Outline Help?

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Alflora

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Hi Everyone!

Just hoping for some advice on getting my stubborn Thoroughbred Ex racer in an outline?
I have been told a lot about getting his back end engaged & stepping under properly first and his head will automatically follow into an outline (not to force the head into shape), but I don’t know how to put this into practice to achieve this??
I have tried half halting & such but he is very unresponsive.
I have tried using draw reins to build up his topline muscles but as soon as I take them away he becomes a giraffe again! :rolleyes:

Please help as I would like to go out competing in the summer without looking like I have just hopped on him straight off the racetrack :o
 
It's difficult isn't it! With mine I found he was quite unresponsive to start with so I do plenty of transitions and it's really sharpened him up and he's naturally started working better and coming rounded - yes he does have his moments where he thinks it's much more fun to star gaze but don't they all :)
Not much help sorry but didn't want to read and run! Good luck :)
 
Maybe try doing a lot of transitions (to get him thinking what you want to do next) also circles and serpintines (sorry spelling :() and as you have already been doing is little half halts.
This worked for my ex racer after having a few people say shorten your reins etc (he hated this) but the above worked wonders!! He also loved a loose contact. I would also school him on a hack as its more interesting :) xxx
 
Thank you! yes i have been trying bends & transitions etc, i think i am just impatient!!
& yes mine is an alflora foal, you'd be surprised how many there are out there!!
 
I struggled with my ex racer and his outline (and sometimes still do).

A nice well-rounded outline is really the end product of balanced, good riding and not the start of it. It may be something your doing? I am not putting down your riding ability at all but I think it's always good to check ourselves. Maybe have a lesson so someone can watch what you're doing? Or get someone to film you? It might only be something subtle that need rectifying in order to achieve a better communication with your horse.

Another thing to try - I found schooling mine using an equi-ami lunge aid, helped him to realise that is was more comfortable to go in an outline and it's not forced like it would be with draw reins and similar, it allows them to stretch down when they need to.

Also, I would check his teeth, back and tack too (if you haven't done already) in case he is hollowing as a reaction to pain.

Good luck :)
 
EKW said:
Alflora was a hugely popular sire. There are lot of decent ones. I rode one in training for a few years - best hunter on the planet!
Click to expand...

Reg is an Alflora baby- rubbish hunter, but pretty much the bees knees at everything else :D

I think the thing which bypasses a lot of people is offering the horse a really steady, consistent contact to work into, holding the bit properly in their mouths. It doesn't mean a strong contact, but just one he can work into without worrying about his mouth.
 
Equilibrium Ireland posted a very interesting article last week about this. Might be worth a search. Sorry can't do links :o
 
Try changing diagonals a lot when in trot so he has to keep changing which hind leg he pushed from, lots of transitions as others have said, changes of speed in pace, slow trot, fast trot, trot to halt, back up to trot etc. And set up obstacles for you to ride around, make different shapes, like gymkhana games, so you're constantly circling, figure eight, serpentine. Lunging over raised trotting poles, turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches. ETC ETC
 
Lots of leg to get him forwards. Lots of walk and trot transitions. Lots of circles. Lose the draw reins, because as you say, they have no effect when you take them off.

With mine, my instructor gets us working nice and relaxed, but still forwards. Long and low on circles. When he starts to stretch and bend and is more comfortable, I take up more of a contact.

Took me ages before I saw any real progress, but if they lack the correct muscles they will find it difficult to maintain.
 
I think the one thing that gets engagement, even if it is only temporary to begin with, is lots and lots of circles - so long as the bend is consistent, a circle of straight lines isn't any use. Don't start too small, a good 20m circle is best, then the inside hind has to step under and the weight gradually starts to shift. And a nice soft loose contact for him to reach in to so that he is working as long and low as you can get him - start at walk, have your hands higher than normal, soft contact and the instant he drops his head, give to him and praise him. Then at trot - you might only get a stride or two to begin with but give him lots of praise when he does it right, head low, reaching through from behind, all on the circle. You'l get there but it won't happen overnight.
 
Spiral in on a circle and then leg yield out of the circle and lots of transitions - transitions within the pace work well to - so not necessarily trot to walk, but just slowing down the walk and pushing it on again, and the same in the trot.
 
Why is everyone obsessed with circles??

It is lateral work that provides engagement, lift and cadence. Circles may help with consistency within the gaits but it doesn't do as much for engagement than lateral work does.

Too much circling has it's own problems.

Working on straight lines and transitioning has a better effect.
 
tallyho! said:
It is lateral work that provides engagement, lift and cadence. Circles may help with consistency within the gaits but it doesn't do as much for engagement than lateral work does.

Too much circling has it's own problems.

Working on straight lines and transitioning has a better effect.
Click to expand...

Lateral work is great, I agree, but it is a few stages on for most people. Circles are something everyone can do without much more training, and don't create proplems unless you do too many too small. I have helped a teenager's horse shorten its frame noticably by using large circles - lateral work would have been way beyond her. And you can begin learning lateral work from circles - shoulder in and leg yielding for example.
 
What JillA says. I would start very basic, just walking at first, lift the hands higher than normal, with your elbows bent, no fiddling with the reins/see-sawing or anything like that, try & get the slowest steadiest walk possible with half halts. He should gradually begin to drop his head as he does give your reins a little as a reward. Both our tbs went round with their heads in the air, it will come together. But I agree ditch the draw reins, if he's very sensitive to your leg use it so he gets used to it & doesn't think run off (one of mine used to do that) if he's dead to the leg, which I doubt, don't use it constantly as he'll just ignore it more! The other thing to check being an ex-racer is that all physical issues are checked as my mums ex-racer has always been sound but she struggled a bit with certain bits of schooling & she was found to have a kissing spine & issues in the sacrum of her spine so worth a check if he struggles.. Just so u know that he is able to do what you're asking.
 
And also I found with one of mine that a lot of it is to do with the way you sit.. Get someone to check you're sitting correctly, my boy would be all over the place if I was tilted forward etc
 
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