From: Lori
Hi! I am a new subscriber to this group, and of course, I have a problem that I hope someone can help me solve!
I have a Training level event horse, TB, who I would like to move to Prelim soon. He consistently scores in the top 3 in the dressage phase. His personality is to be very cooperative and uncomplicated to ride. He easily comes on the bit and gives a nice elastic feel on both sides. He is pretty responsive to leg, but as he is pretty laid back, sometimes I have insist on sharp responses.
My problem is that although he feels light and responsive, he likes to carry his neck fairly low. The slightest squeeze on the reins causes him to drop his head.( I really believe that he thinks that is what I'm asking for.) It is much more pronounced at the canter. This was not really a problem doing training level tests, but will not be acceptable as we move along. Trying to get him more "in front of my leg" by strong leg and frequent half halts is only somewhat helpful. We have tried lots of exercises, the most beneficial being zig-zag leg yields, spirals and downward trans in shoulder-fore, as recommended by my instructor, whom, unfortunately, I can't afford to go to as often as I'd like.
Needless to say, this is preventing us from accomplishing lengthenings, 10m circles, and rocking back for jumps after a galloping stretch. (Note: he is very responsive to a medium snaffle and does not try to run thru my hands.)
Any help will be appreciated, Lori
It sounds as though your horse isn't quite strong enough yet to lift the base of his neck and carry it. You've done well to allow him to move naturally -- a lot of riders would have tried to "lift" his head and neck with pulling hands or a more severe bit, but that would be utterly counterproductive. You've already identified the problem: your horse isn't really balanced in front of your leg, and still has some work to do before he's ready to become lighter in front. If you've done the basic straightening work with him (that work is necessary with ANY horse, not just TBs off the track!), and he's low in front and heavy on your hands, ask yourself whether he is EVENLY low and heavy, or UNEVENLY low and heavy (leaning more on one hand than on the other).
If he is even, then his problem is likely to be quite simple: he isn't using his hindquarters enough, and he isn't using them correctly. Until he uses them, he won't really stretch his back muscles, and until he does that, they won't develop the strength they need to allow him to lift and carry his neck and head at all three gaits.
Think about it: the horse's head and neck can weigh 150 pounds, and it's all UNSUPPORTED STRUCTURE. It takes muscle to lift and carry that structure, and the muscle you need him to add in the neck will only develop AFTER he learns to step more deeply under himself, stretch his topline from hind heels to ears, and shift his balance back.
The exercise you mention is actually quite a good one: use half-halts to ask him to rebalance, and stronger legs to ask him to step up with his hindquarters, moving them closer to his forehand. If he continues to move down rather than ahead, he will be pushing his weight (and yours) instead of CARRYING it, and he will contine to be long, strung out, and unable to do the things you want him to do: lengthening, smaller circles, and "coming back" after a jump.
Stand back and take a good look at your horse -- you're going to have to decide whether his muscles and his joints are stiff, or whether they are weak. Or you can play it safe -- this would be my advice -- and do exercises that will strengthen his joints and build his muscles, while stretching and suppling both.
Here are some exercises that will probably help:
1) ride trot-canter transitions -- a lot of them -- that take you from trot to canter and back to trot again. Count your strides, and begin with, say, thirty strides of trot, then fifteen of canter, then another thirty of trot, fifteen of canter, and so on. As he adjusts to the exercise, becomes more supple in the back, and learns to shift his weight backward, off the forehand, change the number of strides, and drop down (gradually) so that you are doing twenty and ten, then sixteen and eight, ten and five... you'll know when to reduce the number of strides, because your horse's balance will tell you what he's ready to do.
2) incorporate shoulder-fore into your trot-canter transitions. A horse that is bent laterally cannot become stiff and resistant as it moves forward -- take advantage of that! Position him, then bend him, then put him into shoulder-fore, THEN ask for the transition.
3) remember that your leg, whether it's a soft leg or a strong leg, is used and then relaxed. You can't sustain a constant squeeze, and if you could, the horse would learn to ignore it anyway. Ask -- wait -- and if you don't get the response, ask again. If you don't get the response, back up the leg with your dressage whip, but stay in position and balanced, so that you can help the horse balance.
4) half-halts are very important! Transitions are the key to everything, and half-halts are the key to transitions. But always remember that the test of a half-halt is whether you FEEL the horse rebalance underneath you -- lacking that, it was NOT a half-halt!
Those are very simple exercises, but they will build up your horse's topline, and you'll know when you have it right. The way to lift the neck is to build up the muscles that will lift the root of the neck and carry it proudly, and the way to do THAT is to get the hind end engaged so that the back will stretch and build up. Once that's happening, the neck will build up as well, and eventually you will look down and see that the space between your hands has filled up with horse! But it all takes time.
If you're working up to Prelim, you've probably got a galloping track marked somewhere, so that you can check your speed against markers. Play with this -- take the horse out and do your trot-canter transitions outdoors. Go back to 30-20-30 strides to start with, and work your way down to 10-5-10.
When you're comfortable with the process, do the same thing at the canter -- transitions WITHIN the gait. Begin with as short and round a canter as you think you can get, then really come forward in your two-point and ask him to roll on at the canter, then settle back into your saddle, sit up, KEEP YOUR LEGS ON, and ask him to keep the rhythm but move into a shorter, bouncier stride. Repeat... and eventually you'll feel that he is cantering uphill, even when he isn't, and that he could stop, change gaits, turn, shorten stride, lengthen stride, or jump as soon as you asked him to.
Before you go Prelim, you need to be able to play your horse like an accordian at all three gaits, but most especially at the canter. Riding over jumps is going to be exactly as successful as your work on the flat. When you can play your horse like an accordian, the 10-meter circles are easy -- and the jumping is a LOT safer.
Fortunately, most horses love canter-canter transitions, once they understand that they aren't being prevented from cantering -- because after you do the short, round canter, you'll go back to the longer, flatter one. You'll do a LOT of half-halts -- but you'll be glad you did, because all the work will pay off when you come into a fence half a stride off and know that you can put in an extra one by sitting up and closing your fingers and legs, or leave one out by coming forward and kicking on!
You've worked with enough young horses to know that their heads go down before they can come up -- the neck muscles just aren't there until you PUT them there. Many TBs have necks that come forward out of their backs, rather than up out of their chests -- you can always tell whether you're looking at a TB or a Morgan profile on the skyline... And racing TBs are encouraged to bow their necks, which eventers would prefer they NOT do... and a round canter just doesn't exist in the racing world, any more than a small circle does.
It sounds as though you've done a very nice job with this horse up until now -- keep up the good work! He needs more of the same, until he is thoroughly gymnnasticized and absolutely attentive to your leg.
Have fun at Prelim!
- Jessica
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