Advice on how to tackle a giraffe

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tessybear

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The lovely TB mare i ride had her back checked the other day and the lady found some tight sore spots. She advised building up her topline by doing some long and low work which would be fine... However she is an ex racer and doesnt have much experience in the school. She also windsucks , collars tried and tested didn't end well. So basically she has an upside down neck with all the muscle underneath and is bloomin hard to get into an outline. She starts off with her head in your lap until she is settled, even then she can be hard to get into an outline.

Someone advised riding her with bungee like cords, but then the issue is she is backwards thinking and her owner panics when she does this and surely she would just go up in the air with something keeping her head down ?


Tips would be appreciated :)
 
Tinsel Trouble said:
still go for a bungee. it's not attached to the hand, it is attached to the girth and goes over the head threaded through the bit. the horse is in control of the amount of pressure put against the bungee- not the rider.

I would also start lunging in side reins.
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Ah okay io must admit don't have much knowledge with bungee :) Will suggest these to the owner, i think she has some side reins so thats defo an option.
 
It will come with schooling. Loads and loads of transitions, riding up to the bridle rather than asking her down, and then asking for contact.

In the meantime, does she lunge? Talk to her owner about an Equiami. Have a swizz on here, they are very good. And will help her find her balance and build the necessary topline muscles.
 
I might be wrong, but Id probably work on the lunge in side reins initially, to start teaching her without a rider how to go with her head down in a better position
I don't think a bungee would be a bad idea for riding, once they realise the pressure will ease if the heads in a certain place, it should be fine :)
 
Hereshoping said:
It will come with schooling. Loads and loads of transitions, riding up to the bridle rather than asking her down, and then asking for contact.

In the meantime, does she lunge? Talk to her owner about an Equiami. Have a swizz on here, they are very good. And will help her find her balance and build the necessary topline muscles.
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Thank you, i only ride her twice a week max and think she would benefit more from her owner riding her everyday if not lunging her at least once a day :)

She does lunge, Will have a quick google now, thank you again :D
 
RubysGold said:
I might be wrong, but Id probably work on the lunge in side reins initially, to start teaching her without a rider how to go with her head down in a better position
I don't think a bungee would be a bad idea for riding, once they realise the pressure will ease if the heads in a certain place, it should be fine :)
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Yup sounds right :) Im sure she has side reins so this is defo an option, we were just worried because she will go up if given the chance, her owner panics and grabs the contact so she has no where to go but up so didnt want a bungee to make this worse. But like i said i have never worked with them :)
 
I would not ride in a bungee, not until she is getting the idea on the lunge. She needs to build these muscles up in the right way, if we did that to our ex racer he would go into the pressure and go up and over.

Lots of carrot stretches, when you are on her ask for her muzzle to touch your toe. Doesn't matter if she doesn't get it first go, as soon as she releases take the ask away and prase.

We have a Pessoa on long and low setting and it helped our boy, he worked it put his self and then got the idea in ridden work.
 
slightlyconfused said:
I would not ride in a bungee, not until she is getting the idea on the lunge. She needs to build these muscles up in the right way, if we did that to our ex racer he would go into the pressure and go up and over.

Lots of carrot stretches, when you are on her ask for her muzzle to touch your toe. Doesn't matter if she doesn't get it first go, as soon as she releases take the ask away and prase.

We have a Pessoa on long and low setting and it helped our boy, he worked it put his self and then got the idea in ridden work.
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She is exactly like your ex racer, thinks backwards and if she did go up and over, understandably her owner would never ride her again i dont think.

