Help! He Throws his head when ...

[beenleighford]

i ask for canter, does anyone know how to stop this, any exercises etc? He just does it in the first stride as he goes into canter, straight back into an outline after the first stride but this is marking us down on our dressage tests, any advise? thanks xx

 

[K27]

I assume his back, teeth, saddle are all ok.

It sounds like he needs to bring his hocks underneath him a bit more, get him working thru the back and looser thru the neck and jaw so that he is soft and "underneath" your hand.
I would try lots of transitions from walk to trot, trot to canter- you could try this on a 20m circle at first and just keep repeating transitions to check that he really is truly off your leg aid in the transition. You could then try walk and halt to canter and then try spiralling your circle in to 10m and back out asking for transitions at the same time.Try to keep your shoulders back in the transition and keep your position still.Try to keep the contact even between the leg and hand, ie don't throw the rein contact at your horse then he can't bring his head up.

Sorry to waffle on but I hope that you find a solution! Maybe your trainer could help you.... good luck and have fun doing your dressage!......

 

[vicm2509]

My horse sometimes does this aswell, ive had him all checked over but my instructor says its just resistance and lots of transitions will help (which it has). I have noticed quite a few horses do it so I wouldnt worry too much, you will get there.

I would also be interested to see other peoples opinions aswell, hopefully there will be some I can apply to my horse

 

[Skhosu]

Mine has done this since I go thim, we're just cracking it with good lessons from various instructors.
Try making sure you are holding your outside rein, i/e not too much inside bend and also make sure you're using your legs!

 

[muffy32]

Hi, my lad has just been checked by the chiro for the same reason, she said he did it because he was very stiff in his shoulder on one side. She has given me some stretches to do with him and she is coming out to check him in four weeks.

 

[aimeerose]

my mare went through a phase of doing it and i found that making sure she was swinging really well through and over her back before the transision helped, as did riding the transision a little deeper than normal.