Why do some “hot” horses have trouble at the lower levels? Is it lack of focus, boredom or being spooky? Mine can’t settle after canter and I get a crappy walk after she just wants to jig. I’m working on canter halt canter transitions but she anticipates.
Because these “hot” horses have low level riders.
This does not mean low level or no level talent.
It means a “hot” horse requires a cool nonreactive rider. This rider has the skills, experience , knowledge and above all , patience to refocus all that energy .
Usually a lower level rider does not possess these abilities as they are still learning themselves.
This is usually called, “Being over-horsed.”
Are you working with a trainer? If not, considered finding one.
Dressage is not DIY. Ask me how I know.
Chances you are feeling jiggy when you ask for the transition down so she gets jiggy with it. Relaxation starts with the rider.
Also, down transitions are a little harder.
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Also consider doing something that requires your horse to think about what they’re doing and isn’t their usual activity. Can you ride around the arena rather than within it? Is there a trail on or around the property? What about looking at horsemanship patterns and trying that out? Walking or trotting barrels or popping over a little jump (cross rails perhaps) somewhere on the property.
Practicing scales are important, but every music lesson that I ever took, or that my kids took, included a portion that used the theory but was also fun. Try and build a little fun into your time too.
Yes, relaxing a bit and laughing off some of the antics (even a dry, mirthless snort) may minimize your tension. Horses won’t relax if their rider is tense. Are you holding your breath? Bumping their sides a lot (think of someone kicking the back of your chair, or tapping your shoulder - so irritating) can wind them up too.
You probably know this, but it bears repeating - end on a good note. Take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that this is supposed to provide a bit of pleasure too.
Good luck.
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Now that I have a lot more experience I would love to have back the horses at the start of my journey and give them a much better dressage experience.
Dressage is good for all horses, what people don’t realise is that they can apply a lot of mental pressure to the horse. The horse should not have more mental pressure than their level of training.
When that ratio is out of balance you have unhappy horses.
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And some horses just don’t love dressage. It’s not all just the rider.
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Agreed
Agree with this. I just wrote a post about this in the “horse gets spookier in work” thread…
To be able to progress past 1st/2nd, the horse has to give up quite a bit of autonomy (i.e. let the rider control the tempo, balance, outline, etc.) that’s far beyond what many other disciplines ask (mainly, let the rider control the direction of travel and gait). And some horses for whatever reason are protective or independent or whatever enough that they don’t cede that last bit of control to the rider. Or they get explosive when you ask for it.
Those aren’t candidates for dressage. They’re much happier in roles that don’t ask so much of them.
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Under first level, no, I don’t think some horses are unsuitable mentally - any horse in the word that is of sound body, should be able to perform anything asked in first level dressage comfortably. Even some parts of second level are doable.
However, once you truly get up the levels, it takes a very special kind of horse to tolerate that style of management and riding. This is a very inflammatory remark and I know it will get some backs up, but the way dressage horses are managed is hard on them and it is not the lifestyle any horse can handle - it takes a special type to be rideable and happy day in and day out with that level of “over-care”.
By and large the horses I have known that “hated” low level dressage had soundness issues – or training issues, sometimes as a direct result of their soundness issues – that have kept them tense, and made dressage difficult for them. Those horses are the ones that get pegged as hot or explosive, when they’re really just backed up against a wall and being asked to do things that are physically hard or impossible for them. Including some of my own, that have come with some racing baggage and one, that I could have trained better if I knew as much then as I do now.
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The big warmblood breeders certainly try to breed for dressage or jumping, but it’s common enough that a horse from one line is happier in the other discipline.
Jumping requires confidence and autonomy. Dressage does require the ability to enjoy being ridden with more precision. And some of them love it, are very confident about their job in the arena.
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Absolutely! I know plenty of very talented horses ridden by very talented and capable trainers - that still flunked out of dressage once the work got hard. Some horses do NOT want to do collection, some horses do NOT like the schooling aspects. I’ve seen horses that were miserable in dressage and took immediately to jumping. Dressage is an exacting sport - it requires a certain mental type, and a high level of precision and schooling compared to jumping.
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I have a 24 yo (Conn x TB) who still thinks walking (other than to and from the barn) is a waste of time, If you won’t let her trot or canter, she will jig or prance, or turn around and go backwards, either in the ring, on the trail, or in the open.
A couple of things help, with varying degrees of success.
After we canter once, she does not get to canter again until she gives a nice flatfooted walk. Sometimes this means we only canter once for the whole session.
When asking for a walk, every time she tries to jig, we make a very small circle, or halt. Again, it may take a while before she decides it is easier to walk. If she says her only alternatives are halt or jig, she gets to halt for an extended time.
If she still insists on jigging, I ask for a slow collected trot, and ask her to keep doing it longer than she wants.
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So I have 2 mares—both with different temperaments. My “hot tamale” has come a long way in her dressage work—mostly due to me learning how to ride her more effectively (thanks to my trainer). She actually accepts harder work a little more, perhaps she finds it more interesting. We are schooling at 2nd/3rd level now. However, she really is keen for jumping and is the most focused horse when she is on XC. Her dressage work at home is getting better and better, but—she is a worker bee and she is always trying to outguess me and anticipates what I am going to ask for next. And that type of mentality can be our undoing at a show when there is a little more tension added to the party. Jumping is her happy place and once she is facing a line of jumps—she is on point. On the flip side, I can recall rides where we have had dramatic meltdowns over things like halting. Just asking her to stand_still_for_3_seconds. I think a hot horses nemesis is standing still or feeling trapped from going forward.
