Flatwork Help Needed with Exracehorse - Everything Fallen Apart!

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steph_fred

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Sorry its a long one. Any one with any ideas is much appreciated as to how i can marley back on track. Bit of background info, i bought marley off the track and retrained myself. I had started him by doing lots of long reining and getting him to work long and low ridden, no problems there, lovely little horse really willing and was going ever so nicely in a correct contact and working over his back. Summer came and i started to take him in the field for some good canters and started to introduce trotting and canter poles so that i could start to jmp him for a little bit of fun. All was going well and he was jumping small cross poles. I had a lesson as a gift and we worked on bringing his head carriage a little higher and me taking up a little more rein and getting him working through the transitions from walk to trot and trot to walk properly. By the end of the lesson we got the hang of this and he was going really nicely and the instructor said i could have a nice little dressage horse there.

Well after two weeks everything started to fall apart i could no longer get him to walk in soft round outline and the trot was going in the same direction. Anyway slowly i managed to get this back on track and just before the snow hit in December i really thought we had cracked it the walk was nice again albeit with a little blip after a trot, he was trotting nicely and the canter was really coming on.

I didn't ride again untill the beginning of january. I lunged him the first day and rode him the second and he was great, remembered everything. Then the next time i rode the walk i was struggling to get the walk and he was leaning on me really heavily in the trot and not really off the leg and from there on in till now i really feel like all i'm doing is arguing with him and i don't know why or how it has got to this.

I have tried going back to the beginning and getting him working long and low which he did the first time but now he is just running round like a giraffe and wants to canter everywhere now that i have him off the leg again. I have tried shortening my reins up again, nothing, i have even tried bareback to see if the saddle could be making a difference, nothing (but i will get it checked anyway), i am qualified in equine sports massage and i can't find anything that would be making him this way. He does seem to be a bit more lethargic in himself when ridden. He has dropped some weight as he keeps pacing in the field in the mornings when i turn out as he and my other horse are the only ones out which i can't do anything about as i have to get to work and no one will turn out for me.

I try to ride along classical lines through using my core muscles and my seat but i have noticed my hands have got heavy which is why i tried to go back to a long rein and long and low to help us both relax. I just want my old marley back and its getting me down a lot, i don't know if its my riding or him or both. My other horse also exracehorse would tell me if its my riding but i can't get on him at the minute due to getting over lameness. I've thought about just going back to long reining and hacking and some lunge jumping and leaving the schooling altogether for a while. I would have another lesson but all i can think of is that ever since that one lesson i have struggled and i don't know if more would help or hinder and i could probably only manage one lesson a month. Or should i try another lesson with another instructor that is based on the classical way of riding?

Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.
 
I know how you feel I regularly (well less now) go through periods like this where everything you try seems to go wrong.

When it gets really bad I spend a week just hacking out having fun, asking for nothing more than a bit of self balance (ie nose not ploughing into the ground). Then back in the arena generally keep it short and sweet focusing on really little goals, ie trot - forward in a steady rthym head carriage can do what it likes as long as I get a trot im happy with and maintain it on simple shapes or square halts.
If he is really leaning on the hand and fighting I either go for endless transitions or give away the contact so that there is nothing to lean on and ride from the seat with light squeezes and open hands for turning.

from what you said abut the break etc is it possible he has lost condition/muscle and so is finding the work really hard? This might explain why he is fighting so much. Also I know you are qualified but do you have any friends in the trade who could have a quick look at him - fresh set of eyes and all that...

Good luck and trust me there is light at the end of the tunnel!
 
Are his teeth and feet good, i finally got a decent dentist over (i tried with some local ones and finally gave in and got someone over from the UK to do them) and have stomped all over the farriers to get them to shoe him better, its made a huge difference. :)
 
I know how you feel....I have days where my ex-racer turns from Elementary horse to positively pre-school!

I would try the following:
Lunging with a pesoa (sp?) on starting with the reins between the legs, then moving then to the side and eventually up to the withers. This will help encourage the head to stay down and relaxed and will get him working over his back.
i invested in an equilibrium pad for about £120 and put that on for 20mins before and after riding which helps relax and warm the back muscles - big improvement.
hacking on a really relaxed rein with some cantering off his back - after all this is what they would have been used to and it takes a while for the muscles to adapt to working in a new way
limit sessions to 20 mins followed by 10 min cool off and up to 4 times a week
vary the exercises - lots of bending and changes of direction
most importantly keep everything in your body relaxed - arms, wrists shoulders relaxed and moving freely with the horse really help!

Good luck :-)
 
His teeth are due and will get them booked in asap. I have a good dentist that has done a lot of training and he is also good with my other horse who can be a bit nervy. As for the farrier and feet, i changed farriers end of last summer as he was just losing shoes left right and centre, his feet are not the best but hopefully they are now getting there. He had fractured his pedal bone not long after i first got him and then this time last year he had xrays on his feet as he was lame and it turns out he just had very thin soles and the hard ground in the field had caused bruising.

Before our break i was only riding for half an hour as he was being so good and i also didn't want to work him for too long to try and keep his condition plus i have another horse to work as well. Although now i can ride for an hour and still not get anywhere. Unfortunately i am one of these people that does not want to end on a bad note so i will ride untill i get something of what i am asking although last night i just gave up. It wouldn't bother me if all we did was long and low but i can't even get that now.

I am going to try him on some other feeds to see if this helps with keeping his condition and energy levels. I just sooo want to find the answer to getting him back to where he was, i know it may not come overnight but all that he's learnt is there somewhere and i don't know where its gone. Thinking back whenever he's had a little break he always comes back fantastic and i love riding him but then it slowly disappears again. Maybe he finds it hard or boring i don't know. Generally when Fred is in work i only school marley two or three times a week and lunge once or lunge jump and hack out and he has two days off. I thought maybe i wasn't schooling enough so i started to do more but now it seems that this isn't the answer. I will take another look at his back and then probably get a McTimmoney in to have a look. I just want to do the right thing by him and have a happy horse.
 
IMO they seem to get bored with dancing very quickly, my guy went flat as a pancake end of last year, i took him for some good gallops, jumped him a bit and had a laugh when we were out and it perked him up no end. I also gave him a "blood booster". Its so hard to know what to do for the best sometimes. He is also much better and seems to learn more when he does short sharp sessions of schooling and i always try and lunge him first to warm him up before i get on.
Best of luck. :)
 
What helps me when I have those days when my horse seems to have forgotten everything, it to go back to basics on my position. I often find that the days I concentrate on my riding, (my position (especially my pelvis), my hands, my legs) my horse suddenly starts to work much better. The moment I start concentrating on my horse, contact, movements etc, everything goes to pot!
 
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