tips for troublesome eventing pony's flatwork please!

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mollym

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I own a 14.2 Connemara x Exmoor pony. She is an ideal eventing pony for my daughter, but she has one downfall. Her flatwork and her manners are terrible. On the flat if she has to go anymore than 2 metres in trot she rushes. Stronger bits get her wound up. Her tests even for Intro level are 40+ which is terrible, and you can forget coming back to trot in a test after canter! She just will not relax and settle into a rhythm! Have tried everything we can think of to slow her down. please help! Thank you in advance:)
 
Okay, my baby pony was a rusher, and at all of 17hh and with limited steering it was amusing, to say the least!!!

Firstly the obvious - are teeth/back/saddle all okay?

With him it was mainly a balance issue - he would fall in round the corners, or get tired and fall onto the forehand, and if it got to that stage, there wasn't much you could do. So do plenty of strengthening work, hills, pessoa, lunging over poles etc :)

Secondly, you need to be fairly strict to deal with it. Count the strides in trot, and the SECOND she tries to go faster, halt, and either wait for her to centre her weight, or ask for a couple of strides of rein back before continuing. Work on really really slowing the trot using her rising :) Ride serpentines and small circles that will make it harder to charge off.

And agreed, lessons would help :)
 
Pigeon said:
Okay, my baby pony was a rusher, and at all of 17hh and with limited steering it was amusing, to say the least!!!

Firstly the obvious - are teeth/back/saddle all okay?

With him it was mainly a balance issue - he would fall in round the corners, or get tired and fall onto the forehand, and if it got to that stage, there wasn't much you could do. So do plenty of strengthening work, hills, pessoa, lunging over poles etc :)

Secondly, you need to be fairly strict to deal with it. Count the strides in trot, and the SECOND she tries to go faster, halt, and either wait for her to centre her weight, or ask for a couple of strides of rein back before continuing. Work on really really slowing the trot using her rising :) Ride serpentines and small circles that will make it harder to charge off.

And agreed, lessons would help :)
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Thanks for these tips! Much appreciated :) and agreed I have many more lessons booked for them before next season :p
 
I'm rubbish at dressage so probably not really that qualified to advise but I did find riding a 15-10 metre circle almost straight after the transition helped me to rebalance/steady up my pony who used to absolutely belt off in trot after cantering. Also teaching walk -canter - walk got him listening a bit more. Much better transitions now.
 
TarrSteps said:
Blunt but to the point. :)

You need to find a trainer who can work with them - if the pony is that established in that way of going it's not going to be a quick fix
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Sorry, didn't mean for it to come across so bluntly, I was just in a hurry to go out and was on phone!! :-)
 
I agree with the small circles. Pony will soon realise rushing gets her nowhere - other than round and round until she slows down. Reward for slowing down is to go back onto a straight line. Sorted mine out.
 
We had a very similar pony who turned out to be fab and went on the JRN squad to Weston Park 2 years runnning. But his dressage was sooo difficult. I agree with finding the right trainer. Once we did, they improved their marks by 10% from one year to the next. As well as having the right lessons, it can be really helpful to get a small competent adult to school the pony once a week to help break the cycle. Ponies are so strong minded. Once they have got used to going in a certain way, they are not inclined to change. Good luck. Its hard work, but worth it. My daughter spent many cold, dark hours after school, working on his flatwork, but it paid off.
 
My aunt had a mare as a teenager, jumping machine! But dressage? They would get 6's until the first canter, then 2's and 3's. She was always best either straight off the box or trotted for two hours. I used to find this amusing, until I ended up with one almost identical (karma huh!)
Anyway, lots of walk seems to help, quiet transitions up to trot, then back to walk again, then halt, then walk, lateral work, loops, anything to keep the overactive brain engaged! Outings are a nightmare as the warm up area is terrifying for me and too exciting for her,so we are trying to find our own coping strategy. One puzzle after another!
Another thing I do find is that my mare is harder to ride when she is unfit/weak/tired as she is a lot less receptive to any suggestions. Keep schooling sessions short and well rewarded. Good luck!
 
Change direction continually- lots of serpentine, small loops, start teaching some lateral work, incorporate lots of transitions- down to walk for a stride, straight back up to trot. Put poles down off corners to work over and then randomly place around school to make pony drop head and think. Never think straight line and Always be one step ahead!

If she hacks out- do the same out hacking. Trot walk trot etc. Transitions can be improved and practiced on the lunge- this can make a huge difference to riding her! Good luck :)
 
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