'Upside Down Neck' Advice needed

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fruity

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My new mare is lovely in everyway apart from the fact of her neck,she's only 4 and the previous owner did a lot of hard work for a week and then would leave her a few wks then do this routine on and off - not good for any horse, especially a youngster.Now i will be hacking her out and my Trainer will be schooling for now so is there anything i could do on a hack to help her way of going and is there anything in particular i shouldn't do that would make her problem worse,i'm very light handed and we won't be doing anything major on our hacks,just need some tips for helping her. She came to me in a hanging cheek and it is awful,when i tried her she had her head high in the air and if you applied slight pressure her head was nearly against your face,obviously she is getting the dentist this week as i want to make sure her teeth are ok,and she has had a overall with feet etc been done as she came in a sorry state really.She is trusting me now which is good as she is quite nervous of strangers and she hasn't had the best start to life.
Also what bit do you guys think would be suitable for her,i was thinking of a KK ultra loose ring snaffle, i'm a fan of these.She has a small mouth and it's very sensitive.
 
I would also reccomend feeding off the floor, hardfeed and hay. You dont want all your hard work undone by them bending the wrong way to eat!
 
I had a horse that was very sensitive and found a nathe straight bar, loose ring really helped but this was before the fancy mylers etc came in so I might be a tad out of date!!
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As you are hacking out try to encourage her to work long and low over her back. The more she stretches down the better. If you have somewhere you can lunge you could lunge in a pessoa a couple of times a week as well.
 
I use a straight bar flexible rubber snaffle with loose rings on J now for flatwork, as it seems to be the only think he doesn't 'drop'/back off. If you wanted to try it Em I can lend you it for a day or two, they are probably the same size.

Re getting her neck built the right way you probably need to think about getting her to work long and low as much as possible, try not to let her just jolly along with her nose in the air too much. I'm getting a pessoa to help build J's topline up, but she might be a bit young/green for that yet.
 
Have two ex-racers that both came with up-side-down-necks. Feeding off the floor is a good point, we brought haybars for ours so they didn't have to use hay nets. Rubber straight bar is what I used with one and a plain french link for the other. Now both are stronger, and have beautiful necks if I do say so myself, they are in NS tranz snaffles. I also used a pessoa and lots of stretching when we schooled.

evenag114
 
It sounds like you're doing all the right things for her.

That bit sounds like a good choice, although she may perfer something a bit more "stable" like a similar mouthpiece but with a full cheek or D-ring. Many brands now have "anatomically sensitive" bits that are much more confortable, especially for horses with small mouths/thick tongues etc. She also might be a candidate for a Nathe or happy mouth bit - perhaps you can score one to try. Some horse like them, some really do not. I've also had good luck riding horses with this sort of problem for a little while in a hackamore (the non-leverage kind, what western riders call a "side pull") until they relax about the contact.

Presumably your trainer has talked to you about the way you should ride THIS horse while you're hacking (i.e, on contact, on the hand, on a loose rein etc.) so you should go with that to maintain consistency in the program, which is so important for a young horse. Horses can react very differently to the various approaches to this issue so it's best to find out what works for her and stick to it.
 
Similar to my lad when he came. No top line at all bless him. I also ride in a KK Ultra - love them.

Plenty of quiet hacking around working in to a soft contact will work wonders in a matter of weeks (you must take photo's). She doesn't need to work on the bit - although you can ask her to ocassionally. However the important thing is that she is allowed to work in a nice long frame.

Depending on what breed she is she may also be immature - so this could be a contributing factor.

Do have her back looked at as well as her teeth. And personally I wouldn't be doing any schooling work on her in an arena until all that has been done and she is happily hacking out for a month or so.

I am amazed at the transformation in my boy's neck in a matter of weeks just by doing the above.

Totally agree with feeding from the floor - hay and hard feed. Although once her back is checked you could put a hanging bucket on the door to feed her as that will help.
 
getting teeth done (by someone who takes 40 minutes, not 15!) and back done is very important. feeding on the floor, as someone said.
i'd put her in a fulmer snaffle, single joint, with keepers on the cheekpieces to stop the bit from tilting forward - the keepers mean that there's a tiny bit of poll pressure. with a cavesson on drop noseband.
don't try to make her go in a round outline, please don't use gadgets or draw reins, just rely on patience and correct training until she understands where the comfort zone is, and works happily forward to a contact. it takes time, but it's so worth it.
massaging her neck daily will help too. good luck!
 
ummm well me and my trainer are working very closely so i'll be making sure we both stick to the same programme, she's also one for making sure your both teaching the horse correctly and not confusing it in anyway.
Am going to try her in a trans lozenge loose ring snaffle and see how we get on with that.Might change to a d ring if she find it too loose.
She's having a very good dentist see her and has already had vacs,farrier and is booked in to see back lady.With my last young mare i did lots of stretching exercises with her so i'll continue doing that with this one then.
My trainer will be taking things very slowly in the school as there is no rush, she is a horse for life, not one to be sold on and i've made this clear from the start,i want her to be confident about her work not forced and scared into it. She's on full livery so is being very spoilt! She won't know whats hit her having a loving mummy around!
Thanks for your comments,i can now put in into practice when hacking her out,thanx!
 
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