Schooling tips for laid-back young cob!

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ElliePippa

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I was wondering if anyone had any tips for improving my young horses way of going and general 'sparkle'!.

Mare is a 5 year old coloured cob type. In all honesty is a little overweight, but certainly nothing gross or huge. Broken as a late 3 year old and mainly just hacked about since then. Tried to really get going with some light schooling this year- canter and canter transitions are our biggest problem. To be fair, she has improved massively since January, can now offer a clean transition some days rather than a fast trot and loosing all sense of direction!

However, she is so inconsistent with her way off going on different days. I only ever hack as we have no school, so any schooling is in hilly fields or across tracks. Some days she is forward and light and will pop into a canter (though still very babyish). Other days (like today when we went to a schooling clinic!!), she was flat, dead to the leg, not working from behind and canter just simply didn't happen.

I'm also getting mixed advice- One instructor is very pro "short reins, lots of leg and transitions, get her almost jogging before an upward transition", then other advice is "soft hand, small amount of leg then tap with whip and let her find her balance to go forwards". I know that I don't always help as I start to lean forwards as the running into canter begins and it all gets very messy!!

Transitions certainly help but other than that I'm at a bit of a loss of how to truly get her forwards and working into the bridle- any advice?

Thanks in advance. :-)
 
Schooling out hacking is great but will not always help with consistency as there are too many variants involved but there is still plenty you can do, the fitter she is the easier she will find it to work correctly and certainly it will help the canter if she is fit and slim.

I am between both of your advisers, relatively soft hand with light leg aid but getting them a little wound up and anticipating can be useful at times to help keep them in front of the leg and jumping into the transition.

I would use the hills to establish a really good strong trot, get her taking you up in a rhythm and almost pulling you as she pushes from behind, if she drops behind the leg flick with your schooling whip immediately after using a little extra leg, once she can power up start to do several transitions on the way, she should, if she has learnt how to push, be ready to go back into trot almost as soon as you walk take advantage of this and send her on, after a few transitions she should in theory be carrying herself better and become sharper to your aids.

Once the trot has become more expressive, balanced and forward start to do trot canter trot on the way up, keep the canters short, do a transition to trot before she drops back, as soon as she is rebalanced in trot ask for canter again, repeat until you get the feeling that she could remain in canter for longer and then reduce the trot and increase the canter length, it will take weeks of you being consistent for her to become more balanced, forward and her fitness levels should improve immensely.

After a month or so doing this type of work she should find it far easier to work in a school, if you can get to one now and again the same exercises can be done but instead of using the hill use circles to help getting her stepping under and pushing from behind do the transitions on a 10-15m circle, a couple of sessions doing polework would also be useful and help keep her interested.

When just hacking give her a few longer canters if she is up for it, get out of the saddle, let her bowl on and have some fun.
 
be positive said:
Schooling out hacking is great but will not always help with consistency as there are too many variants involved but there is still plenty you can do, the fitter she is the easier she will find it to work correctly and certainly it will help the canter if she is fit and slim.

I am between both of your advisers, relatively soft hand with light leg aid but getting them a little wound up and anticipating can be useful at times to help keep them in front of the leg and jumping into the transition.

I would use the hills to establish a really good strong trot, get her taking you up in a rhythm and almost pulling you as she pushes from behind, if she drops behind the leg flick with your schooling whip immediately after using a little extra leg, once she can power up start to do several transitions on the way, she should, if she has learnt how to push, be ready to go back into trot almost as soon as you walk take advantage of this and send her on, after a few transitions she should in theory be carrying herself better and become sharper to your aids.

Once the trot has become more expressive, balanced and forward start to do trot canter trot on the way up, keep the canters short, do a transition to trot before she drops back, as soon as she is rebalanced in trot ask for canter again, repeat until you get the feeling that she could remain in canter for longer and then reduce the trot and increase the canter length, it will take weeks of you being consistent for her to become more balanced, forward and her fitness levels should improve immensely.

After a month or so doing this type of work she should find it far easier to work in a school, if you can get to one now and again the same exercises can be done but instead of using the hill use circles to help getting her stepping under and pushing from behind do the transitions on a 10-15m circle, a couple of sessions doing polework would also be useful and help keep her interested.

When just hacking give her a few longer canters if she is up for it, get out of the saddle, let her bowl on and have some fun.
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Thank you so much be positive that's really brilliant advice.. will give it a go! Felt a bit disheartened after this mornings clinic but must push on! :)
 
FfionWinnie said:
Is she better or worse after time off?
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To be completely honest she's never really had a lot of time off.. Even the winter after she was broken she still went for short hacks every couple of weeks.

She was very nappy out hacking after she was broken and as a 4 year old but that's no longer an issue apart from some bending towards and slowing when going past a gate in a school or if she's spooking etc. Sometimes she's a bit perkier if she has a few days off in between rides, other times she's more switched off.

Any time she's had a week or so off she becomes a bargy demon to handle!
 
I meant a day off or a few days off. You say sometimes she is forward and sometimes she isn't. My PSSM horse is not forward if she hasn't received regular exercise or if her diet isn't right. PSSM is a glycogen storage disorder and many cobs and draft breeds are affected (and not diagnosed). It's something I would consider in any horse which struggles to work consistently. Of course there are many other reasons but your post pricked my ears.
 
No not really. It depends on diet and other things how obvious it is. Just keep it in mind if you continue to find her not performing consistently.
 
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