Schooling

lisan

lisan

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How long does it take before your horse will give/submit/accept the bit? I am fed up of having to have a battle every time, then I do get some nice work if I persevere. It takes 20 to 30 mins of asking and some evasions or had a right strop in canter tonight!! I did eventually win, and she gives and works nicely but why do I have to go through this every time I school?????
 
Kangaroo goes straight on the bit when I take up a contact in the school - she knows that I mean some work is in order...can't say that her canter is particularly good but we can fake a contact (she remains short and tight over her back and a bit head high). She does have a good mouth which helps I think and doesn't like to argue!
 
Wish May was more like her mum!!!! We are doing our first ODE of the year on Sat and am determined our dressage will NOT let us down!!! (its only unaffiliated at church farm, but its still stiff competition!) Going to get there nice and early and have a full 30 mins warm up, lets hope its not too hot!!
 
I find my horse goes much better when I don't 'battle' him but just have a soft contact and let him gradually stretch onto the bit by himself. Some instructors I know insist the horse goes on the bit as soon as you get on but with many horses this just makes them tense and resistant. Whereas if you allow the horse time to soften and relax and use clever exercises that require them to use and balance themselves then I find generally they come into a much nicer outline and then maintain it by themselves and benefit far more from the exercise rather than tensing and fighting.
 
Oh good luck for Saturday....I'm sure the other competitors will be hoping for some of your jumping talent to help them out. Perhaps you could paste that lovely dressage photo from your signature up to remind May that she can do it!
 
on a good day...which to be fair to him is most of the time...as soon as I pick up the contact. However, on a spooky day... could be never!!
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My gelding has just 'got' what I've been on about for the last few months and now goes sweetly onto the bit as soon as I pick the contact up. Previously he would only do so for a few strides at a time towards the end of the session and be very tense and resistant for the majority of the time.
My mare... she just doesn't!
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I find my horse goes much better when I don't 'battle' him but just have a soft contact and let him gradually stretch onto the bit by himself. Some instructors I know insist the horse goes on the bit as soon as you get on but with many horses this just makes them tense and resistant. Whereas if you allow the horse time to soften and relax and use clever exercises that require them to use and balance themselves then I find generally they come into a much nicer outline and then maintain it by themselves and benefit far more from the exercise rather than tensing and fighting.

[/ QUOTE ]

Always try that one first, make sure I have plenty of time and I am relaxed too, but it just don't happen with her! My instructor rides her quite reguarly too, and she has to have the battle too, as soon as she realises you won't give in to her then she will submit and feel lovely to ride. My instructor rode her on saturday and she was going sideways as an evasion, so instructor then kept making her go sideways, she soon clicked it was easier just to work properly!! You would have thought by now she would just accept that this is the way it is, but she always has to try and get out of it first!
 
At the risk of getting slapped for bringing gadgets into the equation...what about a bungee rein (just for a day or two). If May is an intelligent horse (which it sounds like she is), and doesn't haven't any physical reasons why she doesn't like to go on the bit, then she should realise that she can't come above the bit and poke her nose v quickly.

I have used one on my TB mare only about twice, and after literally about 2 circles where she ran in trot and shook her head, she decided to behave, and has been really consistent ever since. She realised that there was no point in fighting with it.

Worth a try once anyway.

NB - I don't lunge, but possibly other peeps use lunging in a pessoa or something to achieve the same thing.

Good luck for Saturday.

FIona
 
Thanks Fiona, yes I do have one of those and use it occasionally, she submits more or less straight away!!! Lil horror just likes to push me!!! I use it on nights when I don't want/have time for a battle!! Fantastic gadget!

Edited to say, can someone make me an invisible one for my dressage tests????
 
That's mares for you. They don't start a battle they know they can't win. Hence working beautifully in bungee. This applies to both my two mares.

If you find an invisible one let me know too.

Fiona
 
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