long and low and canter suggestions/help/ideas

[dafthoss]

ok well my little man is now just about starting to trust a contact and starting to look for it. So we have been having a go at a bit of long and low work admittedly its not very long or low but its a start and a massive improvment on what it was when I got him. So far we have only managed it in walk and to get him there I have to make my hands quite wide and have a realy realy light contact, is this ok for baby steps towards it or should I try to get him there without?

Also he has just started to slow his canter down in the last few weeks rather than just running round he is now going at a much nicer speed and is therefore more balanced. So tonight I asked him to lower his head a little bit as although he is slower he is still hollow but as soon as his head was lower he started bucking, so am I asking to soon or is he just being argumentative his back teeth and tack are all fine.

a bit of background he was ridden in draw reins a lot by his last owner "to make him stay in an outline" which I believe has not helped either of these problems.
I have an instructor but I dont have a lesson booked at the moment and I realy want to crack his flat work so any ideas welcome

 

[scarymare]

If you can stay there easily, I'd be tempted to just send him forward. I'd also be looking to get him out of the school and cantering around fields in this outline. If you are a bit wobbly then I'm afraid you are going to have to school the canter in a higher outline before going backwards to the long and low when a bit more polite!

 

[eggs]

When I read the title of your post my first thought was to suggest that your horse doesn't buck when you ask him to go long and low in canter and then I read your post!

I think it is more important for young horses to learn to go forward before worrying about their outline. If he is properly working forwards he will go into the contact and the outline will sort itself out.

On a different comment, I read a recent report of a German's trainer's clinic (I think it was Gerd Hausman) in which he said the hands should always be above the wither and not to try and change the outlne by widening and dropping the hands.

 

[dafthoss]

yeah it does sound a bit like that but I wasnt sure how to word it theres to many 'ands'.

Ok we do as much around the field as possible but it is not possible to every day at the moment so he is in the school 2 or 3 times a week. I did just put more leg on and make him go round the school a few more times in canter not star gazing but not as low as I would like. He seems to get it for a stride or 2 and it is realy nice and bouncey but then the back end comes up too. I cant work out if its him finding it hard and being argumentative as he has done that in the past (decided leg yeilding was far to much like hard work ) he is 6 so not that young really just a bit behind and very aware of being forced to do things.
eggs - I wasnt asking for an outline just not looking at the sky if possible I wasnt forcing the issue just asking him to come down a bit. His canter is still forward its just before he thought canter ment run round at high speed and now he is stepping under better so we can actually ride in to the corners of the arena rather than motorbike if that makes sense? Interesting report form the german person I dont have to lower my hands just make them a bit wider