Horse doesn't know where her feet are?!

[hobnob]

I've recently taken on a cob on loan and she's never been properly schooled (she's now 7). She has rather large feet, trips, overreaches and generally has no idea where her feet are! I did a first session over poles yesterday (just single ones around the school) and she kept tripping over them...kept trying until she didn't trip over 2 and called it a day after some praise. I can see it being a long, frustrating road!

Has anyone else experienced this? What could I do to get her focusing more on where she's putting her feet?

 

[Jazzy B]

I presume when you mean over poles you mean lunging her over poles?

I would go back to basics for a little bit, do a bit of in hand ground work and build her up that way i.e. arranging poles on the floor and asking her to step over them, arranging them in a "L" and getting her to walk through and then backwards etc just getting her aware of where her feet are. If she is over reaching it may be because she's unbalanced because she is lacking in muscle so I would also spend some time long reining to strengthen her back muscles.