hard to describe, but when you are lunging a horse, either on a line or free in a roundpen, you need to be "behind" her to provide her impulsion. Your body language is "pushing" her to keep moving. When you change your body language or step "ahead" of her, you are telling her to stop, and she will likely turn and face you, ears up, asking, "Okay, what next? You told me to stop and I stopped!"

If you confuse her too much, she CAN become frustrated and that can bring out behaviors that are not good.

I posted this in full (not a link) another thread, it's a pretty down-to-earth and easy to understand method used by Clinton Anderson. http://www.infohorse.com/clintonanderson.asp I am not a follower to any one trainer or clinician, but I do like his methods for getting a horse to lunge.

I recently went horse shopping with a slightly inexperienced friend. We were looking at a potential horse, and I told the owner I'd like to take it to the round pen to see how it moved and responded. I worked the horse "naked" - no rope or halter - and the only thing I used for impulsion was the my body language and the lead rope for correction if the horse didn't respond immediately (rope stays coiled in my hand and gets tossed toward the horse like a lariat if horse doesn't listen). The owner was speechless that a horse could/would willingly move without a super-long lunge whip to direct it. This horse had never been worked in a round pen before.

res said:

I think it may be your body language that is telling her to stop and face you, in which case, a whip is not going to help. It will only confuse her more. It is hard to describe, but when you are lunging a horse, either on a line or free in a roundpen, you need to be "behind" her to provide her impulsion. Your body language is "pushing" her to keep moving. When you change your body language or step "ahead" of her, you are telling her to stop, and she will likely turn and face you, ears up, asking, "Okay, what next? You told me to stop and I stopped!"

If you confuse her too much, she CAN become frustrated and that can bring out behaviors that are not good.

I posted this in full (not a link) another thread, it's a pretty down-to-earth and easy to understand method used by Clinton Anderson. http://www.infohorse.com/clintonanderson.asp I am not a follower to any one trainer or clinician, but I do like his methods for getting a horse to lunge.

I recently went horse shopping with a slightly inexperienced friend. We were looking at a potential horse, and I told the owner I'd like to take it to the round pen to see how it moved and responded. I worked the horse "naked" - no rope or halter - and the only thing I used for impulsion was the my body language and the lead rope for correction if the horse didn't respond immediately (rope stays coiled in my hand and gets tossed toward the horse like a lariat if horse doesn't listen). The owner was speechless that a horse could/would willingly move without a super-long lunge whip to direct it. This horse had never been worked in a round pen before.

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thanks

res said:

I think it may be your body language that is telling her to stop and face you, in which case, a whip is not going to help. It will only confuse her more. It is hard to describe, but when you are lunging a horse, either on a line or free in a roundpen, you need to be "behind" her to provide her impulsion. Your body language is "pushing" her to keep moving. When you change your body language or step "ahead" of her, you are telling her to stop, and she will likely turn and face you, ears up, asking, "Okay, what next? You told me to stop and I stopped!"

If you confuse her too much, she CAN become frustrated and that can bring out behaviors that are not good.

I posted this in full (not a link) another thread, it's a pretty down-to-earth and easy to understand method used by Clinton Anderson. http://www.infohorse.com/clintonanderson.asp I am not a follower to any one trainer or clinician, but I do like his methods for getting a horse to lunge. 

I recently went horse shopping with a slightly inexperienced friend. We were looking at a potential horse, and I told the owner I'd like to take it to the round pen to see how it moved and responded. I worked the horse "naked" - no rope or halter - and the only thing I used for impulsion was the my body language and the lead rope for correction if the horse didn't respond immediately (rope stays coiled in my hand and gets tossed toward the horse like a lariat if horse doesn't listen). The owner was speechless that a horse could/would willingly move without a super-long lunge whip to direct it. This horse had never been worked in a round pen before.

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I agree. If you keep walking towards her hip, she will keep moving, if you step in front of her shoulder, she should stop and/or turn.