ways to stop a joggy forward horse

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ahorseyreality

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I have a very strong cob mare who has a serious jogging problem. i have tried new bits ( a ported myler eggbutt snaffle) and new saddles ( treeless) flashes, nosebands. I have checked with the dentist and nothing is wrong, the vet hasn't seen anything that is wrong.
i have worked extensively with her on the ground and she has no problems there, i also have an instructor coming down and she has shown progress but when off the lead rain she goes nuts! She will jog forever. it is very frustrating, when all she wants to do is go fast, and a jog turns into a trot into a canter.
i need some tips on how to control her jogging.
thanks
 
I found with mine many years ago that the answer was to transition into a proper balanced trot, then once that is established, transition to walk. And again when the jog starts........and again etc, so that a) the jog costs her more effort and you are telling her exactly what you want from her i.e. the walk. Make sure you reward the walk, with a loose rein if and when you can.
 
Trillions of transitions. I've been doing 6 strides walk, 6 trot, 6 walk and so on and it is AMAZING how it has sharpened her both to the leg and to a downward transition and lightened her in front.
 
It depends, you need to play around with different ideas to find what works, some suggestions may wind her up more, some may chill her.

Pop her into trot and keep her on a circle, bending until she can work long and low.

Take her for a canter to blow off steam.

Transitions.

Lateral work. Try shoulder in and if that doesn't't work try bringing the outside shoulder round so that you have a counter bend to everything you are doing.

Let go of the reins completely or alternatively keep her very long and low and constantly on the contact (some horses relax without any pressure from the bit, some horses need the reassurance of knowing the rider is always there).
 
I think JillA's suggestion of pushing her forward into a proper trot rather than a jog, and then asking for a transition back to walk, and repeat until she settles, could work. I used to do that with Dylan when he was joggy, if we came back to walk and he started again I'd just push him back into trot.

What's her routine like, is she turned out? If it's as simple as excess energy then having a good long canter could well settle her down, if she's just a horse that jogs as a form of evasion then she needs something to get her occupied and paying attention to you so that she does as she's asked and not what she feels like doing.

Lateral work is a good shout for engaging the brain. I find doing a few leg yields with Jazz catches his focus and gets him paying attention - that or shoulder in might be good for your mare if she's worse on the long sides.
 
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JillA said:
I found with mine many years ago that the answer was to transition into a proper balanced trot, then once that is established, transition to walk. And again when the jog starts........and again etc, so that a) the jog costs her more effort and you are telling her exactly what you want from her i.e. the walk. Make sure you reward the walk, with a loose rein if and when you can.
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I'm with JillA, I've had a couple of hot, joggy horses, if they start to jog they have to trot. I hate jogging, so they either walk properly or trot properly & not anything inbeween. I also reward a proper walk with a loose rein.
 
Another thing you could try if she borders on out of control is to turn a small circle every time she does it. I got my 6yr old daughter doing this on her pony when it insisted on taking off and passing me on my horse. She didn't have the strength to stop her but the turning a circle thing bored the pony into submission. You've got to be consistent with it but ours soon learnt and now it's rare she needs to do it at all.
 
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