Exercises to get horse lifting through the wither

[PooJay]

As title suggests really - horse has a tendency to go on the forehand and be a bit flat when she can't be bothered to work....this is progress for me as Jaybo had over developed underneck muscle when i bought her and tended to go very lama esq (ears in my mouth) so it's all good but we're on the next stage now!

We do lots of flexing in walk and trot, pushing her up to her bridle with transitions but i have to be careful as any backwards action at all (and it's mostly accidental when it does happen) from my hands and we get the return of the lama - it's great when she's feeling up for working or feeling a little sparkly as she's more likely to come up through the wither without too many questions but i would like some help on trying to create this myself.

Can anyone suggest anything please? My mare is VERY uphill, to the point where sometimes training her is hard as her front end is so much more powerful and she has a tendency to let the front end do all the work...

errr chewing gum and water on offer, not much else i'm afraid....i ate it all before i thought to ask this question

 

[Brimmers]

my geldings exactly the same. i find taking him out on a 15 - 20 min walk/trot hack helps him relax as he comes into the school more chilled out.
or maybe try lunging her in chambon?
also, i do lots of circles with him, for example, a 20m a coupla times then at X switch and do a 10m circle in the other direction once then at x switch back again to try and get them using their back end and keeping them light in front =)
hope this helps!

 

[PooJay]

my geldings exactly the same. i find taking him out on a 15 - 20 min walk/trot hack helps him relax as he comes into the school more chilled out.
or maybe try lunging her in chambon?
also, i do lots of circles with him, for example, a 20m a coupla times then at X switch and do a 10m circle in the other direction once then at x switch back again to try and get them using their back end and keeping them light in front =)
hope this helps!

well, a hack is out the question until summer (and weekends, but i try to stay out the school at weekends for both our sanity!) but i know what you mean - after a hack she's all perky (sometimes she's a bit tense as there's bush monstors out in the real world and she's a big fat wuss) and is ready for action!

I don't think i'd want to lunge her in any contraption, she's a loon on the lunge (thinks she's a rally bike) and tends to freak herself out at how fast she can go on a circle....which makes her even more stupid. Tried her in a pessoa once and she resisted the whole time even when it was on loose...she works well on the long rein though but i'm not quick enough with my aids to get the work then.

I like the advice on circling too, i guess i've been doing this in walk with flexions so maybe time to take it up in trot! I'll try some of that tonight and i will be very strict about letting her run through the bridle and off....lol

thanks

 

[Brimmers]

yeah i find as long as i keep him guessing as to where hes going next he cant just plough on, so constantly changing the rein makes him think and brings his back end underneath him more
making transition super sharp as well so they "spring" into trot / walk whatever, using their hindquarters to push rather than front end to pull.
good luck, let us know how you get on =)

 

[ecrozier]

I find my Arab does this, and the thing that has helped more than anything is transition - lots of transitions both within the pace and between paces. Also keeping my hands reasonably 'up', and thinking about getting him to lift shoulder makes a difference.

 

[PooJay]

thanks guys I will see what tonight musters up. It's frustrating as when my instructor comes to teach us, jaybo automatically lifts, probably due to my excited anticipation and her worry of milly getting on board and making her do it....so i never really get to learn how to create that!

 

[scheherazade]

one exercise I use occasionally which I find has helped with my llama cross cave painting is a 6 circle exercise, where I ride a 10m circle at each of K E H M B and F then a sideways half figure of 8 (so two 10m circles stuck together) and repeat in the opposite direction. Really helped getting him sitting on his hocks more and lifting through the shoulder. Good luck!

 

[JustMe22]

Also half transitions or 'almost' transitions..so sloooow the trot right down like you're about to walk, then push on to a good forward working trot, or even medium trot.

Pole work might help too, especially if you raise one end of the pole?

And lastly, turn on the haunches. You can even start with quarter turns, walking a square with a quarter turn in each corner.
Instructor tells me to think of pushing the house to my inside leg with my outside leg. Then I just guide with the rein. Once I got this imagery, our turns ended up very tight with no drifting off the line.

 

[BombayMix]

To get our TBs withers "up" we spent a lot of time doing LOADS of loose/stretchy work before encouraging too much outline as he would settle into an outline but would be hollow through his back and the stretching helped this a lot