AboutChristine Dickinson Expertise can answer questions on training and showing, ring craft, english style riding, and dress for the sho ring
Experience been riding since I was 2 years old, qualified as an instructor more years ago than I care to remember and has owned ponies and horses all my life, shown and won extensively
hiya
I have got a exmoor mare who will not stop knapping, i Have only had her for 2 months but i had her on a month trial before and when i had her on that trial she was fine, the occasional knapp but she is only 5 so i wasn't that worried
but now She doesn't listen to my legs, my reins or my body weight, she also keeps yanking, even if her reins are like washing lines, at the moment though she has started to drop her head at walk and standstill but she hasn't made anymore progress in the last month, infact she has probably got worse.
I am only 12 so sorry if i have done anything wrong but please can you give me any tips on how to improve things.
Ellie
Answer Hi Ellie
No you have not done anything wrong at all! Thanks for getting in touch and I will try and help solve the problem.
Exmoors are not the easiest horses to ride, I used to have one............... stubborn is their middle name!
Ok you have only had her a couple of months, and before that on trial, and she was ok......... so we have to go back to the start and see where things have gone a bit astray.
Firstly do you play any ground games with her, or do any schooling in the arena with her at all? If not then do some, theres lots of helpful hints and tips on the BHS website about games to play and this might be something you could do to reinforce the bonding process. Thats whats needed here first.
She knows she has to trust you and you have to be able to trust her, and thats not quite there right now.
As for ignoring your legs and hands then she hasn;t been taught these signals I doubt, thats something you can work on. Some schooling would not go amiss here, and she is still a baby in horse terms, still learning her job, so maybe back to the start and begin again the way you want her to be.
She is a bit confused still about the change in surroundings, probably, think if you were taken away from home and put in with strangers, you would feel confused as well, thats her right now, it takes time to settle in.
Just playu some games, some schooling and then start riding her oout again, I know it sounds boring, but believe me this will pay off in the long term, time and patience you invest inow will bring big rewards.
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