From: Darcy
Hi Jessica! I sure hope you can give me some help here. I've been riding my horse (Quarter Horse, four years old) for about six months now, and he is unwilling to flex his poll and engage his rear end. My bit is just a snaffle and I use a plain noseband fastened not very tight. I have to wear long spurs to get him to use his hindquarters at all. I can get him to collect into a good frame at the walk but not at the trot and the canter is really hopeless, all strung out, he just won't round up. My friend Barry came to watch me schooling yesterday and said that my horse's frame was totally wrong, that it was upside down. How can I make this horse go in the right frame (round) and collect at the trot and canter? Barry said that changing to a flash noseband and making it really tight might help, but that doesn't sound right to me. I think I'm a pretty good rider, I try to do all of my trot sitting, but this horse has some problems that I'm just not able to handle. Do you think changing the noseband would make all that difference, and if it wouldn't, then what should I do instead? Thank you for your advice! Darcy and Leo
First, you need to realize that your horse IS young, green, and simply doesn't have the musculature to do what you want him to do - YET. If you are willing to put in a few years of work, slowly and systematically helping your horse become strong and balanced and supple, he will be able to carry you easily and work in a much rounder frame by the time he is a mature horse. At four, he is still several years away from full growth and physical maturity. Quarter Horses are notorious for looking large and sturdy and muscular at very young ages, but that doesn't change the reality, which is that your horse's skeleton is still developing.
Second, you are right to question the advice you got about changing your noseband for a tight flash. Equipment problems should be solved with equipment - but this is not an equipment problem. Keep your loosely-fastened simple noseband. Equipment, in this case, isn't the answer - there is no equipment that will change what your horse is doing, or his reasons for doing it.
Your horse's frame is long because he is green. His frame is inverted or "upside down" because he lacks strength in his back. He needs to move more freely, stretch out, and begin to develop a topline, starting with his rear end. Instead of trying to "collect" him, which, by the way, isn't even in the realm of physical possibility now, here's what I'd like you to do:
Spend a lot of time at the walk - not a short walk, and certainly not a walk with you grinding your seat into his back and/or trying to hold his head up with the reins, but a relaxed walk on a long rein (at first, perhaps even on a loose rein). Do a lot of walking, keep your seat light, and alternate five or six steps of "normal" walk with five or six steps of asking (with your calves, NOT your spurs - leave the spurs in the tack room!) him to take longer steps at the walk. This will help your horse begin to stretch his back. When he can work consistently and well at the walk, lengthening his stride easily whenever you ask, powering from behind, lifting his back and the base of his neck, and reaching foward and down with his head and neck into light, steady contact, THEN and only then should you begin to do some trotting.
When his walk matches the one I've just described - powerful, stretchy, on a long rein with light contact, you will be able to ask for a similar trot - powerful, stretchy, on a long rein wtih light contact. At the trot, your goals for yourself will be to stay light on his back - don't try to sit! This is an excellent time to practice your half-seat (two-point position), while maintaining a soft, steady contact with his mouth. When his trot is just as easy, swinging, stretchy, and regular as the walk, and he is taking long steps easily, you can begin working on transitions from walk to trot and back to walk again, etc.
The time to begin sitting the trot - for just a few strides - will be when the horse is lifting its back into your seat and making it easy for you to sit. This can't happen until the horse is much more developed in its gaits, balance, musculature, and understanding - so for now, keep your seat light whether you are sitting the walk or canter, and when you trot, either rise or stay in a half-seat.
All of the above sounds easy and simple, and it is - but it's not fast. Plan to take several months AT LEAST to accomplish all of the above. It's not enough just to do it, you want to do it right, then do it really well, and then do it really well so many times and for so long that "really well" becomes your default way of walking and trotting and doing walk-trot transitions. This will take time, which shouldn't be a problem - and during all that time, your horse will be getting steadily stronger and more coordinated and better-looking. And remember, he will also be growing up. A four-year-old is a very young animal. Relax, ask for things he can do well, help him develop so that he can do other things and do these things better - and remember that he's only a little more than halfway to maturity.
If I were you, I wouldn't even ask him to canter for the next few months - or the next six months, for that matter. If you can, try to wait until the walk and trot work are going very well and have been going consistently well for a month or two. Then, when you do allow him to canter, deal with the first canters the same way that you dealt with the first walks and trots under your new program. Your priorities and goals should be the same: for you, a light seat and light following contact; for the horse, active use of the hindquarters, a lifted back, and head and neck reaching forward and down into your hand. If the first few canters are less than wonderful, don't worry - that's entirely normal for a youngster. If you can, try to do your first canters in a large arena or field where you can work on long straight lines and not worry about which lead he is on. As long as he canters reasonably promptly (within a few strides) when you ask, comes back to trot reasonably promptly (within, say, ten or fifteen strides) when you ask, and responds reasonably well to your light steering, that's really all you can expect of a youngster just starting to canter under saddle.
I haven't mentioned flexing at the poll, because that's not something you should be concerned with at this time, and in any case it is something that your horse will need to offer. The flexion at the poll will come about naturally as your horse grows up, becomes stronger and better-balanced, and finds it easier to work in a shorter frame. At the point where your horse rounds and reaches for the bit in response to a soft "ask" from your leg, you'll find that he will begin to flex slightly as lifts the base of his neck and stretches into your hand.
As for why he won't collect... as you no doubt know by now, he won't collect because he can't collect - he doesn't have the power or the balance or the musculature that would enable him to collect under saddle, even if he understood what you wanted. And he shouldn't be asked to collect until he is much older and better developed - so don't worry about that for now. Forget the idea of collection for now. Your horse isn't failing you by NOT collecting, and you're not failing him by NOT collecting him - it's just that the entire idea of collection is premature. It's simply not appropriate at this time.
What would help you more than anything, now and later, would be a good instructor to give you feedback and help you work with your horse. If you don't know of any good instructors in your area, then (if you are in the States - you didn't specify!) I suggest that you visit the American Riding Instructors Association website (www.ridinginstructor.com) and check the current list of certified instructors. There may be a dressage instructor nearer than you think - at any rate, it's a good place to start looking.
It's very difficult to work on your own riding progress and the training of a young horse at the same time. Having good help in the form of good instruction can make all the difference in the world. Good luck!
Jessica
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