How to stop a horse 'dropping' at the poll- dressage comments.Help?

charlie76

charlie76

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I compete my mare in BD and she often gets the comment that she is 'dropping at poll'. I know that she does it and in particular she does it when I ride small circles. She also has a habit of becoming short in the neck. Any ideas as to help with this- exercises, bits, lunging equipment etc. ( I have been lunging in a pessoa on a higher ring and doing lots of transitions!)
 
Time, patience and training I''m afraid.
She basically will need to physically strengthen up up so that she is able to push from behind and take the contact forwards, so lots of transitions and lateral work.
By all means play around with bits, might be worth trying a kk ultra if you haven't already. Ask your dentist about the size/shape of her mouth and what bits are likely to suit her best
 
Archie did this when i first had him - it was because he was physically weak behind and unbalanced. Now he is much more balanced and i have a nice light feeling in my hands.

Make sure you really ride your horse fowards so she is pushing from behind and up in front - also lots of short transitions to nearly walk and then push out into trot again. Lots of work on changing of bend/pushing her out with your inside leg. Also shoulderfore down the long side to get her stepping under with her inside hind which will help push her up into your contact.

Also you need to have short reins, soft arms and a good contact on her mouth. And its just lots and lots of schooling from then on in im afraid. Strength from behind takes a long time to build up. If you have lots of hills around you trot up and down them, but make sure her head is up when you are doing it, not long and low - it dosent matter if she isnt in an outline doing the hill work, as long as her head is up in front and shes active and pushing through from behind.
 
Thankyou for the ideas, I have found pole work is helping her a little but she still does it in the arena.Thanks again
 
If shes doing it in the arena make sure you dont warm up for very long - i warmup Archie up for 10mins before i go into my tests and only do a bit of walk/trot/canter/medium trot on each rein and thats it, otherwise he gets really overbent in his tests.

Its partly nerves on his part as he trys to curl up into himself. As his confidence has grown and ive learnt to do the minimum amount in the warmup hes got loads better. Hes only been competing for 3months now, but hes now getting consistant scores and his headcarriage is 100% better than it was when he first started competing.
 
Thats waht she does P_G- she curls up. I can feel it mostly on the 10m circles and the trot to canter transtions- I will give her a short warm up next time and see what happens. Really want to get it right and get her going as potentially , if this is sorted she could be great!
 
Funny isn't it I would be over the moon if my horse was overbent (well sort of) - instead I'm blessed with a giraffe in disguise
grin.gif
 
sounds like she needs to learn to work from behind properly and to balance herself and not rely on you - exactly what im going through with Archie. Eveyrtime she does it you have to be firm, give her a tap with your stick and lift your hands up to get her head up and her back end under her. I know you cant do that in tests, but in other situations make sure you are constantly correcting herand pushing her forwards - she will soon get used to it!
 
Thanks for the ideas and help- thats great!

"Funny isn't it I would be over the moon if my horse was overbent (well sort of) - instead I'm blessed with a giraffe in disguise "


I find the overbending more frustrating the the giraffe TBH! Hopefully I can get it resolved! Lesson on Saturday so will see if instructor can help(last lesson I rode without-as in removed from the saddle- stirrups last week- ouch!for an hour!!)
 
I have never found pushing the horse on and trying to lift the horse's head with the bit works although it seems the logical thing to do. I have found it is often a weakness and balance problem made worse by the horse being made to go too fast for its current strength and balance.

I would first of all slow the horse down so you can feel it a) engage its own core muscles (make sure you are supporting your weight by using yours) b) give the horse time to think about how to balance your additional weight. Go really slowly firstly in the walk before attempting the trot and try to feel whether the horse has its back rounded underneath you. Think half halts or go as far as a full halt if necessary before setting off slowly again. You won't 'ruin the walk' if you are doing this with feel. The horse will start to take the contact out and away when its balance and muscle tone is improved. It will also improve its confidence and calmness.
 
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