Always on the forehand!

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Ponymad21

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I have been riding a cob type pony for a few years now, I don't own him, but he is always on the forehand, he normally has little kids on him that don't get him going forwards, he used to ignore my leg but we seem to have fixed that issue, but he is always on the fore hand, it's like someone has attached a weight to the end of the reins.
How can I get him working from behind and get him to lift his head off the floor?
 
My instructor seems to just not be bothered with getting working from being, but I really think that if he can do it then everything else will come easier but maybe he's too old at 21
 
Ponymad21 said:
My instructor seems to just not be bothered with getting working from being, but I really think that if he can do it then everything else will come easier but maybe he's too old at 21
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Never too old!

The horse I share is 22 now. A few years back we started lessons with a new instructor. Prior to this she was quite on the forehand but now she carries herself so much better. My main issue was how I was riding and not allowing horse to work properly. Once my riding style was sorted out it was a lot easier to help the horse work correctly.
 
Not too old as such, but if he has any arthritis type issues he could find working correctly extremely difficult.

Some instructors (and people in general) think cobs aren't capable of working correctly so they never try. And plenty of people, instructors included, have no idea how to get a horse working correctly without being able to get away with fiddling about with it's head and constantly asking it to pick itself up and carry itself better, which a cob without the correct muscles simply won't be able to do. They're not built for it.

Having said that, it can be done, though it is one step at a time. You've got him going forwards off your leg and that's the first step. Now it's down to all the usual schooling exercises (transitions/turns and circles/polework) to supple him and straighten him up, which will help to improve his balance.

If he's spent his whole life leaning on the bit he could be a little dead to it's action and a change to something else might help, even if just temporarily until he gets the message that leaning isn't allowed. That could be difficult if he's not yours though. Horses that lean often go better in loose rings than fixed ring bits and that's a small change that an owner is more likely to accept than a change to a completely different/stronger bit. Lots of cobs go well in pelhams.

If he does carry himself for a few strides instead of leaning on you (which he will do as schooling progresses) it's important to reward that and not ask him to keep it up for the whole ride, otherwise he'll stop bothering to try if it gets him nowhere.

Once he's learning to do all the schooling exercises without leaning on his rider he'll be carrying himself more. At that point you can use more and more difficult exercises to ask him to engage his hind end and get off the forehand even more, and start asking him to keep it up for longer. Gradually over time he'll improve, but there's no short cuts, especially with cobs, who don't find school work as easy as lighter built horses and most of whom know exactly how to use their considerable strength against the rider.
 
Ponymad21 said:
My instructor seems to just not be bothered with getting working from being, but I really think that if he can do it then everything else will come easier but maybe he's too old at 21
Click to expand...

what do you do in your lessons? what experience do you have at training horses?
 
In my lessons what we do varies each week, most often it is something like cavaletti, leg yeild, shallow loops, serpintines, with 15 mins to warm up on our own
 
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