Exercises for young horse heavy on the bit

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

I’ve noticed my young horse has started getting heavy on the bit as our focus has shifted to correct rhythm and balance. I’m working with a trainer but looking for COTH thoughts too to fix this issue before I ruin my horse.

He wants to travel on the forehand and drop his outside shoulder to avoid engaging behind. I do transitions and half-halts to get his hind end under him but it requires a lot of weight in the rein to get his head up. My trainer isn’t concerned by the amount of weight and doesn’t think I’m pulling. But I feel like I’m pulling!

I can ride him WTC on the buckle in an ok rhythm but he will be on his forehand with his head practically at his knees. The problem is if I want him to move correctly I need to ride with contact to address his shoulders and how low he wants to travel with his head. I’m not asking for contact but I am asking for him to travel correctly, not on his forehand. This makes him heavy in the bit especially if I do downward transitions. He then will practically pull me out of the tack in the downward transition.

Trainer has me working on half-halts and transitions. On my own, I am working on exercises where I trot him out of the corner to the centerline, walk, and then leg-yield to the wall working on keeping his shoulder and neck straight. It mostly feels like a balance and straightness issue with him. What else can I do? I really don’t want to develop a WB that is heavy in the mouth. I’ve ridden my fair share of them and think they are awful and unenjoyable to ride.

[LilRanger]

Can you add cavaletti? I don’t have buckets of experience, but I have ridden horses heavy on the fore, and sometimes it was a lack of abdominals, so having to pick up his feet more might help.

Others with more experience will probably have better suggestions

Edited to move a suggestion your already doing

[Huntin_Pony]

How old is your horse? How large? How long in work? Do you have access to hills?

I think other folks will chime in with some questions or maybe suggestions too, but offhand it sounds like a lack of strength to me. He may need a significant amount of time to develop the strength to carry himself. Depending on your situation, there are certainly several approaches to this.

[CanteringCarrot]

This either comes from a strength or soundness issue, and I’ll focus on the former here. Do you ride on trails or in fields at all? Some walking up and down hills, either in-hand or ridden, can be a good strengthener. Eventually I do transitions between and within gaits while riding uphills.

I also do pole work. Some raised, some not, some in-hand, some ridden. I also back-up over a pole, and sometimes this is better started in-hand so you can keep an eye on their posture. In addition to this I do reverse sets sans pole. Usually 3 sets of 10 steps. Back them up slowly and with proper posture, in-hand or ridden.

I also focus on lateral work which includes leg yields at all gaits and shoulder-in to start. Sometimes I do the exercise where you leg yield a few steps, straight for a few steps, let yield, and so on. Shoulder in helps them take the weight behind.

In addition to that I do transitions as well, and I’m strict and focused (on myself and the horse), because if you’re going to do transitions, do them well.

Sometimes I’ll even pop the odd jump or two for something different. That can help some horses.

A half halt doesn’t involve only or so much hand. It comes from your body. Sometimes young horses are growing, testing things, or just aren’t balanced or fit enough yet to carry themselves. I find that a varied routine featuring much of the above gets them strong, fit, and provides them with the muscles to carry themselves well.

[JB]

@BAY_WITH_CHROME

it requires a lot of weight in the rein to get his head up

what exactly is your hand doing? Hands aren’t for pulling heads up He can’t get heavy if he’s got nothing to lean on.

Lots, and lots, and lots of transitions.

You DO need to ask for contact, but you can’t pull back when he leans. You CAN actually just drop him if he starts leaning, which will be a little wake-up that he’s responsible for his own balance

How old is he? You may be asking him for more work than he’s able to do right now

When you say the focus has shifted TO rhythm and balance, what is it shifting FROM?

@BAY_WITH_CHROME

I can ride him WTC on the buckle in an ok rhythm but he will be on his forehand with his head practically at his knees.

He can’t be allowed to practice being on his forehand, ever, It reinforces the wrong muscles and movement patterns.

It sounds like there are some foundational holes here, starting with his (and maybe your) understanding of what “contact” means.

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

He’s 6. I backed him and spent the first two years doing trails. We have hills and he is hacked a few times a week on them and is always sent out on a hack loop before ring work. He does travel on the forehand on hacks too but I don’t worry about his head or neck because he is on uneven terrain.

The shift is from hacking on the trails to ring work. Before if we did ring work it was very light sessions, a few WTC laps after a hack.

I agree it is a strength issue. The problem is if I “drop” him if he starts to lean, he collapses onto the forehand and I lose all straightness in his shoulder. This does not bother him at all, this is where he wants to travel. He is using me for balance. I feel like I am pulling but my trainer says he is trying to telescope his neck and hits the end of the reins and pulls me because he is wanting to travel with his head down on the forehand. He has a long neck.

