Schooling Advice for a horse which fights the contact...

[spotty_pony]

Basically, I have my pony for three years and his schooling has improved loads in the time I have had him, but he is still very reluctant to drop his head and accept the contact.

I ride him in a loose ring french link snaffle and he seems to go well in this except, he still resists the contact on his mouth and would rarther go along with his nose poking out! (I don't know how as he cannot lean on the bit as it is a loose ring!

)

His back, teeth, saddle, etc have all checked and are fine. So I know there are no problems there. I have tried riding him in a flash noseband as he sometimes opens his mouth to evade the bit but this doesn't seem to work either!

I think part of it is down to his general cheeky character but I know he has potential to go well, it's just really frustrating when he is always trying to be rebellious!

I have tried everything - had loads of lessons on him, instructor has ridden him and she seems to think the problem is that he is locking his jaw against the bit. I also lunge him regularly in side reins. I have been concertrating on exercises which get him bending such as circle work and spiralling in and out but I am now at a loss as to what to do next!

Any ideas/advice much appreciated

 

[Hanz]

Not giving him anything to fight against would be the obvious answer, make sure your not fighting him INTO the contact!

I would maybe try a different instructor as sometimes a different approach can work wonders.

 

[spotty_pony]

Thank you for the advice. Yes I have tried riding him into a more relaxed contact and this does seem to help but I have heard that they are not working in a true outline if you do not have a proper contact on the reins. Is this true?

 

[Libbyn1982]

A true outline is the horse carrying himself and not relying on the rider to basically 'hold him up' therefore correctly using his back end to create impulsion to send him forward into a contact by the hand. I find that I ride with slightly too long reins to try and stop fighting with B and for him to relax his neck and jaw. If I feel him tensing and evading the contact I push him forward into the hand and he will drop his head. My old horse used to lock his jaw up on me a lot too and it was the same with him, leg leg leg to push them into the hand. A flash should help as long as it's not too tight and restrictive. I also try opening my hand and holding them high and wider to encourage them to relax and drop the head - unsure if this is good practise but it seems to work!!!!

 

[OrangeEmpire]

Does he really need the flash for schooling? My TB used be very tense through the neck and jaw and along with an infinite amount of stretching exercises and suppling work I also found that by not strapping his jaw shut, he didn't tense so much.

I've also found that it is vital to keep my hands very still once he is carrying himself properly so that there is a clear distinction between me asking him to flex and the reward for doing it. Beware of fiddling too much. You should be asking him to flex left and right and try spiraling in and out of a circle to get him properly off the leg and through this you should find that he naturally softens, without you needing to fight him. whenever my TB tenses up I go back to the stretching left and right until he relaxes again. Much more effective than argueing.

 

[spotty_pony]

Thanks for the advice

orangeEmpire - No he has never worn a flash before until yesterday when I decided to try him with one to see if it made any difference. I could get away with not using one but when he tries to evade the bit he opens his mouth so I thought using a flash would help to stop him doing this.

I know what you mean about riding him forwards into a contact - I have found that arguing with him doesn't get me anyway and only makes him more determined not to listen to me!

 

[Lyndsay]

What to do is have the fight with him and show him that he must respect you but as soon as he starts to come down into an outline you must soften with your hands and allow him to come down from your leg.