Downward Transitions issues with buzzy event type...

RachelFerd

RachelFerd

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After a schooling session ended up taking me 1.5 hours instead of a planned 30 minutes today, I'd love some input from people with ideas on how to improve my mares endless resistance to downwards transitions...

She is a sharp little TB ex-racer, and I've cracked a lot of things with her on the flat - good bend, good balance in all paces, good upwards trans and so on and so forth, but have had no success with anything I have tried to get the trot->walk and walk->halt through and soft. Canter back to trot isn't so much of an issue.

I usually attempt to be very light in the hand, use my rising to slow the trot and generally keep things calm and relaxed as much as I can, but we're not really getting any improvement this way. She's just not a horse thats keen on the idea of slowing down much
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Today I worked her for 30 mins like this with nothing in the way of improvement.. then spent 25 minutes just cantering around trying to work some energy off (impossible - she is the duracell bunny of the horse world) and ended up having to put on a market harborough and work her for 20 minutes in that before I could loosen it off and ride a few good trans without it.

Would love some other ideas or philosophies - her dressage is much improved from what it used to be, but without solid downwards transitions we really can't progress much!
 
The key to a good downwards transition particularly between trot and walk is getting the horse to take more weight on the hind legs. To get this transition right the horse has to really push and bring the leg that is initiating the walk stride right under the body. A lot of horses find this bloody hard. Also you are probably taking your legs off in the transition because the horse is getting tense.

So, work on asking the horse to take more weight behind in the trot. Go forwards and back in the trot for a set number of strides. Do an "almost walk" transition, but just as you feel the horse starting to take the first step of the walk stride, trot on again. Spiral in on the circle and leg yield back out. Do shoulder in and travers on a circle if the horse understand these movements. Really get the horse following your aids especially in transitions within the trot.

Finally, spiral in from a 20m circle to a 10m circle in a nice engaged trot, half halt on the outside rein and ask for walk. You should have better control of the hind legs and hence get a better transition. Work on it from there, until the horse gets used to your half halts and almost anticipates the transition. Then you can keep your leg on and help to balance the horse on the hind leg through the transition. Remember it is not about stopping the trot, it is about initiating and riding forwards into the walk!
Hope this makes some sense.
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thanks for that post halfstep - this is a bit of a reactive response I am aware (have just spent far too long sat on the bl**dy horse!) but the horse is very active behind and finds it fairly easy to engage. She is balanced in trot on a 10m circle and is quite capable of taking a good amount of weight behind.

I have ridden the big half halt/nearly walk transition a lot with her - and she will stay soft and supple as I bring the trot back .. but the moment I actually say she must walk the outline flips over and I have ears in my face. Yet on the transitions back up she is soft, light and steps under herself into the next pace quite nicely.

It's almost as if the concept of breaking her pace is just not sinking in. Her other kind of symptomatic trait of this is her ability to halt for about a maximum of 10 seconds before she loses the ability to keep still (and the more you ask her to halt, the more wound up, frustrated and confused she gets - she seems to need to keep moving to stay relaxed)

Spiralling circles is an exercise I have done/do a lot with her since it was how I initially got her to accept me putting my leg on as a request for 'over' instead of 'speed' and whilst she will perform it very nicely in trot or canter, I have tried to use it to aid my walk transition to not much difference really!

I'm now pretty much a year into schooling her (with plenty of time off to be fair) and so much has improved, but this basic work is stuck in rut and the only way I could break the pattern today was by strapping her in the market harborough which is not really an approach I want to take
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Put it this way - I am reschooling an ex-racer at work (racing yard) and her transitions between halt walk and trot are stunning compared to my own horse. Embarrassing really!
 
Ok, fair enough, you've tried the obvious solutions outlined in my post!
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How is her walk? Is it correct four beat? or is it tending towards lateral. If it is lateral she may really not be able to initiate the walk from a trot correctly. Perhaps lots of transitions within the walk and shoulder fore in walk, leg yield face to wall in walk etc.....

What happens if you ask for halt instead of walk from the trot? Same reaction? How is trot walk on the lunge in sidereins?

