[IIIBarsV]

lmao about the hairdryer. That's a riot.

I love arabians. I trained one who had some behavioral issues (again, boredom, and a big ADHD-like playdrive). His mother is a bit of a livewire. I have mostly lazy quarter horses here... so after he'd been here for a month, the tail started going down, the head started coming down, he eventually stopped spooking at shadows and snorting. A friend of mine boarded his half-sister (another owner who has a whole bunch of arabians) here too for a summer. Same thing happened... the arabians settled right down.

The funniest thing was when the mare went home- suddenly it was like she remembered she was an Arabian. The gelding, who's been home getting about 6 lbs of oats and sweet feed per day and has been ridden a grand total of twice in the last year and a half, is now back to his normal goofy, flippy, prancy, snorty self. He's also started cribbing. I'm saving my money this summer and buying him as soon as I have enough (after college fees). He'd be amazing in the Purebred Sport classes, dressage, western pleasure, hunter. Being a superfat pasture ornament is no life for him.

I do know one Anglo arabian who is a bit of a schizo. He's gorgeous, rides beautifully, and is about 7 or 8 years old now... but every so often he'll just pitch a fit, blow up... most noticeably when the rider relaxes and lowers her guard. Last summer I was a judging a small riding club that has some low hunter o/f classes, and she was there, doing the 2'6 class and the horse was doing great. She was the last rider and for the first half of the course, got all her leads, made the strides, and was having a really perfect ride.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the horse slams on the brakes less than a stride away from the next jump, veers off to the side and spins around, tries to take off in the other direction! Usually you can see a refusal coming, especially from the ground 20 feet away- but even I didn't see that one coming. It was like he either made the decision split-second or was careful not to give any signs that he was thinking he wasn't going to do it. He is an insanely unpredictable horse- you never know when he's going to blow up- and really, there's no cause for it, it doesn't happen consistently or ever for the same reasons. It's like jack-in-the-box.

Personally, I wouldn't put up with that sort of horse- way too dangerous, and sometimes that is just how they "are"- they learned it worked once, so they keep going with it- and really, there is no way to prevent it or correct that sort of sneakiness. I'd choose my big grey who was trying to outright stomp us and bite us than a sneaky horse, any day. At least Ben was *OBVIOUS*.

[Bruce Wiley]

Originally Posted by wyldterv

He's being a normal BORED Arabian... seriously, when Arabs get bored they LOOK for things to 'do' to make themselves NOT bored any longer.... You generally don't want to school the same thing more then a few minutes at a time or more then a few times in a row because they go 'yah, yah, I GET it, Now let's see what can catch my interest instead'... and that's when you get the "OMG did you SEE that REALLY HORRIBLE SCARY SHADOW MONSTER IN THE RIGHT NORTH CORNER OF THE ARENA THAT I JUST NOW NOTICED?????"

Maturing may or may NOT dimish this, I find that the best thing to do is engage their brains fully so they don't have time to think outside the box

Yes, yes, yes.
This characteristic of the arab needs challenging tasks to do.
Something he can earmark as...I want to do it, I must do it.
It is for his own gratification.
The handler,trainer must learn, understand how to incorporate, using these expressions at certain moments, keeping the horse interest up & involve in the learning process.

This will take abit of time but, sit back, observing this great horse.
I am sure, you will be able to discover how to use the behavior in your training efforts- they love lot of games & they want to win at any game.
I hope this helps.

[Liberty's Gal]

Originally Posted by horseguy

Arabians have a reputation. You don’t see any on a polo field in the US. A friend of mine, a top polo horse trainer, started to teach one to play polo on a bet. After three weeks he just paid off the bet because it was easier.

A few years after that someone organized a trip to Egypt to play polo at he Alexandria Polo Club, which apparently is a pretty nice club. I didn’t go, but another friend of mine did, and when he returned I was shocked to hear that all the horses there were Arabians. Further more he told me they were great at the game.

