Advice for schooling and bitting a strong horse who evades contact? - also in CR

[JustMe22]

Hi,

So this is not one of my horses but a friend's who I ride a bit. Hoping to maybe sit on him a bit more over holidays and try and fix some of these issues, because for now it's an occasional thing what with lectures, assignments, my horse and a few jobs.

He's 15 and a Boerperd, and generally a very sweet little horse, doesn't have a nasty bone in his body. Show jumped a bit before he came to his present owner who is focusing mostly on flatwork/dressage at the moment.

However. After canter he tends to get very strong in that he leans on your hands, drops behind the vertical and doesn't want to come back to a slow canter or transition downwards into a trot.
He also does this obscure thing of throwing forward his inside front leg when you do come from a canter to a trot, regardless of how good the transition is otherwise (also does it on the lunge).

He also still over reacts to the leg and shoots away from it and gets very fast and unbalanced if you use too much of it (I think partly because his regular rider doesn't use much leg and he now protests to it ) so I've been doing some lateral work and spiralling to try and get him used to the idea that my leg will stay there regardless of what he does.

I have tried dropping the contact a few times esp in canter but it seems to make little difference to his strongness. There's also the problem of him getting too deep. So I suppose in summary his big issue is that he gets too tank-like especially after cantering, and bringing him back down to a trot/walk is difficult, especially as he then pulls on your hands, ducks behind the bit and just tries to continue at a canter.

So now the logical step would seem to be to get him to take the contact down and forward, right? So that he's working forward into it? He can work on a long rein and initially he gets less tense like this but he doesn't stretch very well. But how can I try and fix the tanking and evading the contact?

I fear this has been very badly phrased...so thank you for reading and any advice welcome!

 

[HorseGirl18]

i was going to say to give the reins, but you've already tried that! do you constantly play with you hands? if not use one or 2 fringers and squeeze them lightly on the reins constantly. that should release his jaw and he will relax. this may slow him down, and then do half halts and use your voice to get him down to trot with your hands fairly low.

this is wat im doing at the mo

 

[ScarlettLady]

Guessing he's had a back check etc. regarding the issue of that front leg?

 

[LittleBlackMule]

Providing any issues such as teeth, back pain, pinching saddle have been ruled out, I'd try putting him in a hackamore to break the habit.

 

[blitznbobs]

Try bending him laterally from one bend to the other... Even if it is just his neck... This doesn't allow him to set..,

 

[JustMe22]

HorseGirl - I do play with my ring fingers to keep him soft, and have tried half halting him, but it seems to make no difference :/

He can bend from one side to the other, I've been working on that as he was quite stiff initially but it's improved quite a lot. He just seems to drop behind the vertical and tank a bit. The only way I can get some sort of a reaction at the moment is to lift my hands quite high and give one pull upwards, but it's not pretty/stylish nor as effective as I would like.

He has had saddle checked etc, and I've mentioned the chiro to the owner because to me he feels like he's stiff through his pelvis esp in canter, but he's always done the throwing front inside leg thing, and it's only in canter-trot...feels almost like something a very green horse would do, only he's not that unbalanced really. We will get the chiro to him, but atm it's an added expense though might get her out to check my boy over so maybe we can split travel

I have actually considered a hackamore but don't know anybody off hand who I could borrow one from...do you think it's likely to make him less strong though?

 

[scarymare]

I've just brought a nathe cheltenham gag - think it was Neue Slue. What a difference - got 65% in my Novice test with loads of canter - also has given me jumping brakes too. Obviously I only ride in it occasionally on the flat but it honestly was like the penny dropped for him (he's 6 and has been strong since I had him broken), now I can canter down hill on hacks (in the bit) and he's just getting better and better - finger tips too no more sawing!

 

[jumpthemoon]

Have you tried lifting your hands when he goes behind the vertical? Don't hang on to his mouth, but don't drop the contact either, just make sure you aren't pulling as much as he is. Then when he goes behind the vertical just lift your hands about 6 inches, then when he picks his head up, move them back into the correct place. Don't forget to use your leg then to push him forward and get him to come through from behind.

Also, if possible, I would get an instructor to give you a hand, maybe have a couple of lessons with someone reputable. It's very difficult to advise without seeing what's happening Good luck.

 

[bumblelion]

Have you thought about a kineton noseband?

 

[LittleBlackMule]

I have actually considered a hackamore but don't know anybody off hand who I could borrow one from...do you think it's likely to make him less strong though?

It's not really a matter of making him less strong, more breaking the habit of evasion he has got into. When bad riding has caused a horse to say "no", they can retain that defensiveness regardless of what bit is used.
He can't evade a hackamore the way he can with a bit, but you will retain the control, so you can use it to re-educate him into the correct way of going. Then when he is consistent you can re-introduce a bit.

 

[Brandy]

Do you mean he tucks his head in and carries on regardless? My welsh got into this habit, mostly through my own fault I have to admit! He also shoots off the leg, or even a voice aid to canter, and I was hanging onto him. He carries his head naturally well, and the more I held the more he tucked in and went fast.

The solution came by continuing to use my leg aids, but preparing better for transitions. Also once in canter, got out of the saddle, off his back, and gave him the rein. He COULDN'T pull as I wasn;t holding him. It was fairly miraculous (though as I was a little nervy, quite difficult to get myself to do) We continued to whizz for a bit, but he would soon settle to a nice steady canter that I could work with, I culd then pick the reins back up and sit.