She does that anyway :D Thank you for the tips will pass them all on
 
Bungee is a good thing. Best to lunge in it first. She can learn what it is then

Long and low isn't the back stretching method people seem to think it is really. Check out the website Science Of Motion. They also have a Facebook page. This does not mean they should have their heads up like giraffe's. But just read a bit. Correct training over time will lead to a correct outline. The mare your on has no idea and thus a bungee will help. I refuse anymore to work long and low. Working more from my seat, steady build up, and working them to come up into my hands is much more rewarding. I have a pony that came in for starting. Came in in September. He was totally upside down. Has a ewe neck and upside down completely. In his work now he is working in a lovely outline. He's been jumping small little courses at shows and just made so much progress. I do believe that is how training used to be. I'm so happy I chose to let him come on his own. I also let him warm up on a loose rein however he likes. Yet now when I ask for contact I get it first from my seat then to my hands.

What you're describing is not because she's an ex racer. More than likely an attempt to reschool poorly. Thus head in your face when asked for any contact. And a quicker pace. I galloped racehorses for years. Head in face and going faster does not build the muscles needed to be an effective racehorse. Yes amazingly it's also an art of riding if you do it well.

Terri
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Bungee is a good thing. Best to lunge in it first. She can learn what it is then

Long and low isn't the back stretching method people seem to think it is really. Check out the website Science Of Motion. They also have a Facebook page. This does not mean they should have their heads up like giraffe's. But just read a bit. Correct training over time will lead to a correct outline. The mare your on has no idea and thus a bungee will help. I refuse anymore to work long and low. Working more from my seat, steady build up, and working them to come up into my hands is much more rewarding. I have a pony that came in for starting. Came in in September. He was totally upside down. Has a ewe neck and upside down completely. In his work now he is working in a lovely outline. He's been jumping small little courses at shows and just made so much progress. I do believe that is how training used to be. I'm so happy I chose to let him come on his own. I also let him warm up on a loose rein however he likes. Yet now when I ask for contact I get it first from my seat then to my hands.

What you're describing is not because she's an ex racer. More than likely an attempt to reschool poorly. Thus head in your face when asked for any contact. And a quicker pace. I galloped racehorses for years. Head in face and going faster does not build the muscles needed to be an effective racehorse. Yes amazingly it's also an art of riding if you do it well.

Terri
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Thank you Terri, she isn't my horse so cannot really comment on being badly reschooled, she came from the meatman for £100 and hasnt done much since to re-occuring problems that are now settled. Its whenever you ask for her to walk on from a halt she really brings her head right back up at you !
 
I also highly recommend the Equi ami too - I would start off by lunging in this loosely which will help her to work long and low but also encourage her to engage her hind quarters, as she gets more used to it and a she starts to naturally develop strength and a rounded outline, you can tighten it up gradually.

They also do a ridden version of the equiami which looks very similiar to the bungee but where the bungee is fixed to the girth, the equi ami is a continuous loop attached seperately to the girth so still encourages self carriage. Try and focus on building up her topline with active walking, hill walking and poles. I feel people are too quick to push for a trot or canter when a decent walk isn't established, if a horse is weak or lacking balance then pushing into a trot or canter is simply going to unbalance them even more.

A proactive and upbeat walk where they engage the whole body will strengthen the topline and I'd be really focusing on lots of in hand work like lunging and long reining to build her up so she can focus on carrying herself rather than herself and a rider. If you can't use a pessoa or equiami, try loose side reins, a roller and two lunge reins.

Good luck!
 
I had this problem with my ex-racer. She was very resistant to the hand and any sign of an unsteady contact or a slightly heavy hand caused her to go back or up. I worked doing lots of circles and spirals in to get her into a steady outside rein. If you feel your hands are at all unsteady especially went shortening the contact, I find that hooking my little fingers into the straps on the saddle cloth which attach to the girth kept them still and also stopped her from yanking the reins forward. When you go to walk from halt I would do so on a circle, if you ask for all transitions on a corner or on a smaller circle she will begin to get the hang of an outside contact which in turn will help with the head coming up particularly in upward transitions.
If you try to keep her in shoulder fore most of the time it will help with her balance. Throwing the head up and rushing is often due to a lack of balance so any exercises that help improve balance will also help give confidence to work in a better shape.
As she isn't yours and if the owner doesn't want to use a bungee there is plenty you can do to help build the right muscles. Does she stand still? You can work on standing her still for a couple of mins until she relaxes and then asking her to walk on a circle for a few strides then stand and relax again. This helps keep the anticipation of rushing off with their head up low.
It takes a long time to rebuild muscle correctly so I would focus on calmness and flexibility and do lots of loops, teardrops, circles and spirals as well as plenty of changes of rein to encourage her to gradually accept more of a contact. As EI said above I too wouldn't be aiming for long and low but rather working her into a steady hand.
 
