Help needed to supple up horses neck and back.

[lisa_lou]

anyone got any schooling exercises or tips they can share with me. I have a 5yr old irish tb who is very stiff in the neck and back when schooling, she needs to bend more to the inside round corners, stretch down more and go in an outline but i dont know how to get this. When schooling at the mo she looks to the outside and therefor falls in on a circle no matter how much inside leg i apply. Also she is not dropping her head much at all so need some suggestions to get her to work from behind. Any help would be muchly appreciated!!

 

[emmaln]

Lunge with a pessoa?
Its great cos it incorporates the whole bosy not just the head and neck!

Copper roller bit?
To encourage salivatiuon and acceptance of the bit!

Ride circles lots of circles

Transitions lots of transitions but make sure you don't let her run into them or fall out of them-be sure in your own mind when you want to complete the transition before you do it! walk to trot trot to walk and don't forget to include halt! Make sure you keep her focused in halt and count to a different number between 1 and 10 before you move off again (so that she doesn't learn to anticipate what you want)

You could try bending cones but try to get her to turn using only your legs (you might need a leader to begin with!)

Ground work, use a treat and ask her to rein back, halt and come without touching her great for building a bond and gets her thinking about doing it for herself.

There is so much you can try and only some of it will work for you but there are a few ideas to start with!

Sorry verbal diarrhea again (can't spell that word!)

 

[jesterfaerie]

I agree with T_&_T but have a few more things you could try to add.

Rein back - only if it is a few steps, slightly bring your self out of the saddle, it helps the horse round their back and soften. I didn't think it would make a difference when I was told to do it but I have used it on my horse and it really does help.

Stretching - how about doing some stretching exercises before you ride/lunge her. With my boy I have him bending his neck around to each side, starting off slightly then building it up so that he is reaching all the way back - helps as he has a long neck

- also down in between his legs, up as high as I can reach and by running two hands directly down his quarters from behind so that he rounds his back.
I can PM you a very good video of it (not of me) if it will help?

Lateral - shoulder in is a brilliant exercise for helping supple and get engagement from. But also put her on a circle and do little bits of leg yield in and out, but then change the leg yeild so that she is still moving in to make the circle smaller but with slight opposite bend, then ride straight and leg yield her out normally.

BTW you cannot beat and Irish TB