Balancing a large cob

[Bramley95]

Hello,
I have a v inexperienced 9 yr old gypsy cob (15.1hh), he is coming along well after being so desperately unbalanced. When I got him all he had ever done was toddle about on the roads and had then been in a field for two years.
I have got him balanced in the walk and we are getting there with trot, canter transitions are a bit disastrous and we can only canter in straight lines - he just loves jumping tho and gets a lot better and 'together' when there is a jump in front of him!!
I was wondering if it was worth me lunging him in one of these training aids to help him develop his balancing muscles???
Any advice welcome!
Thank you 😊

 

[flirtygerty]

Get him out at an active walk up hills

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

What bit are you riding him in???

I've got a heavy traddie cob and found that in a snaffle he'd fall out in front; tried a Waterford and that didn't suit him either as he tried to evade it by putting his head up thus hollowing out his back and falling out behind (you can't win!); then discovered the French Link Rugby Pelham which is absolutely perfect for him and he goes like silk in it.

It is very hard to get these big cobs on the bit, simply because often their own weight acts against them and you feel like you're trying to sit on a table with the four legs going in different directions!! You just can't do the same thing as you'd do with a TB or WB coz it just ain't gonna work!!

Personally, and this is just a personal thing, I would avoid any of the so-called "training aids" as IMO they will only develop the wrong muscles and thus create areas of tension and possible soreness which will only create future problems.

Also lunging these cobs can be problematic as they do find it difficult to go on the circle - again a case of their own weight working against them.

Will yours long-rein?? That may be a better place to start in preference to lunging.

I do a fair bit of hill work with mine and this seems to drive him forward into the bridle.

There are some lovely cobs who've done dressage and they look fantastic when they do it!!

Good luck with yours anyway.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I wouldn't.

It will take time for his muscles to develop. You need to ride with your seat and legs. As said, an active walk up (and down) hills is the best way to develop those muscles but if you want to try school exercises, plenty of transitions, especially 20 strides walk/20 strides trot, gradually moving to 10 strides of each and then 5 strides of each.
How about putting poles out in the school to encourage a good canter?

 

[Barnacle]

Also just lunging - with no gadgets - and decrease the circle size (not too extremely) as he gains balance.

 

[eahotson]

A couple of really good lessons with a good instructor? The occasional good lessons are better than endless mediocre ones.

 

[blitznbobs]

It's taken me 4 years to balance my cob - he too is a very heavy weight 15.1 cob. There is no short cut. I didn't train the canter at all for the first year of training as his trot was so unbalanced . There are no short cuts in training horses I am a firm believer that short cuts are the reason we have so many damaged horses out there... What is the rush? You've got a lifetime together . Do it slowly, do it right.

Btw its piffle that you can't get a cob to be light in a snaffle... Mine is working at medium now and is doing all the moves easily and lightly in a snaffle.

 

[rara007]

How is his canter when he's turned out? Or when you canter him in an open space?

 

[russianhorse]

My coblet was unbalanced in trot, so touched only a little in canter in schooling (but obviously cantered out and about on hack) and focused on lunging in trot and trot transitions/ poles in the school. Now he trots beautifully and balanced, we are going to do the same with canter - canter transitions in school and canter poles, and just canter on the lunge so he can sort himself out without my fat ass on his back lol

 

[Bramley95]

Thank you to all!
We do lots and lots of hill work (we live in Cornwall!) in walk and in a correct outline. He is ridden in a blue steel loose ring Mullen with tongue port - I tried jointed bits but he is really confused by them.
He is so much more balanced than he was when we started just through riding with a correct seat and forgiving hands, he no longer leans.
He hacks 3/4 times a week, schools in sand school once and lunges once (I warm up long lining and then lunge with two reins) so will keep going!
He never cantered under saddle in his previous home, ok in straight line but totally on his nose, unless being a scary cat! Only canters short lengths in the field but is on a small tight paddock due to being probe to being a fatty!!
Good to hear others have had cobs who fall on their noses!
Never been keen on gadgets so reckon I will ditch that idea and just keep going!
Never had s cob before so learning how different they are 😊

 

[eahotson]

There is also a book called I think, Cobs Can.Its written by a man who has schooled a heavyweight cob to a very high standard.

