Teaching an older horse

[littlen]

Well I have been working very hard with the horse that was 'dumped' on me and he is slowly but surely starting to come right.
I am tackling things one step at a time and have some things under control now

He is a lovely fella but has the mental age of a 3 year old not the approx 10-11 years he is.

I am now thinking ahead to the summer and I plan to do some serious work to get him looking and feeling better and I really would love to take him out and about (not possible at the moment as he has no concept of schooling, working well, and is fat still)
He needs to tone up drasticly and has no topline or muscle at all, and he still has a grass belly in february.

So has anyone had experiences of starting to school a horse that has never ever been schooled before, particulally one that is slightly older?

What excersises could I do that would be easy for him to learn and easy for me to teach (I am no professional rider!) Maybe I am pushing it here but I would love to do some low level dressage at some point

What excersises are good for building topline and muscle? At the moment he wont hack alone well so thats a no go.
He has also never been taught to lunge and just flies around in a circle aimlessly.

Also pushing it again, but has anyone ever tried to teach a horse to jump that has never jumped before (I am not talking SJ here, just popping a log out hacking) How did you manage it?

 

[MontyandZoom]

It is a slightly different situation but Zoom was 11 when i got her and had done nothing but polo. She would just rush around when schooling. I just had to be patient and did lots and lots and lots of circles and transitions. Also lots of pole work to get her working from behind.

Have you tried long-reining? I find this really helped Zoom to develop topline and it also may make him more confident hacking out.

Zoom only has one eye but has taken to jumping like a duck to water! I have to admit, I didn't really teach her to jump particularly, just started walking her over small logs then following a friend's horse over in trot etc. We then went to a local mini xc and went from there. Good luck!

 

[Hoppa]

I'd start by tackling getting him to lunge sensibly.
The easiest way to do this, to have a helper.
Attach the lunge line in the normal way, have someone walk around with a leadrope by his head. This way you can introduce him to the concept that he doesn't HAVE to fly around, also get him used to the correct circle distance etc.
Horses new to lunging you will need to use both the lunge whip AND your voice, until he learns to recognise the commands. Don't do too much as lungeing is strenuous and always finish on a good note once he has learnt something new and properly. When he does something correctly give him plenty or praise.

Eventually lungeing with side reins/ chambon/ pessoa/ long reining will all be excellent ways to build topline. I think you are quite a way off needing to worry about dressage moves

 

[littlen]

Thankyou, both great ideas!

I have not tried long reining but its something I would be willing to have a go at!

He will lunge nicely at times, others he will fly around being silly. He does not work from voice commands therefore it is hard to get him to stop or speed up. He will also not canter on the lunge or in the school, he just trots faster and faster!

I know he is a long way from dressage lol, just thoughts for the next few years. I just want him working nicely in a rough outline this summer if i can work out how to manage it so he looses some weight and builds some muscle ready for the future so he can possibly do some other stuff. I know he will never be a superstar but we can hope