I have access to cavaletti and will include that in my ring work.

My trainer thinks that I’m overanalzying and he will be fine once he learns how to balance himself. I really don’t enjoy heavy horses and have always been a quiet handed rider, this is new for me. Appreciate all the comments.

[endlessclimb]

My mare will get heavy and lean if allowed.

I second the LOTS of transitions, lots of half halts, lots of lateral stuff (even if it’s more of a thought than an actual lateral move). Do not allow him to trick you into a heavier contact - I am guilty of this where I sit and wonder “how did we end up HERE?”

While you are unsure of his current strength, I’d err on the side of “he needs a break”. Do transitions until he lightens up, then give him a walk break to stretch, or end the session if you feel that’s right.

[endlessclimb]

And finally, for an exercise that I find helpful - shoulder in, with a conscious effort to float the inside rein to prove self carriage and that they’re bending off my leg and not leaning on the rein. Once it’s right, we continue straight. If she immediately goes back to leaning, we immediately go back to shoulder in, or leg yield, depending on which rein she’s pushing on.

Also note - a lot of times when you feel leaning, feel the other/light rein. In my mare’s case, it will be nearly or totally empty. So instead of thinking “get off the heavy rein, ya turkey” it’s thinking “put weight in the empty rein please.”

[Huntin_Pony]

You’ve already gotten some good suggestions so I’ll just say I agree with just about everything above.

Six is still young for a warmblood and depending on his size, he may well need more time to find his own balance. Your one example of an exercise on your own (trot corner to X then walk, . . . staying straight, . . . ) brings to mind that straightness comes from bending, classically. Do you use head-to-the-wall leg yields, serpentines, spirals?

Once he was warmed up, if I was trotting and my horse tipped forward, I would switch to a circle or a lateral movement to encourage the horse to reach under and rebalance. Find out how small a circle or how steep an angle he can comfortably execute and go there or slightly past, being sure to offer praise and rest as soon as he rebalances. Be very sure that you are centered both laterally and longitudinally and quiet, so he can find that balance point for himself.

Using transitions in this situation, I would be changing gait or stride length every 4 or 5 strides and taking breaks frequently to give him time to think. If you can present sequences/geometries that are challenging and help him find “the easy way” to navigate them, he will notice and will begin to adopt the easy way on his own (when he is physically able to do so).

You sound thoughtful to me, not “overanalyzing.”

[Scribbler]

Being heavy on the bit and falling on the forehand are two separate things, though they can occur together if you try to pull the horse up with your hands.

This kind of horse may benefit from learning to properly stretch to the bit, long and out and on soft contact, and raising his back. Not slopping around like a bad Western Pleasure horse

It is perfectly possible for a horse to have his head up and still be falling on the forehand.

I would double down on in hand lateral work to get him.stepping under and build up some ab strength to carry himself. Also a lot of walk work and walk lateral under saddle. He needs the strength to carry himself.

You can’t pick a horse up off the forehand by pulling. As you have found.

[blue_heron]

Have you tried him in a different bit? Sometimes if your bit has too much play, they can get heavy to try to stabilize it. If the bit is very stable or is very thick, they can learn to lean.

Next, I’d try cavaletti and lots of quick transitions. I would stay within halt, walk, and trot. If he’s heavy in the walk, transition to trot immediately. As soon as he gets heavy in the trot, halt, and then you can trot or walk out of it. How forward and forward-thinking is he really?

Finally, and I might get some flack for this, but do you ever just let him fall on his face? Six is a hard age, because they’re young and still learning, but it’s also time to introduce accountability. We can tend to get stuck in the cycle of defaulting to “try again later” when things get difficult with young horses, especially when it’s our own young horse. And then they’re suddenly eight or nine and have never been pushed.

Young horses like rule and they like to test rules. Every rule needs to have a consequence, bad or good, and they do learn to choose whether to follow the rules or not. The rule is that you don’t get to blow through my rein aid and pull me out of the tack. The consequence of leaning on your hand is you sitting up, putting your leg on, and letting him fall on his face. Have you ever had someone end a hug or a handshake before you were expecting? It’s awkward. Contact is like a firm handshake, and the consequence is awkward enough that by the third or fourth time he falls on his face, he’ll probably start to figure it out.

[Willesdon]

Transitions, transitions and yet more transitions. And that doesn’t mean ask for a transition, wait a few steps and see what happens. Ask and receive an immediate response. And then circles. Add circles to your transitions and transition within your circles. Then more transitions. With a young horse don’t make the circles too small at first as they are hard work. The spiral in and spiral out circle is very useful. But then more transitions. And yet more transitions.

