Training methods for horse with high head carriage

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coloredred

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How would you go about getting a horse that naturally works with its head high to drop and work through its back and properly round?

Said horse can and will stretch down in trot out on a hack while working from behind without really being asked. Any other time, schooling for example, he's very good at making himself look pretty but doesn't really lift his back. After having a new saddle two weeks ago he has started to drop his neck a little and relax. Teeth, back and everything else checked out. He's just always worked inside out.

Forgot to add he's lunged with draw reins through his legs and over his back and works properly like this.
 
What breed is your horse?

I have a gelderlander and I have this problem. My hose is built very upright, and naturally goes about his daily business 'above the bit'. I've had my horse a couple of years and I've worked continously to encourage him to change his way of going, and it is improving, but we've got a long way to go before I can enter a dressage comp and not get several 'above the bit' comments! For my horse there is no quick fix solution, but over time, by retraining his muscles and by showing him another way, he is learning.

I use a pessoa for 15 mins twice a week, and I also do quite a lot of lunging over raise poles, as my horse is happy to really stretch down over these and he enjoys this. I've avoided riding in draw reins, as I think there is a very great risk of him simply leaning on these, and when I take them away I fear I would be in a worse place than before. My schooling involves doing a lot of lateral work, including shoulder in, shoulder out, working on a circle increasing and decreasing the size by pushing him in or out laterally. Lots of tempo changes. This type of work is easier for them when they are working correctly, over their backs - and they do eventually realise this. The difference in my horses way of going now, compared to two years ago is huge. It's still a work in progress though!

Good luck
 
I started having sports massage on my tbx friesian mare. A lot of horses with naturally high head carriages develop a lot of tension in the upper neck and shoulder area. Sports massage loosened her up a treat and there was a very significant drop in her head carriage (at least 6 inches) in just the first session, by the second session six weeks later her muscles had started to re train them selves properly and there was a lot less tension. They also tend to get tight hamstrings which a sports massage will fix. I started having her done at 6-8 week intervals and would have carried this on but she was pts :( but I can strongly reccomend it.
 
i second the osteo/physio treatment for high headed horses. It made a massive difference to my tb who had an upside down neck and locked poll.
 
Thank you to everyone that's replied so far. He's had a couple of physio sessions over the last few months and he's improved loads after each one. Regarding a contact to work into when ridden would you have a fairly strong one to push into or have quite a loose contact but still push from behind? Just have a few concerns after having a lesson a few days ago.
 
I too have a high head carriage horse he's a Dutch harness horse it is very hard for him to lower his head he's bred with conformation for his job .
Physio and massage helped him enormously too on the plus side it's almost impossible to get him on the forehand.
I don't care for the Pessoa but have used an equi -ami on him a bit but the thing that helped the most was a lunging rope as sold on the horse heros website that was the break though with him.
 
Would seriously doubt he s working 'properly ' in draw reins - would you do your best movements if you were strapped down?
If his muscles were built up correctly then he d carry head in right position. Tie in /down/wherever doesnt develop muscles - just gets you a jaded horse.
 
cornbrodolly said:
Would seriously doubt he s working 'properly ' in draw reins - would you do your best movements if you were strapped down?
If his muscles were built up correctly then he d carry head in right position. Tie in /down/wherever doesnt develop muscles - just gets you a jaded horse.
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I think lunging in draw riens (which I don't do I prefer Vienna riens if I want that sort of action ) is less fixed and more Likely too help this type of horse than side riens.
 
Time, patience and very consistent schooling.

Make sure that you're very soft and not blocking him, he'll find working properlly hard work so when he does work into the contact lots of praise and keep it short and sweet. It's better to get just 5 mins of fab work rather than 20 mins of average work. Keep a nice soft feel in your reins and push his hind quarters into it. I like to think of it as a box that your trying to get him in, if you don't use enough leg the hindquarters will fall out the box but if you don't control the front end that will also fall out the box but at the same time you don't want to kill the power.

Just to show it's doable this is my 14.2 ex racer- he would nearly hit you in the face with his head when I got him and now he would do a half decent novice test got a 64% and working okay at elementry.

P1030172.jpg
 
Ha ha koko... That's how ebony looked when I first had her. So yes as koko said, it's doable but I wouldn't force it. I actually started riding with my hands lower and wider than normal as this really invites ebony into a contact, slowly returning them to their correct positioning, everytime she threw her head up in the air to Evade I'd open and drop my reins and start again. Eventually she got it. Always driving forward from behind or you will not get the correct outline. Lots of circles and serpentine a to get her stepping underneath herself. And also reccomend alternating between working in an outline and being allowed to stretch through back and neck. For example 6 mins work in outline 2 mins of stretching, then repeat. This is really important in muscle development in all horses but especially so in these types of horses that develop tension. Also make sure you do all your carrot stretches after riding and never ever do them unless the horse is warmed up. It's a long drawn out process but it will all get there in the end.
 
Lunging with a pessoa really develops the right back and neck muscles. And said as above, hands wider and a bit lower than normal seems to help these horses. But watch out you don't lock your arms and hands, keep them supple and make sure you keep the contact soft. Plenty of bendy stuff encourages the jaw to supple and give way for the contact.
 
Four Seasons said:
Lunging with a pessoa really develops the right back and neck muscles. And said as above, hands wider and a bit lower than normal seems to help these horses. But watch out you don't lock your arms and hands, keep them supple and make sure you keep the contact soft. Plenty of bendy stuff encourages the jaw to supple and give way for the contact.
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Personally I dislike pessoas I have ridden too many horses given a nose wobbles by them because the legs moving back and forward pulls on the mouth ,for that sort of action I prefer the equi ami whose slightly different action stops this happening.
 
My welsh cob has a naturally high head carriage- after he was backed he was going really well apart from the almost vertical neck position, I couldn't get my hands low enough to encourage him to stretch at all, and being a baby he didn't understand when I asked him to stretch. I bought an elastic bungie line that went over his poll, through the bit rings and I attached it to his girth between his front legs. It was really loose at first but within 2 minutes he'd figured out that it was far more comfortable to stretch down through his neck. I then used it ridden for about 10 minutes once he was used to it on the lunge and I taught him that my ridden aids to stretch meant the same as the bungie, so now I can ask him to lower his head and neck without the use of the bungie at all- I thought it was brilliant.
 
Thank you for replying everyone. For those who asked he's mostly welsh d.

The reason I asked about training methods is because I had a lesson not so long ago that got me thinking. During the lesson I was told that I should have a firm contact a push and push him into it until he dropped down and took a contact and worked over his back. Spent over 45 minutes in a very forward trot or canter but didn't really seem to achieve much. I don't doubt that it works for some horses but didn't seem like it was working for mine. The next time I schooled him I worked on asking him to stretch down in walk and trot with a very loose contact while pushing him on and it worked much better than the stronger contact.
 
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