how to improve schooling?

[thea009]

hi, i’m new to this and not really sure how it works but hoping you can help me with some problems with my self-broken cob.
delilah has been broken in since march and has been proving herself a very honest pony, jumping showjumping and xc courses and she was really starting to come along with schooling back in summer.
sadly i do not have an arena and this year has been very wet, was hoping to hire schools with our trailer but lockdown says otherwise.

lately i’ve noticed she doesn’t feel the same as usual schooling after mainly very light hacking for a month or so.

she has always had problems with cantering but was starting to really get it and was cantering 20m circles and courses. she seems to only go in for a few strides then goes into a rushed trot, she has no problem cantering into jumps if i push her enough but finds trotting more comfortable. this is fine but not great for hoping to start eventing at low heights (60cm most likely). if anyone has a horse which does this please send any tips and tricks.

also she seems to be facing to the left whilst trotting but when i pull her over, her body just follows not her head (not sure if this makes sense)

would really help if you send some suggestions and tips to work on in the future xxx

 

[Shay]

How old is she and how tall?

It sounds as if she has become unbalanced in canter and now can't sustain it. She might need more time to strengthen, her saddle fit might have changed, she might have grown or she might have hurt herslf. Does she canter OK in the feild?

Looking to one side rather than straight ahead could indicate a problem with her back / neck. Its difficult to be certain of what you are describing but I would be minded to get a vet check. Again does she look forward normally when trotting in the feild?

 

[CanteringCarrot]

If she's young or a horse out of work that has now been brought into work, her body could've changed (same with reducing work) what's her saddle situation? I would have a fitter take a look at that as a first step.

When my gelding was around 5 he was growing and his stifles seemed to he a weak spot for him. He displayed similar symptoms. I didn't do anything invasive as the vet said to get him fit and see how it goes since he was young. Not been an issue since (he's 9 now).

I think it's a body issue that's not really schooling related exactly. Although she is probably a bit out of shape due to the decrease in work. So might take some time to get back to her previous fitness and strength level.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would get your saddle fit checked before anything else then probably her teeth. I am assuming that she is probably still growing and will have changed shape since March, as you have been riding her.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Sounds like she is falling out (most likely due to weakness or perhaps as Shay said saddle now not fitting where she has grown muscle from schooling).

My first step would be saddle fitter, physio and teeth.

When my mare was super green this was her go to move. We would trot and canter with her head and shoulder way off to the outside whilst I held on for dear life. Lots and lots of suppling work to get her into both reins. Leg yielding especially to get them off your inside leg and rein. Lots of work engaging core over poles and hill work.

I'm all for doing lots of different schooling so whilst I would put aside hopes of cantering a course right now there's no reason why you couldn't set up a small grid, get her thinking about her feet and set it up along the fence line so the shoulder she falls out of is against the fence line. I found this helped encourage my mare to get straight. Trot into the grid and only do the grid if she is straight, if she's falling out or in then circle before the grid. Unless your horse is tiny there's no reason you can't trot into 60cm jumps. I jump 60cm and unless my mare is forward and straight I bring her back to trot and jump from trot. Lots of cross poles to encourage straightness and also putting up poles either side of the fence so it's a big v can encourage your horse to approach straight.

Also from your OP it sounds like the horse is young so you have plenty of time to crack this before you'd be thinking of entering a low level event anyway. I'll see if I can find some comparison videos of my pony for reference.

 

[LEC]

I think most people forget that a lot of cobs are simply not designed to canter, they are designed to pull carts so walk and trot. That is not to say that they cannot but it tends to take a long time to develop the canter and it needs to be done systemically. The main issue is really around the hind leg so its this that needs working on and balancing. Personally, I find lunging in a headcollar really helpful as they learn to balance and I develop the aids through voice. I then tend to apply this under saddle. The secret to improving the canter is to just keep cantering even when it feels awful. The more they do it the better they are. I find setting polework very helpful for developing balance as well.

 

[J&S]

As LEC says, you need time and practice to get a cob to canter nicely. I helped at RDA for many years and we had a lot of cobs come through, teaching them to canter well in the school was hard work. You will find it fluctuates between a horrid flat rushed trot and a wall of death canter, but it will come. Set her up in a really good balanced and contained strong trot before you even try for canter, be content with a few good strides, go back to trot. Probably not possible at this time of year, but use a large space/field rather than a school as the corners are too tight.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

It's best to teach a cob to canter while hacking, imo. Set her up to canter up an incline.

 

[Baccara]

a good instructor would help a lot x

 

[thea009]

she’s 6 but was broken late at the start of 2020. thank you for all of the replies i think the cantering must just be because she’s a cob and not schooling in winter. i’ve got a person to check her back and neck over coming, her teeth are up to date and we’re done a month ago and her saddle may need refitting due to her changing shape. her trots so lovely and she jumps 80/90cm in trot but tends to like cantering grids, it could just be her getting away with it because i’m too soft on her and she finds it more effort on canter so doesn’t listen to me. getting some lessons when the field dries out. once again thank you everyone