Exercises to help horse work more from behind

[dressage_diva]

My horse isn't really built to be successful at dressage, but we both seem to enjoy it and it's dramatically improved his jumping. However the one thing he finds is to really work through from behind and this is what is letting us down in our dressage marks at the moment (the judge's comments are always the same!). I work him with a consistent, even contact and try and push him forwards with lots of leg, but he just finds it hard to round his back and engage his hind legs (as a cob, he's far happier to use his front end to pull him along). Are there any exercises we could do to help strengthen his hindquarters and make it easier for him? He's 13 now and has come to dressage relatively late in his life (after mainly being a happy hacker) but he's fit and healthy so I do believe he could work well (and sometimes he does really round his back and engage his hindquarters, but only for a limited time!).

Any ideas?

 

[Thistle]

transition, transitions and more transitions!

 

[Booboos]

Transitions from one pace to the other should help, e.g. trot, walk for a couple of steps, up to trot again, try to repeat as many as 4 times in a 20m circle, or trot six strides, canter six strides. Also, transitions within the pace, going from working trot to medium trot and back again, the same with canter.

You can also try gradually decreasing a 20m circle to 10m but keeping the inside leg on to encourage the hind legs to come under, then gradualy leg yield out, but try one or two steps of leg yield then back onto that circle to re-establish the engagement, then one or two steps of leg yield.

 

[JoBo]

I ditto the transitions. The thing that really gets Bodey working his behind (also not built for dressage but moves pretty well for a cob) is walk to collected canter transitions. Also really slowing the trot (on verge of walk) and then pushing the trot into medium on long side, and bringing it back at the short end. Really gets there bum underneath them, well it does for Bodey.

 

[Baked Bean]

Find a good instructor, one who is pure dressge and get them to help. As important as it is to generate energy from behind, you also need to be able to contain it in your hands so that you truly engage the quarters, the horses brain and really, their whole body!!

Pole work can help losen up an inactive horse/pony, raised poles or vary the distance for a shorter and then longer stride, put plenty of canter into your warm up and maybe even a few jumps, gets them loosened up and motivated.

Useful exercises are (apart from the obvious transitions) 10m circles, shoulder in, leg yield. Make sure the horse 'on the aids', make sure you ride with a schooling whip so that you can get a crisp upwards transition.

I used to have a B&W cob who was pretty lazy but we managed to get some good dresage results thanks to the help of a great instructor - I learned so much from her that I apply to every horse I now ride. It was time and money well spent.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

The exercises mentioned above are all good to help your horse work better from behind. Try both leg yielding & shoulder fore, this encourages the horse to bring his hocks underneath himself & this will eventually enable him to work from behind & propel himself forward rather than pulling himself along as he is doing now. Good Luck

 

[catembi]

This sounds completely mad - try riding bareback just sitting on a numnah? I know it sounds crazy - my current dr trainer started me off on it. I did think she was completely nuts & only tried it so it could be firmly crossed off the list of things to try. But...it is working. Adrian has improved dramatically.

If you've got a nuu med, try using that instead of a normal quilted numnah as it's loads more comfortable, & start with 20 mins or 1/2 hr til you're used to it.

I wouldn't have lived to tell the tale if I'd tried it with Catembi, but Adrian's the world's most laid back horse.

 

[flyingfeet]

One of the best things my dressage instructor told me was to canter down hills out hacking. They have to use their behind with little effort on your part and they have to remain balanced due to the hill.

Its a bit hair raising at first, but has really helped both our dressage and jumping.

 

[dressage_diva]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The thing is my horse is really good at transitions and very quick off the leg and we regularly do walk to canter transitions, including on 20metre circles and he can do them instantly. He's definitely not lazy and is always quick off my leg, but just finds it hard to properly round over his back. We also do lots of leg-yielding and shouler-in and also shoulder-fore in the canter to keep him straight on the long-sides as he likes to swing his bum to the inside! However, none of this has helped him work properly from behind - even on the lunge he is reluctant to properly round his back. Unfortunately we don't have any hills near us which I could canter him down. Generally I don't do polework with him as he had a tendency to rush when jumping when younger and we've now got him nice and steady (and approaching the fences head on rather than sideways) and I find that polework winds him up a bit too much (much better to do some grids!). He regularly jumps and really rounds his back over the fences making a nice shape so I'm not sure using jumps/poles will help his issues with flatwork. I should also add that he regularly has his back checked by the chirorpractor (every 6 months) and we recently got the fitting of his saddle checked.

I should add that he's currently ridden in a flash noseband and french link snaffle (no martingale) and I don't really want to resort to using draw/side reins.

Anyone else have any other ideas? We have lessons (when I'm home from Uni) with a lady who trains youngsters in dressage so she knows what's she's doing and has known my horse on and off since he was a 4year old. With her help we've improved his way of going no-end but this has become out stumbling block. Maybe I'll try and find a dressage rider who could give me a lesson but as I have no transport (and little money!) I'm not sure how feasible that is.

 

[flyingfeet]

Draw reins or most gadgets won't actually make him work from behind, it will just lower his head which isn't the same thing.

The only other thing I can think of is lungeing in a chambon and building up the loin muscles behind the saddle. However you must not let him doodle on the lunge and you need to keep him active and working. Its actually quite hard work and rather than standing in the centre you have to get more behind him almost in a long rein fashion.

 

[kerilli]

lots of good suggestions here.
one thing i was taught by a very very good physio for a mare who pulled herself along with her front legs, was to practise a very very slow walk (almost creeping along), with hardly any leg but keeping rein contacts constant and basically showing the horse that if it slows down the front end enough, the hind end will catch up, the 'bridge' in the middle will lift a little, and it will feel different. it's only to be used carefully for short periods of time, but it does work.