Do you think all horses can be retrained/reschooled or are some stuck in their ways?

[charlie76]

Juts pondering on whether I carry on with trying to reschool my horse on the flat or have a career change and become a show jumper!
He is a lovely mover with all the talent in the world but due to spending a lot of time in draw reins before I bought him , he tends to come short in the neck and tight in the back. I have been , for what seems like forever, trying to reschool him to working softer through the back and longer in his frame but when he gets tense or finds something hard is resorts back to the usual way of going meaning loss of marks in a test.
I am also struggling to find a bit to encourage him to stay soft and out.
so what do you think? career change????

 

[Abbeygale]

I think there's some that are more willing to be trained than others, but often the ones that are more difficult to get exactly where you want can be so much more rewarding when you can do well

How about doing a little jumping rather than a whole career change? I mainly like to do dressage with my mare, but have found jump schooling (and wood galloping lol) do wonders for her flatwork, as it gives a change of pace

 

[PooJay]

I have exactly the same problem with my girl.....we're in a tense patch atm (she curls back behind the bit so much at times she gives herself hamster pouches and bounces round the arena like she's a tigger with springs) but equally we've had moments of brilliance where her neck becomes soft and mobile and she's happy to move and bend and swing through her back like real pones should.

Very frustrating as all of a sudden we lose that softness and flexibility. This time it was because we were doing a jumping exercise on a circle and Jay thought the best idea was to motorbike round - this locked her up and the tension hasn't gone yet.

I usually find in hand work and raised poles helps unlock her a little, although it hasn't done as yet this time. I'm now exploring mineral imbalances a bit more as feeding her magnesium when i didn't realise she was deficient made a huuuuuge impact.