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lucy1984

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In order for a horse to bring it's head in when being ridden, should they be working from 'behind' in order to do this?

If I bring her head in through hand communication on the reins alone, then will she get a hollow back right?

what does it mean when a horse brings it's head in? -are they 'on the bit'??

Am I making any sense? I have a 3 year old that is broken (2 months into being ridden) and if you look at the picture below this is her usual head position...
 
When a horse has it's head up it can't round it's spine properly and is called hollow.

Getting the horse to come onto the bit is generally better when you ask the horse to step under himself and work from his hind quarters. You ask for power from teh back legs and contain the power st the front with the reins. it's called working between leg and hand.

If you use reins alone to bring your horses head in then this is forcing him into it,

The difference between being on the bit and bringing his head in with the reins only is the when a horse is on the bit...if you relax your hands he stays in the same outline therfore you are not creating the outline the horse is naturally working in an outline.

If he is not working properly from his hind quarters then when you release your contact his head will pop straight back up.
 
also lunging with side reins help to establish the muscle tone needed to carry the correct outline.

Sorry I didn't read the age of your horse properly.

it is highly likely that the horse has not yet developed the correct muscle tone in order to carry her self yet
 
thanks for your reply, how can i get her to work from her hind quarters? is this just a matter of pressing the accelerator down aswell as the brake pedal? lol

or will this just come naturally through muscle build up? What do you think to the pessoa system?
 
It's better for the horse's back to be on the bit or on the vertical... basically, imagine a straight line from the ground to the sky, your horse's face (forelock to mouth line) should be parallel to this imaginary line. Don't be behind the vertical as that would be more similar to Rollkuer...

At the same time, you need the hindlegs to step under, so that the back is no longer hollow.

Need to find the pics somewhere...
 
oh rollkuer! I saw a youtube video of that with anky riding one of her dressage horses, it made my neck feel uncomfortable just watching it! How awful!
 
I'm no pro, but if any 3yo of mine was going forward in canter as nicely as yours after just 2 months, I'd just work on building up its musculature and the rest would (hopefully) follow...
 
grin.gif
Thank you, I think that was her 3rd time at cantering! For the time being I'm just letting her get used to it all and getting her balance. The real work starts next year when she is 4! cant wait lol not going to start jumping her till she is around 5 years old though. I love her!
 
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