Working a 5-yo

[{51248}]

I'm riding a 5-yo a couple of evenings a week. In the last few sessions I've been working on getting him to go forward off the leg, using a lot of progressive transitions and more lately direct transitions. So far so good.
He's not working onto the bit (too early for that) so mostly working in a light contact, but also asking for an outline for about 5 minutes each session.

He's not terribly straight (unless we're on the track) and we do wobble about a lot on eg the centre line. But I guess that will come with time, as he learns to take a contact.

My main problem is getting him to make turns; asking for a turn (especially on the left rein and especially trying to move off the track) just results in neck bend (and yes, I am using the outside rein too). My instructor has suggested we lunge him a lot, especially with an outside side rein only.

Any comments, and anyone got any tips to teach the horse to turn and not bend his neck?

 

[siennamum]

I also have a 5 year old. When turning I like to think of using hands only as a guide, so you would turn your shoulders, sit slightly on inside seatbone, then push round with your outside leg, open inside hand & back up with inside leg if he collapses onto inside shoulder..
The key is for them to be off the leg so you aren't dragging them round with your hands.

I would lay out a row of 3 or 4 canter poles, and ride circles in and out of them in walk, then in trot. You can go round all of them, 2 of them or one of them and really vary your routine. Make him move off the outside leg, don't worry about being pretty, really get after him. Have your whip in your outside hand to back up the leg and get his shoulders over.

Sometimes with babies you can pussyfoot around a bit. It's a simple lesson he has to learn, be quite clear and demanding.

 

[{51248}]

That's very helpful, thanks !

 

[much-jittering]

Ditto the above. Also if he's at the stage where the head turns one way and the legs happily toddle off in the other, I'd be inclined to introduce a little bit of shoulder fore/shoulder in feeling - just so you both get to grips with the rider having the ability to move his shoulders around as he's at the stage where you need to tell him how to get his legs from A to B, not his ears.

Doesn't matter that he's a wobbly 5 year old, lots of lateral work are items in the tool box, not something you save for Advance Medium or whatever. Having an understand of simple lateral work gives you a way to help out with a lot of simple baby problems - for example being able to leg yield into canter nearly always helps a wobbly canter transition.

Eta - I wouldn't do too much lunging as a method of solving it, because he'll go round in a circle on the lunge, and probably in the field, it's learning to carry a rider round a turn that's the new thing. I'm not sure what teaching him to balance round a turn by hanging onto one outside side rein will achieve except a horse heavy in the outside hand with a tendancy to try to counter flex. But I do just make it up as I go along so could be wrong lol