Horse Riding Heavy on the Bit. Advice?
I have a 23 year old Irish Sport Horse. He was a grand prix level dressage eventer back in his day.
He relies very heavily on my hand to hold his head. When I ask for a canter, he leans into the bit, and plows right through it into a jarring hallow backed canter. I ride him in a normal snaffle usually. The other day I rode him in a kimberwick, thinking I could keep him slowed down and maybe he would carry his head himself. He gave me a very nice collected canter for about six or so strides, then extended his stride to a gallop, which took him about seven goes around my arena before I could get him slowed down. I’m not sure what was used on him in the past, but I don’t want to go any harsher then a kimberwick. How can I teach him to start carrying his own head, and stay collected at the canter instead of trying to run the derby?
Emma Morton- I think someone used a harsh bit on him, and really held his head. I really don’t think jerking him would even get him to stop really.
He is honestly the most willing horse I have ever been on, and we will do anything I ask of him. I don’t think this is necessarily a behavior he adopted to get out of doing something I want him to do. Like mentioned below, I think he was trained this way. I just have no idea how someone rode him, or for what purpose he was ridden like that. I don’t think I an being harsh with my hands either, because he does this with everyone.
GG – Please do tell me more. I will absolutely adopt this into his workout routine. After the warmup, how long is the actuall workout usually? How long should I expect him to keep his collected frame at first, and how should I increase it over time?
Also, GG. A friend of mine was on him, and I’m not sure what she did but he did a levade. I think he was backing her into a gate, and she smacked him on the wither to get his attention. Not sure what she did with leg. I’m curious, what is the proper way to ask for a levade? I had no idea he could even do this, and I nearly fell out of my chair. I have no plans of asking this of him. She wants to know what she did as much as I do. I think its about time to get a pro trainer to come to us, instead of me using their schooling horses.
You need to develop trust (had to rewrite over original text)
So, have a long rein when you mount the horse, Walk him forward and think about maintaining a neutral seat in the walk, so a seat that moves with his movement, allowing him to relax into the walk and relax into his long rein. When you are in the corners of the school, lower your hands to just below the wither and close the fingers of the outside rein, then, at the same time that you apply a small amount of pressure through each calf muscle, open the fingers of the outside rein and send that outside hand forward. It may take a few corners to start with, but you will find that when you do this, he will stretch down into the longer, lower contact. You don’t want him to tuck his chin into his chest…just down and out. Do this is walk for 5 minutes, then trot for 5, walk for 5, trot for 5, canter for 3, trot for 2, walk for 2, canter for 3, trot for 2, walk for 5….that’s your warm up.
Now, to start with….and do this the next time you ride. I want you to keep that long contact. Long means a long rein, not a loose rein, ride him still in this long contact in the walk and I want you to think about halting him with your seat only. The first few times, you’ll need to block with the rein, so think of closing the fingers and stopping the movement of your hand to a blocking contact. At the same time, you need to imagine tilting your pelvis forward (think of sticking your bum out) and bringing your shoulders back. It’s a bit like arching your back. You tilt the pelvis forward which is a stopping seat and keeping the shoulders back ensures that your body does not tip forward with your pelvis. Your horse will…even if it takes a couple of strides, come to a halt. The instant he halts, you give the rein by properly moving your hand up his neck to allow both reins to become loose. This is his reward for that halt. Then, when you want to resume the walk, you should gather up the reins, again into the long contact, but your aid for the walk should be zero leg movement….think simply of tensing your calf muscle and applying enough pressure with the calves to trap….but not squash a fly. If he doesn’t move forward off this tiny little pressure, you must immediately use your schooling whip just behind the leg to reinforce with a quick sharp tap that you want him to move. If he goes into trot…let him. If he jumps forward, let him. You must never pull back on a horse that responds to any foward command. Instead, when he moves forward, give with the inside rein to reward his forward movement. When the walk is established, ask for the halt the same way and then repeat the walk aid with the tiny leg pressure again and I can almost guarantee that he will move off immediately. It is incredible how little pressure a horse needs to respond. But then…they can feel a fly land on their belly…so why do we need to do any more than just touch them to get them to move forward? After a few of these transitions, so long as your remember to conciously tilt the pelvis and keep the shoulders back, he will halt without the need for the rein.
