struggling with an outline.. any tips?

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niaismyname

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ive recently started trying to develop a rounder outline with my loan pony, a 14.2hh cob, and he goes lovely in walk, but in trot we struggle to get an outline or him vaguely on the bit at all, and when i ask he slows right down and keeps his head in the air.

any hints/tips that can help us get a better outline?
thanks xx
 
Bit of a random thought really but I used to have this trouble as when I asked Darcy to trot, I gave with my hands faaar too much and gave away any contact that I had! Queue Darcy thinking "Ha! You lost it
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"

Anywho! Im conscious that I don't do that now! And then I just have to keep him motoring along behind and giving little tweaks on my outside rein to keep him balanced and it's slowly coming
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some photos of you working might help, but my feeling is that usually this is the consequence of you not using enough leg to keep the horse going forward and being over reliant on the rein to 'contain' the front.
 
Right, I don't often give advice, so bear with me, sorry if this makes no sense
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Remember working succesfully in an outline is mostly due to impulsion and energy from behind, working this energy forward into the hand. If you get them working from behind, but then 'give away' the contact by opening your hands or bringing them forward/up, (as mentioned above) my instructor says ( aka shouts at me every lesson
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) it's like putting all the radiators in the house on then opening all the windows
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If he's lazy, as it maybe sounds like he might be from the fact t he's dropping to walk, you haven't got him going forward enough?
Hope this helps
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He's on the fore hand, you need to engage his back end and get him working properly from behind and then he'll come in to a natural outline!


**whispers** bend your elbows
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Lovely little coblet BTW
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try half halting every 3 or 4 strides - it helps to keep their hocks engaged so they can work over their topline and down into the bridle.

you might have to make them really strong to start with until he gets the idea!
 
[ QUOTE ]
He's on the fore hand, you need to engage his back end and get him working properly from behind and then he'll come in to a natural outline!


**whispers** bend your elbows
tongue.gif


Lovely little coblet BTW
laugh.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Agree, more impulsion from behind needed, maybe a slightly longer stirrup and lift the hands/bend the elbows to keep you upright and central
 
Its really hard but its got to come from behind, forget the front and concentrate on getting him going forwards, his head will come down then. He looks lovely in walk but you do look like you are fixing your hands, sorry.
 
He needs to work more from behind. In the first picture, he isn't tracking up, he isn't 'on the bit', and isn't at all engaged behind. If you think about his back feet needing to go into the imprints the front feet left behind, you will see he is quite a ways off doing that. Same with the trot pictures, easier to see on the last photo as it is a straight side on view.

To work on this you need to be doing lots of transitions, get him 'sparky', use some direct halt to trot and walk to canter transitions as well, really get him working from behind, and contain in front using half halts. One exercise to use is a different transition at every school marker, soon wakes them up. You need to lift your hands, you should be looking for closer to a 90 degree bend in the elbow - if your arm is straight, which it nearly is, all the weight is going into the hands, and they will not be as soft as when the weight is dropped into the elbow, so you are looking for _l not / . I would pop your stirrups down a hole and get your leg a little further back so you can really wrap it around him.

Good luck!
 
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