Relaxing a tense horse whilst schooling

[Teabelly]

I am after your help and ideas please.

I have a lovely rising 5 year old who is a lovely person if not a tad tense, no I'll rephrase that he is ubber tense when being schooled, my instructer feels that this is the result of being "produced " to sell in draw reins.
He had his head so tucked in he was touching his chest and was like this even in the stable, so we presume he had draw reins on in his stable.

Anyway moving on, he is learning now to stretch down at the end of a schooling session so we now know he is working correctly through his back and its lovely to see.
My problem is at the start of a session he just holds himself and I can feel his tenseness, I talk to him and offer my reins and in walk he is better, when we progress to trot it goes wrong, he tenses up and again I offer my reins to a certain degree but he is so quick off the leg I don't particularly feel safe as he would just go.

Yesterday I warmed up in walk and when he started to take the contact I went into trot, when I felt him tensing up I returned to walk and so on, I don't know if this is the right thing to do.

When he does let go he produced some lovely work and normally at the end of the lesson he feels great he has started to lengthen and light in my hands.

So I am looking for ideas on helping him relax , we can no longer lunge in our school which is a bummer, only in the field, and I would worry about him slipping when its so wet iut there.

His back and saddle are fine and he had his teeth checked last week where it was noted that his tushes are erupting so I appreciate that could have some bearing on this.

Does anyone have these out incidentally, or once they are through they don't present any problems.

Thanks in advance

 

[charlie55]

My boy is tense when we first go in the school but me holding the buckle of the reins and letting him have good stretch and a nose round he is normally fine. So i havent got any real advice im affraid. Its so so sad when people use draw reins in the wrong way. Poor horse x

 

[horseywelsh]

sounds like you are doing the right things, lots of baby felxions and allowing to stretch, plus lots of transistions with time. I think it will be a gradual process but keep up the good work and you will get there. Also hack out as well as school work.
Try doing some stretches with you on the ground with your horse, i.e. carrot trick, bend to left side tummy, bend to right, and between front legs. If that makes anysense.
Keep nice and relaxed in yourslef and talk quietly to horse, plus have lots of patience and you will get there.

Note to all people who use draw reins, this is one of many e.gs where they do NOT work, but cause more long term problems!!!

 

[connie1288]

My mare was a was a showjumper before i bought her and obviously lived in draw reins, she also doesnt take the contact to make life even more tricky. It is slowly coming but my instructor says it will come but will take upto a year, all mentioned above will help but at the end of the day time is a great healer.

 

[kerilli]

i think you're doing absolutely the right thing, going back to walk (even if it's only for a few strides or 1/2 a circle, say) when he tenses. i'd keep doing this. (with my girl i think of it as "defusing her"!)
if he's been worked so tight in draw reins that much he will associate schooling with pain (sore muscles etc) so it will take a LOT of calmness and patience and reassurance to over-write that in his mind and make him realise that it's fun, easy, and actually makes him feel good.
lots of zen moments for you (big deep breaths out if he starts getting tense), singing (stops you tensing up yourself, helps with rhythm), etc etc.
i'm in the same boat with my girl (again due to draw reins) but her answer is to invert and accelerate. not easy either, but we're getting there.
make sure his mouth is 100% comfy, you don't want him to have any more reasons to think schooling = pain. if his tushes are sore i'd have him in a hackamore for a while, personally.
hope that all helps.

 

[JenniferB]

My boy can get stupid tense, when I first get on he can be an absolute idiot - he looks for excuses to spook and arse around and generally do a good impression of a concrete horse - anything other than soften and work. Recently I've taken to walking quietly for 5 mins with some flexing then I pick up canter in a half seat and roll round the school a few times on each rein with a very soft contact. I find that after a couple of circuits he softens nicely and I can then go back to walk and trot work with a more relaxed and focussed horse. Might be worth a try?

 

[seabiscuit]

Have been solving the exact same problems recently with new trainer!