And finally, if everything else is in place, there is no shame in using a market harborough or (yes!) draw reins to help the horse undersand that a decent trot walk transition is possible without the over reaction. You are obviously an educated rider! Sometimes it is better to avoid the fight, especially when you've done all the preparation by the book and the horse still is creating an argument. So long as you know there is no underlying problem of course.
 
I've got an ex-racehorse just like that - immensely forward going but doesn't really do reverse.. The theory of 'push the horse up into the downward transition' has been known to result in a short trip to the next county at high speed. You could try reducing the circle smaller and smaller and smaller in trot then allow the horse to break into walk at a particular point. Incidentally, I don't think there's any shame in using a gadget to remind them to stay round and not hollow in the transition. I do use a shortened running martingale with a knot in each arm to remind the horse to stay round if it is inclined to throw the head up when learning new things. I know people say you should be able to manage without but the throwing of the head can happen very fast and is over before you have time to correct it. In those circumstances, I think it's the lesser of two evils - otherwise the horse learns to hollow perpetually when asked to walk.
 
When you ride the transition nearly to walk, keep bringing the trot back even more, not really thinking walk, until you are in walk. When she comes above the bit, keep the trot at the speed you are at until she softens with just enough leg to keep the hind legs going and a very elastic but consistent contact. When she gives carry on bringing the trot back and so on until you get walk. She will then learn how to keep her body softer in the transition - not something racehorses find that easy. Too much leg creates more energy than they can cope with so keep the leg on but easy. Also too light a contact is not always helpful - just make sure it is very good quality (elastic). It can be helpful to ride a small circle at the end of the long side and make the transition just before returning to the track into the corner. I have yet to find a horse that this method hasn't worked with - many of them racehorses. Also draw reins, if needed, are more satisfactory than a market harborough as they are more adjustable and not so fixed.
 
Oldvic - my choice of market harborough over draw reins is that there is less opportunity for me to accidentally misuse them - as in from a certain point the market harborough will be loose, whereas I could make the mistake of pulling her in with the draw reins and not giving enough reward. With the MH I can at least let it out to a looser setting when she is ready to stretch, even though I can't do it instantly. For me at least with the MH I know I can't pull her in with no release, if you see what I mean?

halfstep - her natural walk is super, absolutely 4-beat and just about overtracks. When I go in the school and spend the first 5 or 10 minutes in walk, all the walk is pretty nice, relaxed and supple. It only goes to pot if I ask for halt, or if I move up into trot and attempt to come back to walk again! She used to be dreadful after cantering when I came back to trot, but at least we are ok with that now - just seems odd that the canter->trot is so much better than the others
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Ok this may not be a conventional reply but have you ever thought of schooling with a neckstrap?Try using it in conjunction with your halfhalt before your downard transition.Teach her to respond to it in walk to halt first.Ride your half halt by slowing the movement in the small of your back and close your thighs on as though you are going to push them thru the saddle (without tension though)at the same time blocking forward movement of the horse with a light hand and a pull from your neckstrap.Reward her with a pat and voice if she responds.Repeat until you can ask the same way in your trot to walk tran,using the neckstrap .You may have to loop a finger under the neckstrap or try reins in onehand to acheive this.A good seat and feel for a halfhalt is essential,Holding her with your thighs on at the moment she normally throws her head.
I have used this method on horses that have been very strong in the hand and needed reschooling with success in the past.I am not suggesting that this is your mares problem.But it sounds to me as if this has become abit of a habit .I'm not convinced that draw reins or market harboroughs are a long term solution.
Once you take them away,up goes her head again.Give the neckstrap a go and be patient ,i'd love to know if it works for you.
 
I dont know if you have trouble with all downward transitions or just 'nice' ones, but when my horse developed a mental block on the walk to halt command we went back to the round yard and taught him to stop entierly by voice, encouraged by holding the lunging whip in front of him. Then repeated the same with some one on board using just voice and seat. It worked really well and he will still halt/drop down a gear to a quiet 'woah' command.
Once it had sunk into his thick skull that you could halt from a walk we started working on making it nice /square etc.
 
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