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The first thing I always did with a horse that was stiff, was Natural Horsemanship on the ground. Just getting them to bend, flex, and interact with you, was always the number one priority for me. For a horse with a resistant head, I would put a rope halter on them and, pulling and releasing, bring their head down to touch the ground. My horse’s always responded really well to the Natural Horsemanship training, and I never really had a problem with them.

When you’re on him, do a lot of suppling and exercises that encourage him to step through his back and flex. It takes a while for them to catch on, but by flexing them and allowing them to stretch, they are loosening up any stiff muscles. Make sure that after you ride, you do the same stretches, though. It’s just like people – you need to stretch before and after the workout.

He’s just a baby. Just be patient with him! With any young horse, it’s all about repetition, repetition, repetition. The more you do with him, the better he’ll get. Good luck!!

He may need to go back to basics. Working in a round pen is great for starting green horses. I have always started my horses in round pens using which ever method you prefer.

If you don’t have access to a round pen and you are able to ride him, again go back to the basics.
Start at a walk with suppling exercises, do circles, diagonals-make sure you are not pulling through his mouth. Gradually work your way to the trot and canter.

I had the opportunity to board my horse once with a man who trained show horses for the Royal Winter Fair and the best piece of advice I took away-"If they can’t do it at a walk, don’t expect them to do it at a trot or canter."

Green horses need "miles". Meaning plenty of work both ground and riding and plenty of patience which I am sure you have!

Id start again with him – get him going forward on the lunge or in the round pen on both reins – this should help loosen him out and get him rebalanced.

When you ride him to plenty of figures of 8s and serpentines – basically anything that will get him flexing nicely and plenty of work on both reins.

Are you sure his teeth are ok by the way? Just him sticking his head in the air could be his way of telling you something is amiss.. they might just need rasping – just have a look see anyway.

xx

What bit are you using? As another member mentioned, it could be his teeth or it could be the bit you’re using. He could be very soft in the mouth and the cues you are giving could be painful or shocking. The tossing of the head is usually a sign of discomfort, not necessarily behavior issues. I had a 4 year old Tennessee Walker I was riding for a woman. The first time I went to ride him, she handed me a brand new bridle and saddle she had purchased for him and the bit was curb. I asked her if he’d been ridden in a curb before and she assured me that he had. I tacked him up, took him to the arena, and when I went to get on him, the moment I touched the reins he flew backward out from under me. I thought maybe he was just sour about mounting, so I finally climbed up onto him and once I did, I touched the reins again and he started to backpedal like a mad horse. I dropped the reins and gave him leg pressure and he was tossing his head. I let the reins go and rode him around the arena with legs only. Come to find out he was incredibly broke, going on leg cues only, but the bit she’d been told he was ridden in was wrong. It was too hard for his mouth and he refused to listen to my cues.

I would try a softer bit, like an O-ring snaffle, and see if it makes a difference? Riding in circles and getting him to work off of leg pressure is key. I was riding a green broke APHA gelding the other day, thought he was ready to go out on a little trail ride, and ended up eating dirt because he just wasn’t ready and wasn’t responding to my cues well enough.

Confidence is key to riding a green horse. You can’t leap up on them and go. The most imporant thing to do is repeat, repeat, repeat. Do boring stuff at first, things you might find pretty slow, but if you can get the horse to work quickly and efficiently off cues, you know you’re safe. A green horse is just a horse that hasn’t had much riding. They have to do the same thing over and over again to be considered ‘broke’. The only difference between a bomb-proof horse and a green broke horse is time in the saddle. =) Good luck! Always wear a helmet.

LOTS of patience…………….

Megan seemed to know what to do to fix her horse, looks like she has been giving him an underarming lesson to get the head down and slack in the reins. Now if she rides him and tries to keep him light in the bridle she may have him on the way to being a great trained horse. You might try method it looks like it worked.