Ok so its all about letting the reins go nice and long, regulating the pace, then Flexing and circles, and moving their quarters-

Does the trick brilliantly-A lot of gentle flexing, and circles, flexing them, both ways, will encourage them to let go and relax. ( long reins). First do it in walk,go on a circle, and sit up, and slow the walk right down with your seat bones. Then you ask them to flex right round to one side ( letting the opposite rein soften and slip forward) and hold the arm there, as soon as you feel the horse let go and relax, you relax the arm. You can flex both ways like this, on a circle, and when they are listening and concentrating, you put the inside leg on behind the girth and ask them to move the quarters out whilst flexing at the same time, so you are doing a small sort of circle, pushing the quarters out. Hold the leg there until they accept the leg contact ( at first they will rush and get upset- because not fully accepting the leg is a classic sympton of a tense horse) but you keep the leg on until they relax and move the quarters over nicely.

Play about with that exercise for a while- still long reins- and if no better and they really are not listening or wanting to relax, you do a turn on the forehand ( in the same way that you did above, but on the same spot) asking them to flex to the inside and moving the quarters over to the outside so that they are turning on the forehand. Only letting go of the inside rein when they let go. Some horses you do have to go round and round for a good while.

At this point, most horses should start to understand and relax. If their ears are flicking, then that is a good sign, and shows that you do have a trainable horse that can be worked with. If they start to throw a complete paddy, rear, run backwards etc then unfortunately you apparently have a rather untrainable and difficult horse on your hands that is going to be a bit of a project!

I definately was not a fan of all this flexing before- hated having to use the hand and move the bit so much BUT have to say- the above technique REALLY works and my buzzy boy is now relaxed for the first time in his life, and soft and supple. Its all about showing them what to do , and taking control- because when they are being tense like that- THEY are taking control, which is not right!

ETS- Once above is done, you then trot and canter around on a loose rein doing figures of 8- and horse *should* be stretching down over his back and seeking to stretch the nose right out. Do a couple of weeks of that then you slowly start to ask the horse to come up and together ( gently) into a shorter frame. Soon as any tension appears, flex them, move the quarters.

 

[Teabelly]

Wow thanks for all the replies much appreciated.

I do do carrot stretches and he is a dab hand at this but will carry on doing so . so thank you fo the advice. He also does hack out and starts to relax after about 10 mins or so, he is so nosey.

Kerilli yes I was doing this last night deep breaths whilst giving him the rein and he did take it he is slowly getting it in walk its when we pick the pace up I think he gets excited and that coupled with his tenseness makes for an exciting ride.
I'm sure he has alittle discomfort in his mouth so yes good idea about hackamore will try that later.

JenniferB, yes I try to canter quitely but again he is so excited that it often doesn't seem very calming, he has such a huge canter stride it feels like we are going 100mph, when we have moments of collections he feels wonderful, like he is on tip toes, when on a 20m circle and in canter my instructer tells me to give my reins away and let him find his own balance and also to let him feel that he's not trapped, i think it works.

OB, thank you for your detailed reply, his ears are always flicking and I know that he does listen to me amd my instructer who I would say is quite hard but fair loves him because he does try for me, I think its a cae of him not always knowing what I am asking him to do and because he genuinely wants to get it right gets in a flap.

Yesterday I really concentrated in getting him to stretch down in walk and take the contact forward which he did, little plays with my fingers when I felt him stiffen and he then went low again, this in itself is a huge step forwards from where we were 6 months ago,after a period of about 10 mins of awfulness in trot , and it seemed liked for ever he then relaxed and trotted out beautifully even on his worse rein.

I am not in a hurry to go out comepeting on him , I have told my instructer we both need to be beyond ready and then we'll go out.

I guess its just patience and if it goes wrong not to react because tomorrow is another day.

I can remember when I first started to notice him lengthen his neck after lunging I prasied him, his neck suddenly shot back in, so I don't praise him anymore just give him lots of pats afterwards.

Its sad isn't it that people can put horses through this, I have bought him the equilibrium massage pad that he does love.