spotty_pony
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Question in title. Said horse is a 16.2 5 year old Irish Draught type who I have recently started riding. He has Hunted two seasons in Ireland and I am going to be Hunting him this Season for his new owner.
He still has a lot of maturing to do and is weak across his back which we are working on with schooling and Hillwork. He is still finding his feet and is unbalanced and has a tendency to fall onto the forehand and then become strong. Most of the time I can correct this by using plenty of leg and halfback halts to encourage him to sit back and work from behind except for when he comes excited and becomes stronger and then I have a bit of a battle on my hands.
I've taken him out on three Hunt rides and he has behaved fantastically, just getting a bit keen during longer spells of canter (where I will admit I have momentarily lost brakes, more due to the fact I let him bowl on a bit too much and he ended up running onto the forehand.) On the last ride we jumped a few fences and he was keen but was really taking me into the fences boldly which was a good thing, until the excitement became a little too much and we ended up loosing brakes and having to miss out the next few fences as I struggled to get him back together (and avoid running into people!
) He did settle again once everyone pulled up, but part of the problem is because he is so big and I am having to work quite hard to keep him together, I inevitably get tired after we have been on the move for quite a while which doesn't help the loss of brakes.
Horse is currently ridden in a D ring single jointed snaffle with copper rollers and does seem to like this bit. Owner is reluctant to try anything stronger because it is more of a balance issue and doesn't want him to drop behind the contact and stop going forwards and I do agree in some ways because the way he jumped was fantastic and I don't want to change that. It's just some of the in between bits which are a bit hairy so I guess what I'm really asking is should I just carry on as we are and as he develops the correct muscle to carry himself clare rectory through schooling, he should hopefully be more manageable aned just accept that this is going to take time or should I go down the different bit route? I was thinking of something with two reins if I did just so I could have a bit of extra control if needed but not sure if this would just encourage him to lean further onto the forehand?
Advice please!
He still has a lot of maturing to do and is weak across his back which we are working on with schooling and Hillwork. He is still finding his feet and is unbalanced and has a tendency to fall onto the forehand and then become strong. Most of the time I can correct this by using plenty of leg and halfback halts to encourage him to sit back and work from behind except for when he comes excited and becomes stronger and then I have a bit of a battle on my hands.
I've taken him out on three Hunt rides and he has behaved fantastically, just getting a bit keen during longer spells of canter (where I will admit I have momentarily lost brakes, more due to the fact I let him bowl on a bit too much and he ended up running onto the forehand.) On the last ride we jumped a few fences and he was keen but was really taking me into the fences boldly which was a good thing, until the excitement became a little too much and we ended up loosing brakes and having to miss out the next few fences as I struggled to get him back together (and avoid running into people!
) He did settle again once everyone pulled up, but part of the problem is because he is so big and I am having to work quite hard to keep him together, I inevitably get tired after we have been on the move for quite a while which doesn't help the loss of brakes. Horse is currently ridden in a D ring single jointed snaffle with copper rollers and does seem to like this bit. Owner is reluctant to try anything stronger because it is more of a balance issue and doesn't want him to drop behind the contact and stop going forwards and I do agree in some ways because the way he jumped was fantastic and I don't want to change that. It's just some of the in between bits which are a bit hairy so I guess what I'm really asking is should I just carry on as we are and as he develops the correct muscle to carry himself clare rectory through schooling, he should hopefully be more manageable aned just accept that this is going to take time or should I go down the different bit route? I was thinking of something with two reins if I did just so I could have a bit of extra control if needed but not sure if this would just encourage him to lean further onto the forehand?
Advice please!