Schooling help please

[Gorgeous George]

Hi
I wonder if you could give me some ideas for schooling exercises for my new man. He is only 8 and despite having done xc and sj with his previous owner I don't think he's done a lot of schooling and as a result he is not very well or evenly muscled and has a terrible job with circles (not round, not bending and falling out) and although he will stop with a light-ish hand (and legs and seat) he then throws his head up. Also when he goes into canter he tends to run and when you ask him to circle he really struggles and finds it easier to try to zoom off instead!! I am not expecting much at the moment I just want to try to make things interesting for him in the school so he doesn't get bored or sore. It is probably because I am a cr*p rider and he's a big horse, but I love him to pieces and nothing will change that

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[eventing_kid]

Hi

It sounds like you have a very nice horse that is just in need of some correct work. To help with the bend and to improve his circles, try lungeing him before you ride him, if you are not confident in your own riding to know if what you doing whilst on top is making any diferance then try to do less on top and more on the floor. When you school him next, try wearing a loose pair of draw reins to try and get him more consistent in his out line. When you ask him for canter, try and slow the trot down as much as you can, almost break into walk and just before he does ask for canter. hope this helps, any other probs just pm me.

 

[ColleenIsh]

If your not confident in riding ... I wouldnt use draw reins like previous poster has said, no offence .

Perhaps this horse has been using the wrong muscles and now that you are wanting him to work better for you he may just maybe a little sore or tense .

I would gradually bring him into work, possibly lungeing with 2 lines or possible working him in a pessosa or other training aid ( again with someonr who knows how they work , im not saying you dont lol )
Or take him along for a lesson with a good riding instructor who can watch you from the ground .

 

[jumpthemoon]

I ditto the above - I wouldn't use draw reins, no offence, again, but if the horse is struggling, forcing him into a false outline is not going to help, it will only make him more sore. Work on getting him listening to you, lots of transitions and big circles unitl he finds his balance. I would definitely recommend having a few lessons - just to give you an idea of how to help him. Good luck!

 

[Llwyncwn]

I would go right back to basics. Get him listening to you while schooling a simple walk and trot test which will involve circles and transitions. Halt at different markers around the school for varying lengths of time, do 5m and 10m circles, also half 10 from B to X and half 10m from X to E. Leg yield and shoulder in are good suppling exercises. What bit are you using? Perhaps if he is hollowing and throwing his head up you could try a softer bit for schooling, or is he resisting your hand?

 

[aimeerose]

as everyone else has said i would focus in the basics and prehaps do some lunging with him a couple of days a week to build up his back without weight on it and to help him learn to balance himself.

i have found a bungee very useful for helping horses to soften and work into a lighht contact - its independent of your hands and is elastic so not to restrictive. either used riden or lunging.

 

[WeeBrown]

He sounds very similar to my horse with regards to schooling experience, although my girl is only 5. This is what we're doing at the moment:
She has three 30 min lessons a week at the moment (I share her with OH so one of us has two of the lessons and the other has one, week after we swap). Even though she cantered circles and jumped when we viewed her, we are taking her back to basics at the moment with lots of walk and trot. She will do perfect (almost) circles on the left rein but rushes at trot on the right. So far we have done lots of walk with changing rein and circles, walk to trot/trot to walk transitions, got her to slow her trot down, done stopping at various markers and done some curves off the track and then straight down the long side before curving back to the track.
Hope that helps a bit, seems to echo what some of the others have said. The lessons have really helped us, so this might be way to go with yours. I also get lessons at a separate riding school once a week (group) and a couple of times a month private because I do need them!