Schooling a Tight/Tense Horse

[EquiiNat]

Hi all, looking for some advise on improving my mare's schooling! She is a very 'fizzy' type of horse, incredible jumper but we really struggle with the dressage. She is very tense and tends to hold all this tension in her front end. Her natural head carriage is high with her neck short and tight. Because of this I really struggle to get her on any kind of soft outline...she works in an outline when she is calm enough but has her neck still very short and tight instead of stretching her nose forward into a loose frame. This makes her trot work very short and choppy and she just doesn't 'swing' or track up well.

I have been working on getting her reaching down on a long rein in walk and trot (as naturally she still carries her head high on a loose rein) and this has been improving, yet as soon as I pick up the reins you feel her back and neck muscles clench and her stride shortens and she just fights you constantly. She often works well in the first 5 minutes of a session and then starts to lose it. Also she stops working as soon as I give her a break to stretch her neck. Like as soon as I pick up the reins again she is uncooperative even if she was working well a minute before.

It's not an issue of her not understanding as on a good day she can work beautifully, and she works really well in her Pelham as well but when I put on a snaffle and take off the martingale she just stops trying.

So really looking for training exercises/different ways of riding/anything to try and get her in a better frame and not throwing her head in the air and going tense! We're doing a BE100 in 3 weeks and I'm determined not to finish at the bottom in the dressage!!

Oh and before anyone asks, she's had her saddle/teeth/back done etc they're all perfect. She has physio every 3 months to help loosen her muscles and the physio says she makes herself very tight by the way she holds herself, but I never really feel any improvement after shes had physio.
And I've had her 3 years so don't answer saying she will improve with time as progress has been very slow the last few years!

I've just bought a pessoa too do you think that will hep her?

Thanks in advance

 

[vanessa9360]

I also have one the same, I use a pessoa for 10 minutes at a time 3 times a week which helps. But I have found she is a "20" minutes horse. I warm her up do 5-10 minutes then she gets uptight so I stop and either do something else with her and then go back and do another 10 minutes. Or I ride her twice. This has really helped and I am finding her training sessions are getting longer before we get "arsy" also I have found giving her magnesium oxide has helped as well.

 

[Kylara]

Hi, couple of thoughts - firstly lunging, if she gets giraffey and tight a good thing to use would be a chambon, set it lightly at first until she gets the hang of it. It will encourage her to work long and low and stretch out her back.
Second, it sounds as if she gets tense in the school. Instead of getting on her, take her into the school and hold the reins near the bit just walk around the school, change directions a lot. You don't really want to pull her along and as you walk randomly around slowly give her more rein so you end up holding the reins near the buckle. This is a technique that helps her relax, every so often stand still and she should stop too, then start walking again, keep changing direction, keep chilled and calm. It may take you a half hour to get the result of her relaxing. Once you get that leave the school. Keep doing this until she gets to the relaxex and calm stage in about 10-15 minutes. The do the same exercise on top. So walk her in hand until she is relaxed and calm and then hop on, on a long rein walk around the school randomly, change direction a lot until she is relaxed and calm. Then hop off and finish. Keep doing this until the ridden effect is achieved in 10-15 minutes. You can then either keep doing the in hand bit or cut that out and juat do the ridden bit. Once she is consistently chilling out with this exercise you can start doing you schooling once she is relaxed - keep initial schooling sessions short. And do the same at the end of your session. She will hopefully become less stressed and tight when in the school and will associate it with relaxing and nothing to get stressed and tight about

 

[Sheep]

Have you got a good instructor? I know that probably sounds patronising and sorry if I missed it in your original post, but the right person can make an incredible difference. My bf's mare is very similar to what you describe, and the input from a well trained pair of eyes on the ground is absolutely invaluable.

 

[chestnut cob]

Have you got a good instructor? I know that probably sounds patronising and sorry if I missed it in your original post, but the right person can make an incredible difference. My bf's mare is very similar to what you describe, and the input from a well trained pair of eyes on the ground is absolutely invaluable.

This.

Mine can be v tight and tense. He's can be quite an anxious, excitable little horse and it can be a case of trial and error to find the best way to work him. Mollycoddle him too much and his cheeky pony "now I know what I can get away with" side comes out, but if you're too strict then he gets more upset, then he gets offended (who knew a horse could be offended!), then he can't calm down again. Was actually having a discussion with my instructor this morning about how best to deal with him when he's in one of his moods, as he gets tense and stiff so needs to be worked in the right way to loosen him up and calm him down. I couldn't do all of that on my own, I do sometimes need to get heads together with someone else.

 

[paulineh]

A lot of long slow lunging with something like an "Equi Ami" this gets them to work through their back. Also learn some stretching exercises and some massage movements.

