Getting a horse to take the contact, any ideas more please!

Daisychain

Daisychain

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Im currently schooling my new horse he is a nice chap, and coming on well, my main problems are when you take up a contact, he will come round but then he likes to sit behind the bit and get tense. The more you try to take a contact the shorter and choppier he will get. We are slowly working through it but need fresh ideas.

It is also quite tricky sometimes when your jumping him too, because it is a job to get him to take the bridle into the fence, and if you take a check then he likes to stick his head up and say get off!

If your hacking him and he is going along with his head up, he will take much more of a contact, im pretty sure its his way of evasion, he is in a rubber d ring snaffle as he has a very soft mouth.

His teeth have been done and are fine.

Any ideas for getting him to seek the bit more? thanks!
 
work him in a long low outline 90% of the time, and only take a working contact for about 5/10 mins before the end. Then let him stretch again when cooling him off.. It should stop him relying on your hand and get him to carry himself more.. When you start to see a difference then you can decrease the time that he works long an low to about 50% of the time. x
 
A horse dropping/coming behind the contact is often harder to remedy than one that takes hold, unfortunately.
You say he gets tense too, does his stride then become choppy? It is hard to address without horse and rider combination in front of you but my initial response would be to:
1) make sure you are going at a steady enough pace to enable your ned to relax and balance - quite often peeps ride at 1 gear too fast.
2) maintain a steady pace through your own rising rythm and half-halts until ned starts to relax.
3) as ned starts to relax you should be able to use your leg without him rushing away.
4) maintain a nice steady contact through the reins and as ned starts to relax to leg and keep rythm without rushing from leg, use a 'squeezing leg' to encourage him forward to contact.
It will take time....try to imagine the feeling you have just as you start to release the rein/feed the rein forward for a free walk, that is the kind of feeling you want.....
Hmm, it really is quite hard to explain without you being there
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.....and in so few words! Good Luck
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He doesnt rely on my hand at all lol! I need him to take up a contact, his mouth is as light as a feather, i feel i need him to hold on to something.
 
If he comes behind the bit you will have a tough time getting him to work long and low as that requires the horse to take the contact forwards. Of course this is what you are aiming to do, but it will take a bit of time to get there.

What is he like off the leg? If he holds himself behind the leg the first priority is to get him in front of the leg. This doesn't mean faster but with more of a sense of purpose from the hindlegs.

While you are doing this keep your hands very still and very soft. There is a temptation to play too much with the rein to get a horse to relax its neck (and I can talk I do it all the time!!!), but it only makes them more tense.

F quite likes the elasticated reins and I have also experimented with different bits to get him to take more hold of the bit. He likes these weird chunky rubber coated snaffles, so it might be worth playing around to find something he likes more in his mouth.
 
I'm working through this issue with my mare at the moment. She likes to sit behind the bit and look pretty but not work correctly. To get her to take the contact i have to make sure that i have a good solid consistant contact and use A LOT of leg!!!! And i really do mean a lot! Once she is going forwards from behind she can then go forwards into her contact.
 
Thanks everyone, he is quite forward off the leg, which interesting because when i bought him he was very back off the leg!! But that was before i asked for anything from him!

Kerrilli, do you have any particular bits in mind? He is so so soft in mouth.
 
Send him to my lovely dressage trainer for a week! Or remind me next time I see you and I'll tell you how he helped me with Brit's contact issues, she's very much the same.
 
I have found a KK dynamic with a D ring cheek has helped my girly, she used to be very tight and "up" in her contact as she wouldnt take the contact properly, but was very sensitive to tongue pressure, so wouldnt take the bit forward and down.

Before that I used a curved snaffle (a myler french link) wrapped in latex, which gave a slightly movable but very soft mouthpice. Lits of transitions with a wide soft still contact, with working on a circle leg yielding in and out helped get her to stretch out and take the contact forward.
 
My horse was like that, as seen here( naff eh!!?)
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I have spent months working him deep and low and always keeping the contact no matter how far behind the bridle he comes. I also worked him a lot with wide low reins.
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I ride him in a loose ring vulcanite snaffle with a drop noseband now and it really helps.
Also I lunge him in a chambon.

This is him more recently:
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