Trotting with head stretched to floor?

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AGAGE

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Should I be worried about this? (sorry for the length!!)

Ted has started trotting with his head to the floor, pulling the reins through my hands at great speed! This is following around 25 minutes of schooling in trot and canter. He is much more keen to do this on the right rein following canter work. On the lung he is happy to stretch down but does not do so following canter work, as when ridden. He seems to want to stretch his back. He is a little stiff given he is 18 yrs old, but is otherwise sound.

He is very maniplulative and will try to evade work when given half the chance. My sister who previously owned him watched me ride him recently and kindly stated that he has trained me to ride him how he wants to be ridden! He will trot around with his head fixed in an 'outline' looking pretty but not working behind! He is now working better following some tuition from my sister and seems much happier and is working very nicely.

He has had a long history of medical problems including tendon, arthritic hocks and sore back (believed to have stemmed from hocks). He used to have physio input. He had cortisone injection 18 months ago and has been very sound since. He is the fittest he has been in a long time and is otherwise going really well.

Should I be worried about this ?(I can be quite neurotic over his health).

Any advice appreciated!
 
well, i would be pleased about it, it is a good sign when they want to stretch right down, imho - it shows that they have been using themselves correctly. of course, he must come up again when you want, not when he feels like it (!), you should be able to get him to work in whatever position you choose.
 
I had a feeling that he was probably just taking advantage! As he stretches to the floor following having worked really nicely.

It's just typical of him to be cheeky and snatch the reins. He didn't try this with my sister, he still stretched down but didn't snatch or appear so reluctant to lift his head from the floor, as he does with me! It's as if he knows that I'm paranoid about his back/legs and uses it to his advantage!
 
silverted, this happens to all of us tbh, if you ride a horse for a long period of time it gets so that they can be trying to train you as much as you are training them, because they know that if they do a certain thing, you will respond in a habitual way!
if you feel he's taking the mickey, put legs on and drive him up into the contact again, and YOU decide when he can stretch!
tbh though it really isn't the worst thing he could be doing...
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Thanks for the advice!

Thinking about it it seems remarkably funny how when he stretches to the floor, I am usually thrown off balance by his quick yanking of the reins, as I become off balance he then creeps into walk, getting out of work temporarily.

I work as an assistant psychologist using behavioural approaches to challenging behaviours and yet my behaviour is being being manipulated by my clever horse! I can't quiet believe it!

I think I'm just over sensitive to physical problems from having worked with geriatric horses for years, and have become paranoid about his back, and never think that he could just be being cheeky.

I shall still encourage him to stretch but when I want him to not when he chooses!
 
silverted, don't get too paranoid about it, they all do it imho! i think one of the reasons why the 'catch rides' of yesteryear were so successful was because the horse didn't know the rider and vice versa so they just got on with it a bit more, rather than all the second guessing and "if i do this, he'll do that, so i'd better do it like this" kind of thing!
it is also very easy to ride the horse you remember, the problems etc you've had to deal with in the past, rather than getting on and just riding the horse under you, if that makes sense! try getting on and riding him as if you'd never sat on him before, give an appraisal (out loud if it helps) to make you analytical rather than reactionary, maybe?!
or, ride something different for a session if you can, and then compare them...
 
I agree with you! I find it difficult to forget his past problems and move on. I now ride just him and have done for 3 years, only having ridden about 3 other horses since owning him.

I will have a ride on my sisters boy and compare them.
 
But take care ST - horses don't have the complex thought processes that humans do and the most likely reason for this behaviour is rooted somewhere in an unhappy ned. Maybe mouth or soreness somewhere? Could he be finding it hard to stay in a false outline? Could he just be a bit stiff from advancing years? Teeth? Bit? Does he do it with others riders?
 
He doesn't do it with other riders, he will still stretch low with them but when asked to not when he chooses to do so.

His teeth and saddle were checked recently and he seems happy in himself and when worked. I have been trying to improve his fitness in so that we can compete in local novice tests and I wonder if I may be trying to increase his fitness to quickly. This may be his way of letting me know he has had enough for one day, as he tend to do it towards the end of exercise.
 
My first thought was the same as kerilli's: good, the horse wants to stretch, so he's working properly! What does your instructor think of this?
 
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