How to stop tanking off?!

[han_nah]

Hi.

I have just taken on a 7 year old forest made who seems very forward but when asking to go round and properly is very lazy and not engaging the behind. She has gained a lot of muscle underneath the neck.

She is ridden in a snaffle but can get very strong and takes off regularly in trot and canter. She gets very hyped very easily. When she gets quicker I half halt and if she doesn't listen I halt. If she doesn't listen to my seat then I will rein back and squeeze/kick (depending on how responsive) forward back into trot. We are working on getting her to work lower and longer and engaging the behind. Is there any exercises I can do to help? With both engaging and the tanking off?

I am using both school and forest. By school I mean a measured out bit in a field. She won't tank off when schooling but will on the forest.

Hope someone can give us some tips and sorry for it being long winded.

X

 

[Barnacle]

It sounds a bit like the horse might be nervous? It's fairly typical for green horses to speed up and hollow in a school setting/when ridden. There are a few different things I'd do to start with. Just my personal thoughts...

1) Change the bit. Snaffles pull the head up because of the nutcracker action on the bars. Get something double-jointed (French link) or a shaped bit that conforms to the mouth. That way the pressure will be more evenly placed on the tongue and bars and encourage the horse to lower its head instead.

2) Ride on a loose rein. Try just squeezing gently into walk and getting her to stretch down in a loose rein. Do lots of turning to encourage engagement of the hindquarters, applying your inside leg on the girth and outside leg just a bit further back. Try to get her inside hind to really step under. Also try this in-hand, from the ground. Don't worry about what her head is doing. Then start incorporating a few transitions, getting her to stop by stiffening your seat or whatever seat cue you like. Reward with a treat if you like - horses love that. Once she'll stop easily, you can work on slowing the walk with your seat also.

3) Take it up to trot. This is where I assume things go really pear-shaped. Stay on a loose rein and try the same exercises. If you're a good rider, if she speeds up, just go with it but half-halt with one rein and your seat. Repeat rhythmically until she stops. Then relax completely and, if you want to, reward her. Your timing is important, stop half-halting immediately when she slows. If you try to "reprimand" the horse by backing up etc, you are more likely to just agitate them more. A horse doesn't get that "backwards" is the opposite of "tanking off". Don't even try cantering to begin with.

A relaxed horse will naturally start to lower its head and stretch down and its back end will loosen so it will start to step under on its own. At the moment, she sounds confused and anxious. Once she understands all your cues clearly and realises she doesn't have to run when someone's on her back, everything will follow on its own and you can begin taking up more contact. I would begin all these exercises in an enclosed space for your peace of mind. Once she has the seat cues down, you can take her out and put this all into practice there too. Until then, I'd stick to riding her in and do in-hand work as well along the same lines.