BeckyD
Well-Known Member
Hi All
I have a lovely 6yo irish draught x (Bill) whose schooling is coming along nicely. On the whole his work is correct, with negatives being a tendency to fix the right hand side of his jaw, and to not always carry himself straight/push equally with his right hind as with his left (these are connected
). I have good instruction weekly or fortnightly, and we work through those issues on the occasions when they arise, and have been working a lot on self carriage and working through correctly from behind. I do lots of work on transitions outside lessons (walk/halt/walk, trot/walk/trot and trot/canter/trot), plenty of suppling and easy lateral work, and shoulder fore to get that right hind working correctly. No direct transitions yet - not sure he's ready for them 
.
The problems arise in halt transitions. This isn't just an "in the arena" problem - no matter where I try to stop - be it hacking, SJ, XC, at X in a dressage test etc, I get the same response. Bill shifts his weight on to his forehand, leans, fights, yaws his mouth, falls sideways or on very odd occasions goes backwards.
Now I know that is all going to make me sound like a total numpty who is using her hands far too much, and it's true I am STILL having to use my hands after 5 months of working really hard on these halts
. I admit defeat. I do know how to teach halt to youngsters - I have 2 shining examples of the last 2 horses I had, who I taught to halt merely by me sitting up straighter/lightening seat. I could do this without holding the reins, even out hacking. But for some reason, Bill and I are not communicating effectively with each other. What I have tried so far, all started from a good walk, even in both reins, good rhythm:
* lighten seat, stop seatbones, brace body slightly, close legs ever so slightly, say "whoah" and closing my contact on the outside rein. I have tried doing this for months now, in the hope that by exactly repeating the same aids, he will learn to anticipate. But it just hasn't worked. I can't get to the stage where I don't have to use a considerable rein aid. And the considerable rein aid causes the fight.
So, I then moved on to:
* as above, but not actually letting him halt, i.e. catching him before he starts to fight, then asking to walk on - like a half halt really. My aim was to keep doing this until I gradually can make it more of a halt proper. I have never managed to progress beyond the initial stage though, as if I don't give again immediately I close my rein contact, he fights. Closing my rein for a split second is not enough to convince him to stop. And I can't seem to extend it any, despite weeks of trying.
* I have also tried teaching him to halt using neck strap pressure, but although I can slow him down, he still creeps forward and won't actually halt.
I have reached utter frustration point
, and my next flat lesson isn't for a couple of weeks. Can anyone give me some expert advice on something new to try.
Milka chocolate and full fat coke to all
I have a lovely 6yo irish draught x (Bill) whose schooling is coming along nicely. On the whole his work is correct, with negatives being a tendency to fix the right hand side of his jaw, and to not always carry himself straight/push equally with his right hind as with his left (these are connected
). I have good instruction weekly or fortnightly, and we work through those issues on the occasions when they arise, and have been working a lot on self carriage and working through correctly from behind. I do lots of work on transitions outside lessons (walk/halt/walk, trot/walk/trot and trot/canter/trot), plenty of suppling and easy lateral work, and shoulder fore to get that right hind working correctly. No direct transitions yet - not sure he's ready for them . The problems arise in halt transitions. This isn't just an "in the arena" problem - no matter where I try to stop - be it hacking, SJ, XC, at X in a dressage test etc, I get the same response. Bill shifts his weight on to his forehand, leans, fights, yaws his mouth, falls sideways or on very odd occasions goes backwards.
Now I know that is all going to make me sound like a total numpty who is using her hands far too much, and it's true I am STILL having to use my hands after 5 months of working really hard on these halts
. I admit defeat. I do know how to teach halt to youngsters - I have 2 shining examples of the last 2 horses I had, who I taught to halt merely by me sitting up straighter/lightening seat. I could do this without holding the reins, even out hacking. But for some reason, Bill and I are not communicating effectively with each other. What I have tried so far, all started from a good walk, even in both reins, good rhythm:* lighten seat, stop seatbones, brace body slightly, close legs ever so slightly, say "whoah" and closing my contact on the outside rein. I have tried doing this for months now, in the hope that by exactly repeating the same aids, he will learn to anticipate. But it just hasn't worked. I can't get to the stage where I don't have to use a considerable rein aid. And the considerable rein aid causes the fight.
So, I then moved on to:
* as above, but not actually letting him halt, i.e. catching him before he starts to fight, then asking to walk on - like a half halt really. My aim was to keep doing this until I gradually can make it more of a halt proper. I have never managed to progress beyond the initial stage though, as if I don't give again immediately I close my rein contact, he fights. Closing my rein for a split second is not enough to convince him to stop. And I can't seem to extend it any, despite weeks of trying.
* I have also tried teaching him to halt using neck strap pressure, but although I can slow him down, he still creeps forward and won't actually halt.
I have reached utter frustration point
, and my next flat lesson isn't for a couple of weeks. Can anyone give me some expert advice on something new to try. Milka chocolate and full fat coke to all