I have a 13 year old morgan that I've been working with for about 4 months and just recently bought. I've been doing parelli with her, so lots of groundwork. She's great with groundwork; very calm and responsive. However, when I try and get on, it's very difficult to get on the mounting block without her swinging her hindquarters away or sidestepping. It usually takes me about 5-10 minutes to get on with her standing still and giving me position. Once I do get on, she acts very hyper and spooky even if I did lots of groundwork first. It takes a while to calm her down (15-20 min) and I have to do lots of circling. Even after that, she can get scared by the smallest thing, even if she's fine about it on the ground.
Also, she's a left brained introvert, so is very stubborn and food oriented. I think she would perform a lot better if I used treats to reward her, but whenever I have treats in my pocket or at hand she can smell them or something and will refuse to move away from me so she can stay near the treats. She does okay without treats but doesn't seem too excited about what she's doing, so treats as rewards might get her more engaged. I know it doesn't hurt her because she's had a vet check and went clear. Any advice?
And please no hating on parelli. I know that's what I want to do because it's already working wonders so it's no use telling me to give up on it.
She's broke to ride and has been for many years. Over the summer she wasn't worked for a while and that probably made things worse. Ladystang, I don't understand how your comment is supposed to help me in any way. I'm moving her soon to work with a trainer but I'd like to do some riding before that.
She was abused in her past but I'm not sure if it was during riding. She's been ridden a lot since then but recently took a long break. She's afraid of whips or crops when I ride, so that would only really make her scared.
Also, she's a left brained introvert, so is very stubborn and food oriented. I think she would perform a lot better if I used treats to reward her, but whenever I have treats in my pocket or at hand she can smell them or something and will refuse to move away from me so she can stay near the treats. She does okay without treats but doesn't seem too excited about what she's doing, so treats as rewards might get her more engaged. I know it doesn't hurt her because she's had a vet check and went clear. Any advice?
And please no hating on parelli. I know that's what I want to do because it's already working wonders so it's no use telling me to give up on it.
She's broke to ride and has been for many years. Over the summer she wasn't worked for a while and that probably made things worse. Ladystang, I don't understand how your comment is supposed to help me in any way. I'm moving her soon to work with a trainer but I'd like to do some riding before that.
She was abused in her past but I'm not sure if it was during riding. She's been ridden a lot since then but recently took a long break. She's afraid of whips or crops when I ride, so that would only really make her scared.