How do i make my pony pay attention to me?

HelpMe!: How do i make my pony pay attention to me?
Ive been rding this pony for 2 years now, and for the past few weeks hes started spooking at EVERYTHING, speeding off randomly.
how to i get him to pay attention?
hes about 7 (maybe less) years old.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Victoria.
Dont let him look anywhere other than the ground or in front of him, get spirs and kick him if he doesnt want to pay attention.

Answer by Stephaniieee =]
how old is the pony?
my old pony acted like that when he started going blind..
=//
if there’s no possibility of that, then you need to keep a light contact with his mouth and make him move forward energetically. try things like circles and serpentines to get his attention. ask for lots of transitions (walk to canter, trot to halt, canter to walk etc)

hope this helps and good luck!

Answer by Wing
Give him something to do and don’t let him get away with stuff if possible.

Try keeping light, frequent contact with his mouth. When you have a feel of his mouth, play with your reins gently by lightly squeezing your fingers. Also, keep him bent through turns and not spacing outside the ring. You could also try patting and talking to him when hes being good. If he’s constantly listening to you, he won’t spook! 🙂

Oh, maybe do some circles, serpentines, and other flat patterns like figure eights? Those will keep him thinking for sure. I guess the idea is to just not let him space out! If he knows whats coming, he’s more likely to wander off into outer space and spook.

Answer by Snoop
Don’t keep contact with the reins. LOOSE reins is best. Why? Because when a rider is constantly in a horse’s mouth (it’s very easy to overuse the reins this way)….you’re basically telling the horse, pressure doesn’t mean anything because it’s constant.

It’s like if you were in a room with someone who was touching your shoulder. At first you’d look to that person, wonder what that person wanted….but if the person said nothing and just kept a hand on your shoulder, you’d learn to ignore it (if you saw that you had no other choice). So, if you’re always in your pony’s mouth, soon your pony learns to ignore you.

And this is part of your problem already. Why your horse speeds off randomly and starts spooking. Because you are not being a leader, you’re just being a passenger in the saddle, not leading, but reacting to your pony.

Turn that around.

Your pony doesn’t need to be punished (that post about get the spurs…um. no. don’t do that. worst thing you can do is punish a horse when he’s scared. It’s not horsmanship at all to mistreat a horse like that).

Your pony simply needs something else to do. Give him a job. Practice One Rein Stops to get rid of the speeding off thing.

1) go forward
2) roll your hips and pick up ONE rein (use a snaffle bit, no shanks, only)
3) bend his head around AND if you pick up the left rein, tell that left hip to move to the right, the back feet cross and the horse stops = release the rein
4) repeat with the other side/other rein
5) practice til you can stop your horse by simply rolling your hips and starting to pick up the rein.

For the spooking, do serpentines (the same as the one rein stop, only difference is that you release the rein when the horse turns…bends his head around and moves the hip over….release the rein then…if you keep holding the rein and don’t release, he’ll stop)

Ask him to speed up, stop, back up five steps, turn left, turn right, move his shoulders to the left, to the right…etc etc… etc…

If you act more like a leader and give him things to do….more productive things AND you are fair about it..that means, no yanking on the reins, no pulling back (only take out the slack), no spurs!, no punishment,…. instead you are Active not reactive….

Then he can change. But he can’t change unless you do.

You can’t make a horse pay attention, you can guide him and teach him and tell him what you want by using pressure and release of pressure fairly.

Have a lesson plan. Don’t just get on him and go in a straight line, or hold him back with the reins (worst thing you can do)….. but give him something to do.

Also…

Make sure that his saddle fits and isn’t pinching him, or that his teeth have been checked by a vet (at least once a year), and that he isn’t otherwise hurting….pain can cause a horse to start spooking “all of a sudden”…..he’s trying to find a release from the pain….So, be sure that its not pain in any way.

Answer by Irish Witch
You need to figure out what is making him spook first of all. If there is a certain place where he acts up, then lead him through it and show him that it isn’t scary. Also when he starts to spook, relax deeply in the saddle and speak soothingly to him. Usually a horse spooks because they’re reacting to what you’re doing in the saddle. If you tense up (even if it’s to adjust your weight or something innocent like that), the horse will react and start to freak out.

Horses react to what you’re doing. You are their way of telling if something is safe or if they should start to panic. Horses figure that if you’re not freaking out, then they don’t have to either.

If you’re riding him and he stops listening to you, give him something new to do. I ride a horse that gets bored and she stops in the middle of the ring. When I start to notice she’s not listening, I ask her to trot or make circles or something different. Another method I learned (not always the best one though. It depends on your pony) is the check and release method. When you notice your pony isn’t paying attention, give a quick, light check on the reins (not enough to stop him, but enough to remind him that you’re on his back). Again, this may not work for you, and it’s not a good thing to use all the time. For the horse that gets bored, I also carry a riding crop and when I notice she’s getting bored I tap the crop against my boot to remind her that I’m here and in charge.

Also try lunging your pony before you ride him to get the ‘piss and vinegar’ out of him.
Good luck!