Long story short, it’s always 100 degrees there and the sun beats down all the time. It cooks their brains. So, as it turns out, the Arabians are the only horse that can stay focused in such intense unrelenting heat. That was the day I finally “got” Arabians. They are bred for a climate much different than ours. They are like the opposite of polar bears that sleep all ay at the zoo because it is too warm for them.

Solution: get a hairdryer with a real long cord, put it on high, and ride with it pointed right at the top of your horse’s head. This will simulate the intense Egyptian sun… just kidding. My not so humorous answer is to examine why you have an Arabian. Every breed is not for every rider. Also, if you continue, work with someone who knows the breed.

I respect many of your posts Horseguy so I will take this one very t.i.c. which is I am sure the way you meant it.

I am very sure that I want an Arabian and I think my horse will make a great all around performance horse for me to dabble in various disciplines with which is what my plans for him are. Trying to turn me anti-Arab is really a lost cause Now that I know Denali is just gettting bored it looks like I need to be more pro-active to keep things fresh and new for him.

I should also mention I looked at a pb Arab to buy that had spent several sucessful years on the polo field. Whooops, guess I should have told his trainer that having an arab playing polo just wasn't possible. He was a great horse with a fun personality he just didn't have the confo I was looking for in a dressage horse.

[Bruce Wiley]

Originally Posted by Liberty's Gal

So my horse isn't crazy. He's just being an Arab and he is telling me he is bored?
Can anyone give me tips about how to keep lunging fresh and interesting for him? He still needs lunge work to build his top line and his canter is still challenged but I guess he is probably getting really bored with it which is why he is getting a little "manic". What can I add in to keep it fresh for him?

Be sure to maintain his energy source with good supplement feeds, Vet & farrier check ups.

Exercises...do your normal lunging, but with a... to the point intention, so he can notice, he is in the school of learning.
Start with flexing, getting his back to round upward.
Use both of your hands, fingers and doing this all at the same time, grabbing some of his skin underneath & holding the skin until his back raises and round up.You should hold for 3 seconds, then release his skin.
You only need to do this for some few times.
Include more disengagement, backing up & side passing work.
Small hills can be a big aid, going up & down the hill.
Hopefully the horse discovers how to shift it's weight.
You may need to help him to get this concept by only releasing him
when he gets each step correctly.
Do it a few times, then stop, so he can recieve his reward, getting nothing but rest and allowing him to process, what he did & what just happen, in his mind.


You may need to shorten some lunging days with new interests, mixing the old routine with mental training, which is more taxiing on the horse's mind.
Mental work seen to be a calming effect on horses, because they have to really studied, focus.
Use barrels...you want to teach the horse to move the barrel with it's feet, or nose.
You want to teach on the concept of monkey see & monkey do.
Horses are great observes of things, patterns.
You must show your horse by moving the barrel with your feet.
You may need to do until he get it.
At a later date, you can make the horse think, you move the barrel with your nose. Its all in the positionning, giving a side view of what you're doing & your hand is the real cause of the moving barrel.
Sometimes ask for his feet to move the barrel and then do something else and come back much later, and ask him to more the barrel with nose or head.
It about getting the horse to think & react correctly.
I hope this helps & keep us posted.

[horseguy]

Originally Posted by Liberty's Gal

I respect many of your posts Horseguy so I will take this one very t.i.c. which is I am sure the way you meant it.

Yeah, teasing Arabian lovers is just too tempting. Regarding polo, there is tournament polo and “club” polo. You see a few Arabians, even draft crosses, and I once saw a mule in club polo, but that level of polo would be like comparing beer league softball to organized baseball with major and minor league teams etc. It’s all TBs there, Argentine, American, British TBs.

As for trying to turn anybody “anti Arab”, no. What I said was “examine why you have an Arabian”. Breeds have distinct characteristics. Sometimes people make decisions because they are uninformed about those characteristics. I knew a big heavy fellow once who bought a full Belgium that was a great horse, because he was a big guy with a need for a big horse and he wanted to learn how to ride and ultimately foxhunt. He learned to ride and ended up swearing at that nice horse all the while in the hunt because it was just too slow. Well, duh. You are not going to keep up with a bunch of fast TBs on a full draft.

