Schooling a Veteran - any tips?

[Orangehorse]

For lots of various reasons I have only been hacking my horse for the last couple of years, apart from a bit of schooling along the lanes.

He got more and more awkward about going in circles so in the end I left it, having had 2 vet examinations couldn't find anything, although I suspected slight hock problem. He is OK on hacks and is sound, never felt lame.

Having started him on a joint supplement and afer taking him to a Veteran In hand class, I thought I might try and enter some ridden veteran next year.

Schooled him today in the field to find that he thinks the bit is there to lean on so I have to do the work of holding him up! He has always had a tendancy to go on the forehand, he has a long neck and big shoulder, so was always hard work keeping him up together, though he could do it once!

So bearing in mind that I have to be gentle with him and not too demanding, any good ideas. I did lots of transitions today, mostly in walk/halt/walk with some trotting circles, and he had improved just after that short time! I don't want to overdo it and have him go sour.

 

[ester]

Plenty of warming up, I would make sure we'd had a good canter (obv walk and trot first) on both reins on a long rein before asking for anything up together, followed up with some very light (so very shallow angle) leg yield and shoulder in in walk just to get things bending.
Keep circles big and easy, understand that they might struggle to take too much weight behind however well they are going. Frank until recently was doing one session a week max just to keep him supple, and probably at least 20/25 mins was 'warm up frame' if that makes sense then 10-15 mins a bit more demanding work. He did until recent issue (annular ligament) thrive off doing this and hacking the rest of the week as it seemed enough to keep his body in good order, well physio was pleased anyway!
I would also highly recommend you look at straightness training - this essentially is classical in hand work in an easier to understand format that makes sure that you get the basics right. Who knew walking a circle could be so complicated but excellent for them and you awareness, eveness and muscle tone which helps when the other bits are getting stiff.

 

[paddi22]

long line over raised poles and also inhand exercises like carrot stretches are great for getting them flexier

 

[daydreamer]

I agree with a lot of what ester said. With my 21 year old I often do a lot of mooching about in walk on a long rein first, including in trot and canter if I can - you may find this hard if yours leans. Other times I warm up using work in a light seat to get him working over his back. An exercise i quite like is to trot on a loose/no rein (nothing to lean on!) and alternate between 5 strides rising and 5 standing straight in the stirrups. This helps to get them forward and loosened up and hopefully encourages them to swing through their back a bit more. One instructor i had poo-poohed the idea of just "walking aimlessly" to warm up and said i should do walk serpentines but increasing the number of loops each time so the turns ended up tight. The nect should be kept long and you can introduce halts across the CL.

In the (short ) window you get for "proper" work any suppling exercises should help.
Lateral work is great if he can do it, as well as the normal LY/SI/quarters in I have found walk pirroutes to change the rein (*not* pretty!) really work. This weekend my instructor had me doing shoulder fore on the straight bits of a 3 loop serpentine, very tricky but helped unlock the ribcage. Also loops along the long side (not sure if you have an arena set up?) are good. You can vary the depth and when supple enough can do circles at the start and end.

I quite like riding half 10m circles at the end of a long side then aiming back to the track (like an ice-cream cone!) and doing this back and forth along the same long side. You can introduce some walk LY as you go back to the track too.

The other thing i would suggest if you haven't already is having some sort of body-worker see your horse. I had a physio out to mine a few months ago. She treated him and then gave me some exercise which i diligently did for about 3 months (I forgot to ask when i should stop! oops) and my horse has been going so much better since.

Occasionally i find it frustrating that I don't have a flashy young horse and that i have to spend lots of time warming up but I try to tell myself that it helps my understanding of fitness and what exercises are effective and why! I guess it helps that I love schooling

Hope the showing goes well!

 

[Orangehorse]

Thank you people, that has been very helpful. I was hoping that if we get on OK I might be able to take him to some lessons again, but it is a bit far off at the moment. He hasn't been seen by a physio for quite some time, so that is something that needs doing.