This is when you achieve true trust between you and your horse. This is when you can take up a shorter contact, lift your hands to the working zone (2-4 inches above the wither in a 4inch square box…2 inches for working and extended paces, 3 inches for collected paces and 4 inches for piaffe, passage and canter pirouette). Stay very very light in your leg aids and always reward good work with the giving of the inside rein, keeping the outside rein constant.
Try assessing your lightness by trotting a 10m circle in for example, the F-A corner on the right rein of the school. Do the circle, and when you hit the centre line, maintain the flexion to the right, just enough to see the eye and nostril. Your left hand prevents over flexion and fall out of the shoulder. Bring your left leg back 3-4 inches and apply a very small amount of pressure until you get lateral movement to the right (half pass in this case). As soon as you get lateral movement, remove the pressure of the left leg. Only reapply that pressure when the lateral movement slows, but with this horse, it should be enough for him to just feel the position of your leg.
Those are just trust and bonding exercises. After a warm up, I would do 10-20 minutes work depending on the fitness, strength and maturity of the horse as you don’t want to pressure or stress them in any way.
The levade was most likely not a trained thing known to this horse, but a reaction to what it deemed as a bad situation and confusing aids from the rider. Horse like this…if they get leg and rein or seat aid that do not make sense together can literally flip out!
If you want more detail or more help with things you can do…email me at ca.bray@hotmail.com
This is gonna sound meen, but trust me my pony was the same way and this worked. Use the Kimberwick, and when he tries to plow his head down. Halt ASAP. Jerk his head up and back him up five steps. Then relax the pressure and try again. Be patiant. This is a long time habit that is gonna take a while to fix. And for stopping, if you are inside, turn his head into the wall. Let him hit his head. It wont hurt nearly as much as you think (that’s what my trainer says anyway), and after that first time, he probably will learn his lesson. Don’t blame him or yourself. He will learn with time and patiance.
In pro level horseback riding, that is how they train the horse, so the rider knows that they are going to go. He has been trained that way, so it will be very hard for you to retrain him. It would be a lot easier for your to get used to him, because untraining then retraining could take years, plus he is 23, so there isn’t really a point in doing that.
What you need to do is use the Kimberwick, sadly (I hate strong bits) and collect his stride. You have to half halt, but give little squeezes. He should collect very easily if you ask right, since he was a Prix Level horse. Then once he collects give him his head back, and when he starts to speed up, then collect. Eventually he will realize that is he is collected, and not speedy, then he will have his head, which will also help him pulling on the bit.
Since he is pulling on the bit, he could be pulling on it because you are pulling on him. Even if you think your light handed, he might think differently. See what happens when you give him his head for all the gaits. If does pull on you, then you probably aren’t heavy handed. If he doesn’t, then tighten up the reins to normal length, and see what happens. If he does pull, then you are probably heavy handed.
Also, be positive! Don’t reprimand him, as he was trained this way. You are asking for the change, so don’t be mad if he doesn’t get it.
Good Luck!
He’s just being lazy because he realizes the kimberwick makes him carry himself without leaning on you. Just either halt or go on a circle and lift your inside rein sharply and SIT UP. Don’t let him pull him down with you. But if he’s running off with you like that then go on a small circle until he stops. You can’t let him get away with that stuff when he knows what he’s supposed to be doing.
You could try and get him to work in self carriage by working him on a loose rein so he learns to balance himself.
You could also "shake" him off with your inside hand (wiggle your hand by giving and taking the rein slightly until he bends and then pat him with that hand – without taking your hand off the reins – so you are rewarding him for bending when you ask.
Bit wise – ever tried a beval snaffle also called a "super snaffle" – looks like this: http://www.horsebitbank.com/bevals-110.dhtml – it’s very popular in the showring and stops the horse from grabbing the bit and can help achieve a good, round outline.
Or even try a snaffle with a waterford mouthpiece.