In my previous post What if your horse doesn\’t like arena work I already mentioned that the first step is to find out the reason why.
If you can exclude physical reasons like pain from the saddle, medical reasons like hoof cracks or maybe an unskillful (or rude) rider and so on, you can look for solutions to make your horse more happy in the arena.
What floats his boat?
It is obvious: positive reinforcement (+R) of course. This way of training will make your horse more eager to work for you. With +R you will trigger your horses brain. He has to find out what made him earn that bridge signal (paired with a lovely reward). He will be challenged to think. Horses like that. Really they do!
Variation
If your horse gets bored in the arena because everything you do is very predictable, try something new. If you always ride him, try some at liberty work, long reining or horse agility. Variety is the spice of life.
Use more positive reinforcement to create a better association with the arena or \’work\’ he has to do. Change your Rate of Reinforcement, your treats or your exercises. Raise your criteria (slowly). Trick training is a lot of fun.
Challenge your horse and do something crazy together like \’101 things to do with a cardboard box\’. You can bridge & reward him for every new exercise he comes up with: touch the box with his nose, left hoof, right hoof, kick it forward, play fetch with it, shake it and so on. Don\’t bridge a second time for the same idea.
Give him a ball (small or huge) to play with, or to wake his curiosity. Make sure he is not afraid of it.
Relax time
Don\’t forget: there is a time to work and a time to play. Do nice relaxing activities in the arena.
I like to let Kyra roll before we ride in the indoor arena on a rainy day (she loves rolling in hog fuel when she has a wet coat) or after our ride.
If your horse likes to be groomed, groom him more often in the arena. Spend time scratching his favourite spots. Watch a video about TTouch or horse massage and try if your horse likes that.
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Feed him in the arena. If you have an outdoor arena where patches of grass grow, let him find them. So he can display his exploration behaviour.![\"_positive](\"https://hippologic.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/positive-associations-with-arena_hippologic.jpg\")
What do you do to create variation or make the arena more appealing to your horse? Share it in the comments!
Sandra Poppema
For tailored positive reinforcement training advise, please visit my website and book a free intake consult!
It’s great to read your blog, really helpful & reassuring to me that I seem to be going in the right direction with Billy ???? he usually likes a roll before we start sessions, sometimes straight after a roll he will squeal & buck a bit before trotting over to me ready & waiting for his cue. He’ll do a mixture of things & seems to enjoy agility obstacles, especially his curtain to go under! We seem to be getting better at moving up & down with energy levels & we need to work on duration. My next challenge is to ride again & hopefully enjoy this as much as we enjoy our groundwork. Thanks so much for your sharing your knowledge & experiences x
Thanks Rhonda for sharing. Duration can be a challenge to work on! I have written a post on introducing a Keep going signal: https://hippologic.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/how-to-keep-going/
PS If you want a free 30 minute intake with me go to https://clickertraining.ca or send me an email at hippologic@clickertraining.ca