how to stop having to constantly nag?

[QueenDee_]

Recently I feel like i'm constantly having to nag my mare to keep her forward; as a result shes got very un-responsive to my leg which causes me to nag more i'm aware it will just continue and only realised how bad I am for it having not had anyone watch me school for ages to point it out

So I was looking for some suggestions on getting her thinking forward more and how to get her to listen to my leg again?

 

[Luci07]

Relax your leg. Next time you want to move her forward, give her a smart tap on the whip to reinforce your leg aids but you must allow the mare forward, and don't grab her when she moves off sharply. Gradually you can reduce the tap and then your mare will be listening again.

 

[Billabongchick]

My instructor says to just do one pony club style kick first off (rather than nagging) followed by a tap with whip if she doesn't listen first time and allow to move forward as Luci said before picking up more contact.

 

[LiffWee93]

As above! I didn't have to nag my boy, but adopted the technique of relaxing my leg, then applying the aid and if I didn't get an immediate response, a quick tap soon picked him up, everytime they slow down, the same was repeated. I made sure I thought about keeping the weight down through my heel and keeping myself tall and long so I can be with him more when we got the surge of 'forward' I also rode initially on a long rein (still with a slight contact) so not to interfere with the forward reaction, and very quick (and copious amounts of) praise for every forward reaction when asked xxx

 

[JillA]

I have/had this problem. Now I ask for an upward transition (say to trot) and if he slows before I ask for back to walk, he gets a smack with the whip down his shoulder. It's his job to maintain the pace until asked to change it, and if he slows (asking to downward transition) my reply is NO!!! And be very careful not to fall back into the old nagging habit - consciously keep your legs for transitions, at least for a while, then once he has got that, you can ask for more within the pace - but only ask once, then if he ignores your leg back it up with the whip. Working a treat on mine, we can now do numerous circuits of the school at trot with barely any loss of forward.
I have a book called "The Undisciplined Horse" by Ulrich Schramm, that's where I found the key - if your horse ignores your leg he is undisciplined, and needs reminding of his responsibility. It is only a smart single smack, more of a shock than hurt, but it does work best with a short whip rather than a schooling whip. More noise!