If she becomes tense when ridden look into having both her back and saddle checked.

You say that you see no real improvement after a physio session. You could look at having her seen by a Good equine Chiropractor, they work differently to a physio and this could help.

Depending were you are then there is a very good chap in my area.

 

[khalswitz]

Agree on the instructor.

My lad used to be awful, but we persevered with no gadgets, doing lots of bending work - neck flexion, shoulder in, alternating 10m circles down the centre line, serpentines, changing from inside to outside bend and back again on a 20m circle... And keeping riding very positively forward with lots of leg, and other than having a contact, leaving his head alone.

Now he's getting high 60's at Novice and is a totally different horse. When he reverts back to tension at new show grounds or when he's feeling nervy, I just go into alternating circles, throw in some SI, and keep riding him forward.

 

[EquiiNat]

Vanessa9360: That sounds very much like my horse! I will try regular, short pessoa sessions to see if that helps. I think I will alspo try schooling for a little bit, then going on a walk (we have tracks round the yard which I usually use after I school to walk her off) then come back and try again for a bit.
I have her on a Top Spec calmer at the moment, may look into other options though. Thank you

 

[EquiiNat]

Kylara: Thank you for your reply, I may try that as she does get stress and excitable very easily and then doesn't calm down very easily

 

[EquiiNat]

Sheep, khalswitz and chestnut cob: yes the lady who runs my yard is a qualifieds instructor and an eventer, I have regular dressage lessons with her and she is great as she knows my horse very well now. She has given me some tips that have helped but neither of us seem able to really get her going in a relaxed, loose way. Sometime in our lessons, if she is on a good day, we can get her working quite nicely but other days she just doesn't want to co-operate. She is the kind of mare who is different every time I ride her, so she could go well in a lesson and then I get on the next day to try the same exercises and she is awful or vice versa.
I have had loads of lessons with other instructors but they have all been less heloful as they didn't know my horse so well so didn't really work on stopping her getting tense.

 

[chestnut cob]

Something that has helped mine is in hand work. Some of Marike De Jong's in hand schooling is superb http://academicartofriding.com/

I've done IH work for years but was having various issues with my current horse last year so started working through the straightness training course on that website. Asking the horse to stretch down then flexions to either side at halt, then moving off into walk, and then eventually moving on to lungeing really helped to calm him down generally about schooling. He has a short neck and had a huge muscle underneath so it took him ages to understand the concept of stretching his neck down. Those exercises helped a lot as it allowed him to get the hang of it in halt, then calmly and quietly in walk, in just a headcollar, without any stress, tack or a rider. Also I do in hand lateral work which gets him really using himself properly without the added weight of a rider, and I can see exactly what he is and isn't doing. Also means if he gets stressy / tense about things, when the head goes up, when I'm on the ground I have the ability to ask gently with the reins for him to soften and stretch the neck back down, and so release his back again (with him, the head goes up, the back tenses, stiffens and dips). It's taken a while but he's now stretching down properly when ridden too, in both W & T, and I can work him a bit more up (and we're not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, competing Prelim and starting to school at just about Nov I'd say at home) and then let him stretch for a few strides, then back up, and so on.

Transitions within the pace, esp canter, also help him to settle and soften immensely.

 

[Pinkvboots]

What is she like going over poles? I only ask as you say she does not track up in the trot and this will help her get the back end working then help her soften, have you tried some lateral work ? Shoulder in, leg yeild and turn on the forehand all help to get a supple back and get them stepping over and under more, starting on a large circle then making it smaller then larger and so on.

 

[Marydoll]

Id get a good massage therapist out to give her a good going over to loosen off the tight areas, your horse sounds just like my wee buzzy tb who always went better after massage, her back saddle etc were all fine she was just a "wired" horse.
The arc equine onhjer used to settle her head down as well

 

[vanessa9360]

I find naf oestruss good and magnesium oxide brill, I had a lesson from Chris battle ages ago (won as a prize) and he also suggested riding her in a slight 2point seat more to allow her to soften her back that works wonders.

 

[Sheep]

Sheep, khalswitz and chestnut cob: yes the lady who runs my yard is a qualifieds instructor and an eventer, I have regular dressage lessons with her and she is great as she knows my horse very well now. She has given me some tips that have helped but neither of us seem able to really get her going in a relaxed, loose way. Sometime in our lessons, if she is on a good day, we can get her working quite nicely but other days she just doesn't want to co-operate. She is the kind of mare who is different every time I ride her, so she could go well in a lesson and then I get on the next day to try the same exercises and she is awful or vice versa.
I have had loads of lessons with other instructors but they have all been less heloful as they didn't know my horse so well so didn't really work on stopping her getting tense.

