Dressage Training

Nonyabusiness

Nonyabusiness

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My chesnut mare is nearly 14, doing great for her age. She has done dressage and jumping and xc with her past owner but was out of work when i bought her one year ago. The last 5 months we have been schooling/ training for dressage comps unaff. Been doing intro a and intro b over the last few months. Having had no interest in dressage till moving on to current yard. has made me realize just how bad my position and general riding was, so have really taken to it.

My girl is ish 16.2hh shes very fit and strong. Been ridden in standard happy mouth snaffle with flash. Started using spurs as leg aid, as she dosent always listen. any my question is i know she was ridden in a duch gag previously and was wondering if this will help me with getting her more into a shape and staying there without having my arms pulled out of their sockets. Im literally like jelly head to toe after riding her, (doesnt put me off though). Shes the sort of horse that given a cm she will take an inch, So needs holding in a shape constantly atm as her back end needs more work (comments that i have had back on tests)

any advice plz. or should i just keep her in snaffle and work harder.
 
I'm sure you will get different opinions on this, but I'm a firm believer that gadgets and bits are not the answer if you are having issues like this.

I personally would keep the horse in a snaffle, get a good dressage instructor and work on getting her lighter, softer and working over her back correctly. The mare I part loan (and plan on doing dressage with when she stops impersonating a rodeo horse) is very heavy in the contact too, in trot she likes to pull and pull but she is only in a snaffle and will remain that way, the answer is correct schooling, lots of repetition and hard work, not a different bit.

My trainer has me working on getting her softer and lighter, getting her to relax and stretch without pulling on me etc.

A lot of the time these sorts of behaviours come about when the horse is weak in the back end or unbalanced, it is too hard for them to work correctly over their backs to they find an evasion like being strong in the contact and running on the forehand. There are plenty of exercises you can do to build the back end up to eventually help her work correctly (it will be easier when she has the strength in her back end) - raised poles (cavaletti), hill work out hacking etc. Make sure you mix up your schooling so you are not just doing 'dressage' all the time, it will help give her something else to think about (if shes used to jumping and XC then dressage 24/7 will be a bit dull for her) and it also helps build the muscle needed for dressage.

And make sure you have a good instructor as well - doesnt need to be someone expensive or a high level dressage rider, just someone who understands the principles of flatwork and maybe some low level dressage experience too.
 
Good advice from kc100. I agree you don't want to change to a stronger bit - that is a battle you will struggle with and lose. A good instructor will I expect have you backing off her mouth and be pushing her forward. It sounds like an evasion as kc100 said - running on into the forehand. If you offer no contact she has nothing to lean on, it's a phallacy to think that you need a strong contact in front to get the horse using their backend correctly. Half halts to regulate the pace and bring her off the forehand would be far more effective, as are exercises like shoulder in, leg yielding and serpentines. These are kind ways to make her start engaging her backend.
 
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Good advice above. I know I blather on about leverage bits making horses stronger in the hand and everyone tunes out, but it's just physics. The application of leverage can be very useful applied sparingly and to an understood end, but if it's used constantly to force a horse then it will only result in training the horse to a stronger aid, not a lighter one.

I'm not enamoured of the term 'evasion' as it implies the horse knows and can do what is being asked but simply chooses not to on principle. Far more often the horse does the 'wrong' thing because it either can't or doesn't know how to do the right thing. Or, perhaps even more often, the rider isn't following the basic premis of training that you make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. If you let a horse drag you around, it will. Not because it wants to but because it's been trained that's what you want, even if it's happened by default.

It's very useful to get help in these situations, preferably from someone who can get on the horse, too, and help you both find an easier path.
 
thanks. The advice is exactly as i was expecting. so back to the snaffle and perhaps make use of a pessoa and plenty of schooling. I do have a very good instructor, who by the way hasnt mentioned changing my bit at all, all my thought. so thanks for the advice.
 
Hi, my boy is just like your mare. He is in a sweet iron french link snaffle and my instructor recommended me using a balance strap in the outside hand so he cannot lean on me, this helps me immensely. He does not pull my arm out of its socket. It also helps me keep my seat in balance with him. I have been advised to push with my inside leg to the outside rein. We had a "light bulb" moment two weeks ago when for the first time he was not leaning (because of the balance strap) and he actually accepted the contact and was lovely and light. He was more in balance and not "pulling" himself along he was actually pushing from behind. I adopted this method every time I ride now and have seen a marked improvement. Hope this helps, best of luck with your girl.
 
Gags aren't dressage legal, so you're best off avoiding as you'll only get yourself into trouble when you swap back into the snaffle to compete. I'd recommend forgetting about the outline completely for the time being and doing lots and lots and lots of transitions to engage her back end while keeping her just soft and stretched (not in a "dressage outline"). Acute transitions are great for this, try halt-trot-halting every eight strides for four or five laps of the school, making sure that she reacts as soon as you give the trot aid. Sounds like she is propping herself on your hands to avoid working through the back. I'd also make sure that she is straight and not leaning through her shoulders - if she is doing then try flexing a bit to the side that she is leaning (so if she is running out through her right shoulder, flex right and vice versa).
 
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