Re-training
Question:
u-neck condition: horse moves shoveling nose out and
up with the bit.
…head
held high and straight. Consequently, becomes hollow backed with little impulsion
from the hind. Using a snaffle requires far more pressure on the mouth than
should be necessary to obtain proper flexing at the poll. .. and
finds it very difficult to work collected.
w/ a raised head the horse will tölt
along just nicely until changes taking a corner when will simply revert to a
trot
Not pacey. Not really trotty either, as much as reverting to trot when can't
maintain a proper tölt. Each gait, when you get there, is quite clear
and comfortable to ride. Not a pacey horse that
require a lot of work to obtain a clear tölt.
… Suggested exercises to strengthen neck and
back muscles so that he is comfortably working in a proper position?
Answer from Dísa:
Hi,
You describe your horse in
your letter. He seams a little unbalanced and does not know how to flex his
neck and give at the poll when you take rein contact. It even can make him unsecure and make him pull against you or hollow his back
even more and break into trot? If I´ve understood correctly he is neither pacey
nor trotty and his main problem is probably just that
he has never learned how to give and flex his neck or collect when the rider
takes some rein contact.
Bending exercises, like
“kissing the stirrups” often help the horse to lower it´s
head and get soft in the poll. It´s good to start from the ground, standing beside the horse and using
the reins to guide towards a bend. While standing still you teach
the horse to move it´s head to each side, start by
getting the poll to flex,then
gradually get the whole neck to bend so the horse can lick your stirrups
without the legs to move at all. Remember to praise the horse, pat him on
the forehead and even give a candy once in a while. When the horse has
understood this from the ground the trainer does the same from the saddle. Soon
the rider can start moving the horse’s head back and forth, left, right while
walking and usually the result is that the horse starts to lower the head and
neck, especially if done while riding a circle.
To teach a horse about the
rein contact one needs to be very considerate and light in the hands but also consistent
in guiding the horse towards the correct position. First you start in the walk,
by playing with the reins a little and even moving the horses head tiny bit
from side to side. Always remember to be light in the reins and never try to
hold the horse in any position, use leading rein contact, not consistent at
this point.
As soon as the horse starts
moving it´s mouth and giving at the poll the rider
gives the reins completely free and even allows the horse to stretch all the
way down with the head. Very important factor is though how the rider sits, he
needs to sit light in the saddle and even lean a little forward in the
beginning, like halfway up to a “two point seat” or halfseat
to allow the horse to lift his back up while he brings his head lower and stretches
his neck and back.
When
the horse has understood how to walk with soft poll and neck while the rider
has light rein-contact he can start preparing for tölt.
Usually it´s best to start by riding in a circle and
little by little collect the walk so the strides get shorter but the horse
still keeps his nicely flexed poll. Exercise the shortened walk first and
always allow the horse to stretch between. Then slowly the trainer starts
asking for few strides in tölt up from the short
walk, and then right back to walk before the horse gets his head up in the air
again and hollows the back. This requires that the rider sits light, he uses
his legs to drive the horse forward but the reins tell him not to go that much
faster and keep guiding the neck and poll to be soft.
Remember to give yourself a
lot of time to prepare yourself and your horse. Little by little the toltstrides will get more
and more secure and you can allow the horse to go straight as long as he keeps
soft in the neck and poll.
It´s
often very helpful to use double lounge to help the horse understand the way
down in the trot. Also is good to
ride the trot so that the horse lowers his head and neck and in the beginning it´s even fine it it goes very
low.
While riding tölt some horses tend to get pacey
while they are learning this new way of moving, and usually that´s
nothing to worry about. By getting pacey the horse
can lift it´s back and lower the head and train the
back musculature easier than when tölting 4-beated.
The rider should sit light but always keep the horse properly soft in the poll
and bent in the neck. Usually with horses that are not very trotty it only takes few weeks until they almost clear the
beat up by themselves. The rider sometimes needs to help by bending and playing
with the back with their seat while doing little half-halts.
Building up back musculature
takes time and patience, but the result will be that the horse moves more
freely, he gets stronger in all gaits and often happier and calmer. Because if
the horse is ridden with a hollow back for a long time, it´s
like if a person tries to walk around with a heavy backpack all day long and
lean back with a hollow back… it hurts! … eventually
at least, the strides get shorter, the movements lower and sometimes the mind
gets stressed.
I would suggest you start
with these exercises, don´t rush and probably it´s best to start with a regular snaffle bit since the
horse needs to learn how to respond to a direct reincontact
anyway and it´s easier for you to get the feeling of
how he responds.
Hope this helped and good
luck
Best regards,
Disa.
Herdís Reynisdóttir, called Dísa, is member of FT, the Icelandic Horse Trainers
Association, with the degrees of a Young horse trainer as well as Competition
trainer and Riding instructor C. She has a B.Sc. degree in Agricultural Science
and is a breeding judge as well as sport and “gaedinga”competition
judge. She has been working with horses more or
less since she was 14, starting and training horses as well as teaching in