 

[Bramley95]

Ooooo - brill, thank you!! 😊

 

[littleshetland]

'Cobs Can' ^^^^ an excellent book! Take your time with him.....lots of hacking - he'll get there eventually - they generally do.

 

[Sukistokes2]

With my lad all it took is time. At least yours has finished growing so you are not unbalanced by growing! Going in an outline is nice but I like my lad to go long and low at the start and really stretch and open his back to start with. Sitting on a heavy cob at trot, going along with his nose to the ground, when prone to tripping and planting face first, was interesting at first. I used close my eyes at first, it really helped however,

 

[FairyLights]

It's taken me 4 years to balance my cob - he too is a very heavy weight 15.1 cob. There is no short cut. I didn't train the canter at all for the first year of training as his trot was so unbalanced . There are no short cuts in training horses I am a firm believer that short cuts are the reason we have so many damaged horses out there... What is the rush? You've got a lifetime together . Do it slowly, do it right.

Btw its piffle that you can't get a cob to be light in a snaffle... Mine is working at medium now and is doing all the moves easily and lightly in a snaffle.

^^^^^^
this
my heavy cob [part percheron] is light as a feather in an ordinary eggbutt snaffle. There are no short cuts. He is ridden 3 or 4 times a week including hill work. Most work is in walk. Muscles need time to build.

 

[AngelitoCaz]

The Cob I have been schooling is very similar it sounds like you're doing the right thing with the hacking.
The things that I found help is lots of good transitions and jumping a couple of jumps then working on the flat around them actually got an uphill canter last weekend, and believe me the poor thing doesn't have the confirmation for it.

 

[Bramley95]

OMG, long rein in trot would have me with my eyes shut too - we face plant regularly!!
Lots of confidence reading all these comments that we are heading the right way - bought a copy of the book today.
Any other advice on how to get him thinking forward in the school (really strides out when hacking but shuffles in the school) would be great but perhaps baby steps, ha ha ha!

 

[laura_nash]

My HW cob had almost exactly the same history when I got him and cantering in school felt almost like he was bucking whilst trying to dig a hole with his front legs - horrible! I tried him in a Pessoa once (took the wrong advice!) and it was a total disaster, he went into canter, kept losing balance, kicking out, socking himself in the mouth and then getting stressed - almost reared before I managed to calm him enough to take it off.

The big improvements came for us having lessons with a classical instructress. She burst out laughing first time she saw his canter transition, said the poor chap had no idea how to do it and his legs were doing all sorts of weird things! Some of the things she had me doing were circles, circling them in and getting them really small and then going back out again, this was in-hand, on the lunge and ridden. Really concentrating on what he was doing with his shoulders and hind legs so he wasn't evading. Lots of transitions (e.g. change pace every 5 strides). Some basic lateral work, especially shoulder in and shoulder fore. Keeping the hard work bits in the school short and then either stopping for a rest or going for a mad canter around the school before he had time to switch off. Canter transition from a voice aid (taught on the long rein initially) and cantering from rising trot initially (which felt really wrong to me) until we had got the hang of it. We're still not great due to lots of time off (my fault not his) but his canter is at least normal now.

He also improved massively after some work by a chiropractor, he'd been seen by two other "back people" (a chiro and a physio) over a couple of years, the first said he was fine and the second did some work with him around his shoulder with no obvious improvement. This third lady immediately described several of his schooling issues, said the problem was his hip and spent about half an hour working on him and he was immediately massively improved.

Mine also used to trip and face plant a lot, which came to a head when he tripped onto his knees at a fast canter out hacking and I went over his head and got a nasty whiplash. He even used to trip right over loose in the field and it was knocking my confidence hacking him out. After a lot of research I took his shoes off and he immediately stopped tripping, even when wearing clunky boots for the first few months. He had a very good farrier (who continued to do his feet when I took him barefoot) so it did seem to be the shoes themselves.

 

[canteron]

I have been here with a cob who was very very on its forehand. My experience would be that bits and training aids are pretty useless, the only thing that really matters is your riding position - the horse mirrors you so you really have to pinch your shoulder blades together and sit pretty well. The other thing that helps is doing the simple exercises really well - transitions, shoulder in, etc, etc.

Rather than spend money on bits, etc, maybe find a good classical dressage instructor and seek help in refining your skills - it is an amazing learning curve!



And I have just read Laura Nash's post - it looks like her story is pretty similar to mine and the solution was pretty similar too!