The only downside to a bungee is because it doesnt go into the hand, you cannot release it if they do decide to throw a fit about it! Even if you lunge them in it first!

I've seen my YO has lots of success with an ex-racer in a De Gogue, because you can release the pressure, drop the extra rein if they do decide they dont like it & you can build them up slowly.

She managed to get the horse going long & low in a De Gogue & then built them up over time into a outline -can take a long long time though so you have to be prepared!
 
Just to throw in another experience, my exracer is similar, came with upside down neck and physio showed couple of sore points in back and bum.

He's ok with the contact, he actually keeps his head quite long and horizontal, can get bit overbent and above bit so still a long way off consistent.

I've found the equiami doesn't work for him, he just fights against it, tried various settings but always same. I've not used side reins as think it'll be same. He actually lunges better with just bridle/ cavesson. I work on getting him to step under with hinds and ignore the head, I know if he starts to carry himself and get a stronger back end the front end will follow.

He is big and gangly though so still filling out, ridden I'm just working on forwards, bend and being soft in the contact - he's starting to work correctly, although when he works in the ideal 'frame' he doesn't track up, so fine line between the two!
 
Hereshoping said:
In the meantime, does she lunge? Talk to her owner about an Equiami. Have a swizz on here, they are very good. And will help her find her balance and build the necessary topline muscles.
Click to expand...

I was also going to suggest this. When I first got my mare she too was a fan of the giraffe-head-in-lap style, and she's naturally very fizzy and sharp. With lots of transitions & softening exercises in the school I got her a little less tense, but I noticed a huge difference when I invested in the equiami training aid (the lunging one). She hates anything with poll pressure and anything restrictive, and has a tendancy to go into complete panic, so before discovering the equiami I'd been struggling to find a suitable training aid - but she took to it straight away as it works on a loop system so encourages them to work correctly, rather than forcing them.
She built up muscle in the right places very quickly, and seemed to really enjoy her lunging time - and this made her ridden work a lot better, before she bashed herself in the field (giving herself the summer off :rolleyes: ) she began to work in a beautiful soft outline - and I'm sure the equiami is to thank for a lot of that! As soon as she's sound again I will re-introduce it to help her rebuild her muscle, they are just fab.
 
Reading this thread with interest as I also have a giraffe (that is actually her nickname by any strangers she meets as she is like it constantly, even on the field when not grazing!)
Unfortunately for me I can't lunge due to her leg problems if anybody has any suggestions for a horse that mainly schools on hacks? She works a lot lower now but is very lazy behind (gives me a good leg workout mind you) and even when she works well she tends to always stick he nose out and isn't a fan of a contact!

Sorry to hijack op :)
 
My mare did this when she came to be. She didn't accept any contact and fought mightily hard any pressure(issues:rolleyes:), so I went the The oher way and took all the pressure off.

I bought a soft bridle, a Myler omfort bit and wrapped the biggest and fattest sheepskin around the nose band that i could so that whenever she raised her head, she would see nothing but a dead sheep!! Dropping her head however would mean comfort and having a view.

It has worked a treat and all without any horrible battles. She chooses the option and I dont have to demand.:D

She's now in a NS team up bit and a Micklem bridle and is a completely different horse who nannies naughty and baby new broke horses out hacking accross The fields. Head down of course. :D:D
 
i find tons of hacking in a de gogue or bungee does wonders. i had an exracer and he worked way more forward and relaxed hacking.
 
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