I know this probably isn't the ideal answer, but mine was the same until I found the right instructor

 

[abb123]

I have one like this. She is a bit of an extreme case and we have had some health issues that contributed to it (had intermittent colic and mouth problems on top of having been schooled very much behind the vertical before I had her - she was a hugely stressed out girl and would be dripping with sweat after 10 mins in school) but this is what I did/do and she is much much happier and better now:

1. Never school for more than 20 mins. 10 mins if she is good. If she is bad then I try and find a positive note to end on asap. Every schooling session should be as positive as possible. I also try and give her regular week/2week breaks and never more than 2-3 sessions a week - slow progress but must be patient!

2. Got a very good instructor.

3. Forgot about head and tracking up for a bit and worked on straightness and balance at a very slow pace. So lots of riding diamond shapes and shoulder in.

4. Once straightness and balance better she felt a bit more confident in general in the school.

5. Contact and releasing tension: worked her deep and round on circle and started to step up the pace gradually. Not worried about outline but just looked for the feeling of stretching down through the bridle looking for a contact. Kept this to 1-2 mins max with walks in between and always to the max 20 min school rule.

6. Once we could get the stretching feeling then started asking for changes of direction and bend whilst keeping the stretch, balance, pace and with no tension.

7. Started bringing her more up and in a more on-the-bridle outline. If at any point she got tense in her neck and behind the vertical, I return to the stretchy, deep and round, circle to reinforce the relaxed way of going with a contact.

I always look at the first few minutes as a reflection of how the training is going as she gets progressively worse as the schooling session goes on. I can pretty much school her normally now (within the 20 mins max - still not got further than that!) with a nice relaxed correct outline and taking up a contact with no tension in neck/front end. It has taken about 5 years to get to this point as we have had a lot of setbacks and it is still very much work in progress. But I do feel like we are getting somewhere now and I have learnt a huge amount in the process. I should add that we had all the vet/saddle/teeth etc checks done at the start.

 

[khalswitz]

I know this probably isn't the ideal answer, but mine was the same until I found the right instructor

Ditto. And I LOVED (and now we are settled use again for jumping) my old instructor, but nothing improved until I started using a different instructor.

 

[Chirmapops]

I must say, all of the exercises Khalswitz suggested are brilliant for getting a horse to carry itself properly, particularly changing from inside flexion to outside flexion on a circle and back again.

 

[silvershadow81]

I have one of these horses. She has been described to me as 'exhausting to watch' and 'if she was human would be in a lunatic asylum' - by a PSG instructor!

Fine to walk out on the buckle, but anticipation and tense the moment you start to just THINK about picking the reins up.

The Pelham is working on the poll, so easier to encourage them to lower head, hence why you are getting issues when switching to the snaffle. Agree the passoa is invaluable encouraging them to work long and low through their back.

To get softness in the back, the head will need to be lowered. When ridden, start stood still. Take the reins out (so wide apart and low) to encourage horse to lower head, putting pressure on the outside of the mouth, stay like that until the head lowers, then relax and start playing with the reins to keep the interaction going. the moment the head raises, widen reins and repeat. Horse should get the idea quickly (if bright) then move into walk, making sure the head stays low, if it doesn't, halt and repeat with wide reins. horse really needs to accept the contact, yet stay relaxed.

Lots of circles has helped, loads and loads. Sounds crazy but keep them moving forwards on circles, keep changing direction, keep them small then spiral out, changing reins.

Once you have established in walk, try trot, take back to walk the second the head comes up and they go tense. Get the head lower again then ask again.

it is tedious, but has really helped my mare.

Oh, fluffy nosebands will not be the solution for Dressage, but will help lower head (and relax back) when at home.

Good luck xx

 

[Laafet]

Pretty much sounds like my Connie boy. We got accused of doing Rollkur at my last yard as it is his default position when he gets tense. For the last three weeks, I have been trying to do everything on a long rein, he is very good off the leg and will turn, circle and stop off leg and seat alone. Which makes it so frustrating that once we pick the reins, he goes uptight. He was in a riding school/hunt hireling yard and I think it probably is how he has been encouraged to go. Anyway, after 3 weeks he is now great in walk in a contact, most of time is offering long and low in trot, canter is still a work in progress but I don't want to do too much to that as he gets his best marks for canter. I have also introduced pole work, both inhand and ridden. I can't do the 'pony on a string' thing due to his operation but have considered trying to get him trained to long reins to help continue the pole work without the stress of having me on board. That might be entertaining as his approach to lungeing is rather interesting, I suspect that he didn't get that lunged too much when he was broken in! We have some really useful pole pods that you can raise the poles with too.