My younger mare is much more laid back. Not immune to having a big spook, or hot moments—but generally pretty low key. She has been so much easier to bring along and very accepting of rider input. Not surprisingly, she scores better in dressage because she displays relaxation in her work. I am not going to give myself credit for producing that—I am not that good of a rider. That is how she is hardwired.
There is a very fancy imported purpose-bred horse at the barn where I board. She probably came out of the womb passaging 
However, she is also a spicy thing—and we scored better than her in the same class—truly because of rideability. Her rider was way more capable than me—but she was sitting on a bit of a powder keg. When they get that horse on the aids and focused on her work—I have no doubt they will be getting the big scores—but in the meantime, it’s hard to channel that energy. And do the hot horses with flashy gaits make it up the levels? Probably–but I would guess it’s mostly with pros riding them. Same thing with this horse—the owner hardly rides her—is always asking other riders to get on her. Honestly, not sure how she will deal with collection. Time will tell—but I feel like she may end up limited to the lower levels due to her temperament more than her physical limitations.
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Sometimes hot horses get a lot more rideable and relaxed as the training progresses and gives them something more challenging to focus on. (This is maybe obvious and/or the way it should be—but other hot horses can’t deal with the collection and get less rideable.)
My hot one didn’t score that well at the lower levels on the walk work—wasn’t a quality issue, just tension/jigging. Once we hit 4-3, she was busy enough in the tests that her walk scores started going up. Last time we showed at I-1, she scored an 8 on her extended walk and a 7 or 7.5 on the collected walk.
Some horses just don’t like dressage, just like some horses hate jumping or trail riding or whatever else.
FWIW, I don’t know that my go to for an anticipating horse would be canter-halt-canter. Maybe canter walk and walk canter but not as a simple change—if they figure out that canter-walk (or halt) means they’re going to start cantering again in a few strides, it can make the anticipation worse. We did some lots of canter-walk to walk lateral work or collected/extended walk to work on that issue.
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Many hot horses need rides that keep them focused by changing things a lot. Lower level tests have enough room that they can look and focus on things outside of the test. It sounds like yours anticipates the walk after the canter, so consider breaking things up like canter, walk, extended walk, collected walk, extended walk, collected walk, canter, rinse and repeat. consider canter and walking before rails spaced for walking. Teach her she can’'t anticipate because she doesn’t know what comes next, in a pleasant way.
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My daughter’s first horse was an OTTB mare who came with some serious baggage. She would not/could not settle after cantering, and it wasn’t because she was “hot” in temperament overall, it just seemed like cantering flipped a switch in her brain. We solved the problem by making her my trail horse instead of my daughter’s dressage and jumping horse. In her case, In hindsight, I would say that she was not 100% sound of mind, but it’s possible that cantering may have aggravated some undiagnosed physical problem too.
I know of another horse that was bought to be a young teen’s lower level eventing horse, a job which he had done successfully with his prior owner/rider. Fairly early into the new partnership, it was determined that a suspensory was iffy, and vet recommended he not jump anymore. Since then, his young owner has focused on dressage - mostly Training level and recently a little First level as well. During almost every ride, the horse will buck at some point when asked for a canter transition. It’s not a mean buck as much as an opinionated “I am not happy” buck. Rider works regularly with a knowledgable trainer. She has also worked with multiple clinicians/guest instructors, and every one of them has had a theory on why the horse does what he does and how to fix it. Over the course of a couple of years, no stone has been left unturned in trying to get this guy to be a happy dressage horse - saddle fit, ulcers, body work, injections of hocks, stifles, back. In this particular case, I have a high degree of respect for the various professionals who have been brought in, but no one/nothing has solved the bucking problem. It gets better for a while after some of the interventions, but it has never gone away. I have come to believe that the horse just doesn’t want to be a dressage horse. I think he is sick of arena work and endless circles. The young rider loves the horse which is why she didn’t move on after he could no longer jump, but I really think it is time to throw in the towel on the dressage thing.
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As a instructor, I have found that some people are more difficult to teach than others. Some process info visually, some aurally, some have physical limitations, others cannot see or feel a circle, they have spatial limitations.
This is why we have primo ballerinas, and top riders, and chess masters, etc. They have all “the right stuff”., for their chosen discipline.
The same talents and deficiencies appear in the world equine.
Yes, all horses can benefit from basic, “campaign level” training (dressage). All riders should have an understanding of basic riding.
It is amazing how many “coaches” are lacking in the latter.
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I don’t think it has anything to do with horses not wanting to do what the rider wants to do, but is just that some horses need a lot more time and patience than others.
If the horse isn’t calm then chances are very good that he’s been put into a “too much, too soon” situation, which doesn’t in any way mean that with better preparation he can’t become calm.
Any horse can be calm, forward, and straight, but trainers just need to recognize the importance of calm before they try to go on to get everything else.
“Success” in dressage isn’t just about getting into the upper levels, as I think a good lower level test is a much more valuable accomplishment than a crap upper level one.
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This is so interesting! I am not a beginner but definitely over horsed due to her size alone at least. But… she really tries hard and thoroughly enjoys doing things with me. At liberty she is putty in my hands.
Training level work is horrible. She looks for stuff to spook at. Work on 3rd level stuff and after 5 minutes of being very tense she finally gives in and let’s me supple and move her body around.
I’m in 2-3 lessons a week with 1-2 training rides a week as well. The rides are short 15-20 minutes of quality work.
The hotness will never go away I guess but I’m learning how to be much quicker in my corrections and aids and not to let her take over like she has done for the last 5 years!
And remember your next horse will have the benefit of what you have learnt and will start with a rider that is already quicker with their aides.
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Also, sometimes horses prefer a variety of things. As you mentioned - liberty work, she loves. In addition to dressage, we jump, do obstacles, lots of pole configurations. long line and hack…the more variety my horse has - the better he is.
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