Need Advice…

[TBigLug]

I’ve got a 9 y/o Belgian gelding. He works good while he’s under motion. Plods along at a nice slow pace. Will work all day and never run out of energy. The problem I’m having with him is, when I stop him to rest he gets really fidgety and jumpy like he’s waiting to get lit up. Lips at the lines and just gets really nervous. He doesn’t bolt when he starts back up he just won’t stand still.

Has anyone else ever had a horse that did this? What can I check or adjust to calm him down?

I work him with a straight bar with a slow twist pulling fairly light loads. I bought a Kimberwick to try on him but with going into harvest season I haven’t had time to use him in it. My g/f has ridden him with the Kimberwick and he responded well to it but I don’t know if it will make a difference while he’s in harness instead of under saddle. He might have worked better with the Kimberwick under saddle because it was something new to keep his mind occupied.

[Ira]

Steady daily work is probably the surest method. When he is standing do you tie the lines so that he can’t flop his head around to much?

[Gabe Ayers]

I suspect these are habits that he developed from his last owner or some earlier owner. Usually the horse knows the situation they are in. If he is on a loose evener, meaning dragging a double tree around he may suspect he is going to be hooked tight, like at a pulling contest.

Does he do the same thing on a pole or tongue?

Ira is right though, more work and lots of rewards by stopping them when they are doing perfect and rewarding the work with rest or whoa. The greatest reward for any beast of burden is cessation of demand. It may take a while before they get over the annoying habits, like mouthing the check line. I have seen lots of horses do this at pulls and even saw people put barbed wire on the line to attempt to stop the mouthing. Maybe some stop chew would help, like the stuff they use on stalls to stop cribbing. I don’t recommend the barbed wire because if it was me I would get myself caught on that and it is just another pain to put on and deal with every time you harness.

The point is that this is a habit that came with the horse, probably and it may be hard to break. The only chance is to change his life experience through many repeated positive reinforcement experiences and teaching him he can be calm and rest when he has a chance. Hard to to if you just work them part time.

It is just a nervous twitch reaction to some experience in the past.

Let us know how you deal with it.

It is dangerous in that the horse can pull the lines through the hame line ring and then when you pick up the lines the spreader buckle could be on the wrong side of the ring from the fidgeting mouthing of the line and you will not have any control pulling back against the horses shoulder and not his mouth.
You can put a ring on the driver side of that hame line ring and stop it from being pulled through. It takes the exact size ring and is again another piece of equipment to keep up with, but could save a run away.

[TBigLug]

@Ira 3420 wrote:

Steady daily work is probably the surest method. When he is standing do you tie the lines so that he can’t flop his head around to much?

This summer he was worked 4-5 days a weekfor a couple hours at least. One of the advantages of being unemployed was having more time for the horses. I don’t tie the lines to anything. He does it just standing at rest for a minute while working.

BW-
He does it on a pole along with just eveners. I do have a ring so he can’t pull the buckle through. Grandpa had one run away on him during an obstacle course a couple years back so ever since we made sure to lock it down. I’ve tried the reward thing. Stopping them every hundred feet while dragging their tires but it just seemed to exacerbate the problem. Maybe come Spring he’ll calm down when we’re plowing. This year he did really good all Spring but, once we pulled him the first time he got a little worse. Then after the second pull a little worse. Now while training for our last pull in Ovid and ever since he’s gotten to where it’s no fun to use him anymore. Maybe his mind will reset a little over winter.

[Ira]

I was thinking more along the lines of 8 or 9 hours a day. 🙂 Did your Girl friend use an open bridle when she rode him? If she did I would try working him that way.
Also when he is standing I would tie the lines short enough so that he can’t get hold of them. Had a horse once that would chew thru the lines in the course of a week if you didn’t.

[near horse]

Hi All,
I have a pair of 5 year old Belgian geldingd that do the same thing – fuss and fidget with the lines, rub their heads on each other,…. only when at rest and it starts almost immediately after stopping. Thes guys are “all business” when at work but don’t have the best ground manners – when tied and haltered. I wonder if it is related to early training (or lack of it) – in other words, they were hurried into harness without being adequately schooled in appropriate basic behavior. Just a thought and some empathy.

[Rod]

I have the same problem and am interested in any replies.

[Michael Colby]

I’ve had several horses here that did the same thing. My solution? Heavier load and more work. I built a pretty heavy breaking sled that has cured most of them of this habit. Every time they get dancing/prancing feet, I ask them to keep moving the feet in the direction/manner that I want. We repeat as necessary until they figure out that “whoa” doesn’t just mean a stop, but a rest and break, too. If they’ve got a good head on their shoulders, they’ll figure it out soon enough.

[Author]

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