Wiggly Pony

[Archie07]

My pony is very wiggly to hack so I'm hoping someone has some ideas!

In the school he is getting much better moving his shoulders over when asked however out hacking it seems to go out the window! He is always looking this way and that way with his neck, he has big shoulders so if he doesn't want to walk through a puddle for example he just pops his shoulder and goes round it. I have really tried to be firm and keep him straight, forward, ask him to move over etc but it takes me so much effort I completely tense my whole body up doing so which isn't helping!

He can be a bit behind the leg so I try push him on but he then has a tendency to rush and it's really hard to get a regular rythem. Trying to get him move over in trot is becoming a real battle.

We are having regular lessons but problem being we have a 40 min wiggly hack to reach the school...

Anyone have any exercise ideas or suggestions (for me as much as him!) that might help us with this?

 

[smja]

You need to generate an active, forward walk. Concentrate on him being in front of your leg at all times. Being in front of the leg has nothing to do with the pace you're riding in or how fast you're going.

Is he looking around himself and wriggly as a result, or is it an evasion only when you try to ask him to move laterally?

 

[Archie07]

You need to generate an active, forward walk. Concentrate on him being in front of your leg at all times. Being in front of the leg has nothing to do with the pace you're riding in or how fast you're going.

Is he looking around himself and wriggly as a result, or is it an evasion only when you try to ask him to move laterally?

This is going to sound like a very silly question but how do I get him forward without him speeding up and rushing, which he has a tendency to do.

He can be quite spooky so if he sees something to shy at he's already moving away from it with his body. We get into a bit of a battle of me asking him to step over towards it and I really don't want to continue with him deciding where he goes. He will walk your leg into a tree for example if there is a puddle he'd rather not go through. I'm sure some of it is just pony cheekiness as sometimes he will walk through huge lakes of a puddle in the same breath!

He has a huge front end so he does a lot of banana necking looking around. If I ask him to move over its not an instant reaction from him I feel I have to work quite hard and then by that point I feel my whole body tense like I am making him do it...which is probably resulting in me blocking him!!