Ideas on Muscling Pickle Up!

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JessPickle

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Pickle is now well into getting back into proper full work. However he has now lost the weight but totally lacks muscle (will attach photo below)

Now I just can't think of how I could really improve this, I school him once/twice a week (he gets bored easily and gets sour with anymore) in these sessions I try and get him to stretch long and low and vary things as much as I can. I avoid working him in a false outline with his head tucked in! as he just isn't muscled enough to do so! however he doesn't work forward enough for my liking which is an issue.

The rest of the time he does a lot of hacking, and we have a lot of hills round here so I trot him up them a lot which I assume must help in some ways.

I finally think he is ready and fully sound now to be lunged, before I always lunged him in side reins and wondered whether this would be correct? he can be a pratt to lunge and I personally don't like pessoa's just because he is so large any pessoa type thing is bound to jab him more as does any gadget where "one size fits all"

So any recommendations would be very much welcomed!

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Chellebean said:
Can you incoorporate the long and low into your hacking as well? Allowing him to stretch down and low as he goes up hills?
I found lots of turns and figures of 8 worked wonders too for my old boy :D
Click to expand...

Hacking I don't tend to ride him on a lot of contact particularly in walk/trot pretty much because he is a leaner. Therefore if he doesn't have anything to lean on he miraculously discovers self carriage! I try and vary pace in canter asking for him to collect and extend which he is really mastering.
 
Hiya, although you can put the perssoa on any size horse this is because the attachments can be ajusted to suit any size horse. It isnt just one size. They can be very usefull in working horses long and low along with encourging the horse to move forward, they also dont tend to jab as the clips are on rollers that move along the attachments.
If the perssoa isnt for you though (we like different equipment) have you ever tried a harbridge, they do them in shires you can use them for lunging and riding and when the horse relaxes to where you want it completly loosens.:)
 
Hillwork and lots of it! Trotting up hills has done wonders for Jack. Great for fitness too. It will help much more if you can get him working into the contact out hacking though, you can fool a horse into doing schooling that it doesn't realise is schooling! Leg yield, shoulder in, transitions can all be done on quiet roads or bridleways. I tend to mix up periods of relaxed loose rein stuff with asking for a little more contact and obedience.
 
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