Advice needed please!

Lauren90 said:
Thanks Kat - I'll try the drop band and full cheeck with lozenge and see if that does anything to help her resistance. The work I was going to do tonight was purely getting her to accept the bit and then start walking, troting. Once we've mastered her listening and carrying herself correctly, dropping the bit severity may help her more - including using a full cheek with the lozenge link.
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I wouldn't worry about getting her to contact at this stage more, not to fight it. A bit of nose poking with no fighting is an improvement, as is a few strides of nice work followed by a head toss, then a bit of nose poking before a few more nice strides etc

Don't try to push things too fast, especially if she hasn't got the correct muscle yet as she will find it hard.

If you haven't got a full cheek with a double joint try a loose ring with a double joint. I wouldn't go for an eggbutt or hanging cheek if she leans, you probably want a bit more movement.

Also try giving her a polo before you start schooling :)
 
I spent about 40 minutes last night schooling in walk only, getting her to bend correctly and relax on a loose rein.

By the end of the session he had softened on the bit several times and out of the whole time we only a couple of very small head tosses, no dancing, or see awing on her legs.

It was well worth doing - we'll do the same again a few more times and then slowly incorporate trot for a few strides and back to walk etc. Purely focussing on these gaits only and build it up.

Thanks for your messages!
 
Lauren90 said:
Hi,
I have several issues. One being that in the school all she wants to do is canter from the slightest of leg aids and when I eventually do get trot she still pulls and want to canter. If I hold her in she shakes her head high and dances or sometimes jumps up on her back legs (only slight, not rearing). She's currently being schooled in a loop ring to give me breaks.

I took her out hacking and she was fine going out but coming back, in the same bit we had the dancing malarkey as she wanted to go! Despite me holding her she managed to canter and eventually take off in to a gallop only to get spooked by something and stop suddenly to me falling over her shoulder!
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Oh my god, It sounds like my mare, 100%, I've had her 11 yrs and she was completely mental when I first got her! My biggest piece of advice would be, don't fight with her, it only made my mare worse! If she bolted with me I would spend my whole time fighting to get her to stop, because I was scared, now I just let her go, give her, her head and then when I do ask her to slow down, she usually does.

I used to ride her in a mullen mouth pelham but she could get a bite on it and then i had no control, so I have swapped to a dutch gag waterford, and touch wood, in the 5 or so years she has been in that, I have always managed to stop her. the first time the shocked me is when my other mare bolted with my friend and i made her stop as I didn't want her to make the other mare worse, then trotted up nicely when the other mare had stopped! this would have never happened in the pelham.

i would also just have her in a standard martin gale or a hunting breast plate, to give her less to fight against, I think that all these gadget are often the case of half of our problems with our horses!

good luck!
 
Lauren90 said:
I spent about 40 minutes last night schooling in walk only, getting her to bend correctly and relax on a loose rein.

By the end of the session he had softened on the bit several times and out of the whole time we only a couple of very small head tosses, no dancing, or see awing on her legs.

It was well worth doing - we'll do the same again a few more times and then slowly incorporate trot for a few strides and back to walk etc. Purely focussing on these gaits only and build it up.

Thanks for your messages!
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That sounds really positive, and productive! :D Hope you manage to keep it up.

BTW what are you feeding her? Might it be worth cutting the sugar abit?
 
I think as long as she doesn't scare you, you just need to carry on working at getting a feel for her and getting her to relax and settle down. Accept that it will take time and be a messy process but you'll get there. There aren't short cuts with gadgets or bits or martingales when you've got a horse with too much go, you've just got to learn to ride it, which you will if you don't rush things and always stay calm and relaxed yourself.

Choose your hacking routes and companions carefully while you're still finding the brakes, and don't get hung up on insisting on going too slowly. If she's getting anxious to go, allow her to go forward into trot. It still won't be easy for a bit and it'll take practice, but once you're a team these horses will do everything for you and you have to do almost nothing at all. :)
 
Yes, I think i need to learn more on her and what works for her, it's still early days as I've only had her a couple of months!

She's on no feed, just grass and she's turned our 24/7. She was being fed every day and not worked for a few months while this was the case- so she's probably burning most of that off still! :)
 
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