So seriously, why do you have an Arabian? If you said because you plan to do competitive trail or endurance riding I’d say smart choice. That’s what I would own if I did that. (I did it years ago on a great App and got real tired of the Arabs beating us.) If you said because they are so beautiful, I’d say yeah but what are you going to do, look at the horse all the time? Get a painting of an Arabian, they don’t eat costly hay and grain.

It’s all about appropriateness with horses. If it’s not, something is wrong. You might say, well I don’t have any money and someone gave me their horse. But still if it is not appropriate, trade the horse do something, and get an appropriate horse. I said this on another topic but if I have to pick one thing that has changed on the horse world over the past 50 years it is this question of appropriateness. There are way too many mismatched horses and riders today. You see tiny women with short legs on huge warmbloods, people whipping nice quiet draft crosses in the hunt field to keep up, and people who have very little time to ride selecting a breed that requires regular riding of a challenging nature, something they simply cannot do.

It’s all about appropriateness. That is the real issue. Can you say that this horse, this breed, is right for what you can and plan to do? If the answer is yes, then you must do what is necessary in relation to the breed characteristics, which is why I said, “work with someone who knows the breed.”

[Jenje!]

We had this breed discussion back when LG was looking for a horse... she decided she wanted an Arabian to do dressage on.

My (USEF bronze medalist, mother flies all over the world giving clinics) dressage trainer just loves Arabians for the sport. We even have our own Sport Horse Nationals! I have done a bit of dressage on my mare, and am considering playing around at barrels with her while her filly is in training for reining in the next few years. There's a world of opportunity out there, open to the Arab.

[Liberty's Gal]

Originally Posted by Jenje!

We had this breed discussion back when LG was looking for a horse... she decided she wanted an Arabian to do dressage on.

My (USEF bronze medalist, mother flies all over the world giving clinics) dressage trainer just loves Arabians for the sport. We even have our own Sport Horse Nationals! I have done a bit of dressage on my mare, and am considering playing around at barrels with her while her filly is in training for reining in the next few years. There's a world of opportunity out there, open to the Arab.

Thanks Jenje!!! Yes I gave this decision a lot of thought and went and saw many horses of all sorts of breeds.

I am very happy with the Arabian breed and enjoy the opportunity to dabble in several different disciplines with my new gelding. Primarily he is my dressage horse but I also plan on doing a little hunter pleasure and maybe even costume and side saddle down the road on the AHA circuit. Do I expect greatness at all of them? Ummm, no. I am not and never will be a Grand Prix rider and I don't need a horse of that level either.

I am just trying to figure out his little quirks and what makes him tick so that we become a better team.

[morablogan]

I had a 5yr old morab gelding that was like that in the arena and turns out once he got outside he was very dangerous. That guy was a nutcase thats for sure. I don't think my guy had wires crossed he had them all cut and wired wrong. He was just like your guy inside but outside he was a fruitloop.

[Liberty's Gal]

Originally Posted by morablogan

I had a 5yr old morab gelding that was like that in the arena and turns out once he got outside he was very dangerous. That guy was a nutcase thats for sure. I don't think my guy had wires crossed he had them all cut and wired wrong. He was just like your guy inside but outside he was a fruitloop.

Believe me I will be watching him very closely for any dangerous behavior. So far nothing he is doing is dangerous. Spooky, yes but dangerous no. I WILL NOT tolerate owning a truly unsafe horse.

[dare2ride]

Great point! I like the dog analogy because it makes sence. my horse is not an arab -so im a little out of the loop lol, he is a 3/4TB 1/4QH and also seems to have major bordem problems. I am constantly haveing to come up with new stuff to do. (its kinda fun cause i get tired of the same old myself) for the most part he is a good boy-does everything i ask, when i ask- but when he was younger, especially, repitition made him mad or he would start to anticipate. He is great if you are not on a routine- change it up!!!!