Trotters & high head carriages

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear

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Have recently got a lovely little 14'1 trotter pony for my 11 yr old cousin, really lovely little fella.. Have had him roughly 3 months. Now when walking & cantering has a lovely relaxed head carriage & will drop down onto the contact.. But as for the trot, he either likes to have his head really high or if really striding out in his trot will really bring his head in tight! (Think hackney driving shows to get an idea) he's never heavy on ur hands, and we have had glimpses of a more relaxed head in the trot so I think it will come with time, has anyone had experience with this & how did u overcome it? he has only just started to look like he has some muscle as previous owner had him out of work with a huge belly, so does needs a little more building up muscle wise. If u give ur hands forward when he relaxes in trot the head gets higher as if he saying 'where the hell have u gone' lol, he seems as though he is used to strong hands. Any thoughts?
 
Hello
I have a trotter and he too had a high head carriage in trot - not excessive but he is not happy on an outline, although very nice in canter.
I've had him since a 2and a half year old and he is now 8. We have recently abandoned all attempts at schooling and have taken up endurance as it plays on his strengths and he loves it. Although he is a sucessful riding club show jumper and brilliant XC, but in the dressage phase he cannot cope.
I tried encouraging an outline by using a pessoa too but it just stressed him out - therefore I've decided to embrace the positives and not make him into something he is not.

So telling you all this is probably not the best example of a "yes he will eventually be happy on an outline" but my horse is a rescue so can probably not be compared to yours.

My trotter is also very heavy in my hands when excited - he is getting much better.

Was yours ever trained to race? I dont have a huge amount of history on my boy but alot of his strange behaviour in trot could be explained but training gone wrong, as when he goes into trot he wants to power through the shoulders and just take off! it can be very dramatic but amazing to sit on in an endurance ride if you want to make up some time on a nice straight track - he gets a lot of "WOW" comments as he steams along!!
 
I don't think OP has bought a Standardbred...very few that I've ever seen are 14'1 or referred to as ponies!

Overchecks don't always result in horses having a high head carriage either - Big Ears has raced the last three summers, this past one with an exceptionally short overcheck (unnecessarily short IMO but the trainer said he knew what he was doing). Am riding her now two months after her last race and if I lean forward I still can't reach her ears, her head is that low.
 
Ginger trotter - he has been going in a Pessoa twice per week to strengthen him up, it has t stressed him at all, at first he was a bit fizzy in it so we kept it minimal, but now we have a lively steady trot. He's never heavy in the hands & wouldn't describe him as sort of pulling himself with his shoulders, he uses his back legs to push himself forward especially when really striding out & he does look amazing!

Sarah Thomas, I don't believe he's a standardbred, I think to be honesty he's probably traveller bred as his first address on his passport is 'romany road' which doesn't exist.. Lol, he's also registered with the gypsy cob society.. He's not cobby at all tho.
 
SarahThomas said:
I don't think OP has bought a Standardbred...very few that I've ever seen are 14'1 or referred to as ponies!

Overchecks don't always result in horses having a high head carriage either - Big Ears has raced the last three summers, this past one with an exceptionally short overcheck (unnecessarily short IMO but the trainer said he knew what he was doing). Am riding her now two months after her last race and if I lean forward I still can't reach her ears, her head is that low.
Click to expand...

Roadhorse? I've seen plenty of little part-breds going like bl@ody hell down down the road, with an overcheck on.
And I didn't say ALL SB's have high head carriage did I? Mine didn't..
 
Most of the Harness horses I've driven in NZ have been very strong in the hand. The trotters generally didn't have their overchecks tight as they need to be able to stretch out - it was there more to prevent them putting their heads down. The pacers on the other hand generally had very tight overchecks as they pace better with their heads up.

Like all horses they are able to carry themselves as a riding horse but it does take time to change the muscle development.

If the horse is not happy trotting with a lowered head carriage then it may very well be sore in the neck or poll. Otherwise they respond well to all the normal gear riders put on their horses. Only thing I found that didn't really work was a chambon as they were too used to the action of the overcheck.

Work over ttrotting poles was good at helping them drop their heads.
 
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