Horse dislikes standing still?

How about walking her on the halter, with carrots or apples, or something tasty in your pocket, and when you stop, take her head, and keep it still, say 'stand', wait for however long, if she moves, walk her round in a circle until you regain your position, and eventually she will stay for 10 seconds, or 15, and then give her a treat. Then try 20, treat. Then 30, treat. Just continue doing that, see how it goes, she needs to know that your not going to give in, as the pack leader, your commanding her to do it, dont say anything other than stand, as this will put her off, ir make her think it's okay:p, your gunna have to have patience etc.

Years ago a friend offered me her 5 yr old mare to ride. She was not around when I went over there. Tacked up the mare, took her to the mounting block, went to get on and she walked on. Repeated process until she stood, using verbal command and VERY gentle pressure on the reins. Praised her when she complies, dropping the reins and rubbing her over the withers.Pick up the reins Slowly, then use the command "walk on", (which most young horses shd. know from lunging). Told the owner who said "o she's always like that, she cant stand still"!!.

Next time, she stood on about the second try. Out hacking and in the school made her stand, lengthening the time slowly, always repeating the exercise calmly til she responded, and then praising her. After a few weeks she would stand for ages.

Later I worked on an Arab stud, and the horses (including stallions) had all been trained to stand .

I always consider this a Basic for horsemanship, well worth doing it. Just make sure your signals are clear. And you need to be able to do it for safety.

Persevere, you'll get there! I was lucky enough to be brought up with horses, and ,like you,have studied a bit of all the different types of training. You can take what suits you and your horse from them as I dont believe any of these "methods" have the perfect answer to everything.

Good luck. Patience is the key!

This is frustrating problem, but it's not hard to fix. I'm thrilled that you do NH...so do I! :)

When your horse fidgets---that is, moves his feet around---you want to make him move around MORE. First try leading him in a tight circle or two and see if that convinces him; if it doesn't, send him out around you for a couple circuits at a trot, like longeing. (Your lead rope should be at least 12 feet long for this.) What you are doing is using reverse psychology. You give him a choice between standing still or working, and since horses naturally seek comfort and ease, he is inevitably going to choose to stand still because it turns out to be easier.

Anytime your horse has trouble standing still, make him move more. Be consistent and calm. Don't lose your temper or punish him!. Just give him the options of standing still or working harder, and reward him with pats when he behaves. Good luck!

its not about disliking standing still. Its about wanting to move the whole time.and it does actually come down to ground manners. She wants to move her feet where and when she wants to regardless of what you want. You are in charge so you need to be the dictator of when she can go and when she must stay.by ignoring your attempts to keep her standing still she is being disrespectful and disregarding ur leadership from the ground.(ground manners) i dont know anything about natural horsemanship or unnatural horsemanship. To me its just plain horsemanship. Consistent predictable leadership.

So i would just simply apply some kind of pressure if she keeps moving and teach her the voice cue for standing still and if she gets it i will remove the pressure. Whether its smacking her in the chest,backing up or lighly restraining her with my hand or just squaring my shoulders. Whatever works and gets the right reaction. So long as its understandable by the horse.

Alternatively she may be overfed and underworked.

It's just training, or actually the lack of training.

Any horse can learn to stand still. In carriage driving, the horse's most important gait is "stand!" As your great-grandmother, 97 years old and not quite steady on her feet, tries to step down from your carriage, the last thing you want the horse to do is to suddenly move forward three inches. Carriage horses (properly trained) will ignore flies and all sorts of distractions as they just stand and stand and stand. Riding horses can do the same.

Horses are living, breathing animals, so yes, they are bound to not keep still. Arabs usually have lots of energy, but all horses are naturally claustrophobic and their instinct is to be able to flee from ‘danger’ they may see or feel. When brushing her or tacking her up, try tying her to her haynet - this will distract her and give her something else to think about that she enjoys. Sorry, this is all i know.