how to re-educate a horse to lower head carriage.

[perfectpolly]

O.k, had my mare for 15 months now and have just started to ride her bitless( dr cooks). she is much more responsive in this and happier in her mouth! however, i would like to get rid of running martingale, but need to re-teach her ! when she feels pressure she raises her head.( was to avoid the bit) but old habits die hard and still does it in the bitless.
i have been told to ride her with contact, then when she lowers head to release the pressure. she also pre-guesses what you want to do, so if you shorten the reins she goes fatser. ( a habit she came with. pc sj)
any other suggestions?

 

[DottyConnection]

Long, slow and relaxed. Lots of walk work on a long rein encouraging her to chill and eventually her poll should drop. We've had to do lots of this and eventually you can build it up and do similar stuff in trot and canter. I also found lots of small circles exaggerating inside bend works

 

[scotsmare]

Make sure you ride her forward off the leg as a lot of problems often stem from riding backwards off the hand (ie by forcing head in at the expense of everything else!)

 

[perfectpolly]

Thanks for tips,
if i ride her on a long rein she is absolutely fine with a nice low head......its when she goes faster and you take up a contact that her head goes up. i mostly ride on a loose rein, except if cantering, as i need brakes!!!!!
before i bought her she was ridden in a standing martingale, i changed it to a running . tried without with bitted bridle and she was staring at the stars when cantering and asking to slow...so put it back on.
now i'm trying bitless( without a martingale) she still puts her head in the air.obviously it is an established attempt at avoiding contact, and i would like to try to change this.
it's only when i have a contact, and ask her to slow down.

 

[dwi]

I had a very similar problem and to be honest i couldn't explain how we solved it without physically showing you. It was all down to my new instructor who is great and got us going in the right direction very quickly. Have you got an instructor that you can ask?