[JB]

@BAY_WITH_CHROME

I agree it is a strength issue.

Ok, so he spent 2 years basically learning how to incorrectly carry himself out on trails. He’s got a lot of muscle memory to undo

@BAY_WITH_CHROME

The problem is if I “drop” him if he starts to lean, he collapses onto the forehand and I lose all straightness in his shoulder

You can’t work on his shoulders until you get more self-carriage. He’s spent 2 years traveling how he was most comfy, which means he’s increased his asymmetry. Work on his shoulder mobility in very small bursts, but it can’t be until he’s in a moment of better self-carriage. So the self-carriage work has to come first

How do you warm him up? How much walking to start, and what’s done in the walk? So many underestimate how much work you can do in the walk.

His rides from here on need to be very purposeful, and likely very short, maybe even 15-20 minutes, because you’re going to have to work first on some better self-carriage, and that’s going to be hard work. If all you do is walk-halt transitions, and do them well, and walk right along in a forward march, for 20 minutes he’s going to be tired.

[Rosewatt]

@BAY_WITH_CHROME

I agree it is a strength issue. The problem is if I “drop” him if he starts to lean, he collapses onto the forehand and I lose all straightness in his shoulder. This does not bother him at all, this is where he wants to travel. He is using me for balance. I feel like I am pulling but my trainer says he is trying to telescope his neck and hits the end of the reins and pulls me because he is wanting to travel with his head down on the forehand. He has a long neck.

All great suggestions here, but this quote to me suggests there has been something amiss for quite some time and his muscles have developed against proper carriage. Your horse shouldn’t be relying this much on reins and neither should you. Western riders correct leaning shoulders on the buckle all the time with frequent changes in direction, off rail work, not hanging on the rein and individual quick lifts of the rein etc. These tactics should also be applicable to dressage (and I have used them to develop my own dressage horse, who was very good at maintaining a balanced stretch wtc).

Quite honestly, if this were my horse, I’d be taking him back to the walk until I achieved adequate self-carriage, then I’d gradually move him back in the trot. I would actually start with a longer rein and teach the horse to listen to me and not lean with lots of transitions (opposite to what the horse wants to do). I would first start with groundwork, showing the horse how to properly move into the bit. I had to do this once with my own horse, who was schooling second level; however, it wasn’t the easiest ride and my horse developed vices such as going heavy or gaping when tired or stressed. I’d finally had enough of coaches throwing band aid fixes at me and just took the time to work it out myself. Over 3 months, I went from in-hand-walk work, trot and then canter. VERY small sessions 30 minutes or less 3-4x a week with trail hill work in between + caveletti for sneaky conditioning. Absolutely fixed the issues completely and had the muscle change to show for it. My horse became an extremely easy ride connected, but still light, self-corrected on the buckle or in a shorter frame. Everything was off of seat aids.

[Manni01]

You are talking a lot about the front of your horse but not about engagement of his back. Not sure how long he is under saddle but when I backed my young horse last fall I could care less about how the connection felt. There was no real connection. I focused on the horse reacting to my legs and core and my forward driving aids. My hand were only just going forward and giving.
Now with every day my young horse is offering more connection. And at this stage I am accepting it but I am not actively forcing it…. She was extremely sensitive in the mouth and I did not want a crawling horse…! So maybe change your perspective a little! Good luck!!

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[Fiesta01]

@JB

Lots, and lots, and lots of transitions.

This. And lots of half halts in between.

[Cowboy_Girl]

School outside in a pasture with a slight side hill with caveletti. He needs to learn to balance himself without you doing all the work. Sounds like he may be be going through his last bit of growth and has the awkwards.

[Mondo]

I’m with Manni here. You need to 100% stop focusing on what’s happening in front. If he’s heavy in your hands, it means you’ve lost control of the hind legs. Falling onto the forehand is a consequence of that. So, as most have suggested, transitions until you are blue in the face. I also second the suggestion of dropping the contact. BUT - when you do, send him FORWARD. I don’t even care if you are already cantering - GO! Get that motor working (the motor being hind end). Don’t worry at all about where his head goes - up is just fine in this case - send him forward.
If you are trotting along and feel like he’s getting heavy in your hands, tap, tap, tap, with the whip. Wake up that hind leg. Or a couple of quick kicks is even better as you want him to immediately go forward from your leg. Until he’s stepping under, he’s going to be heavy in front. It’s just a matter of (dressage) physics. Good luck!

[pryme_thyme]

I’ve started a lot of stock type breeds that tend to do this because they learn stretching feels awesome and the rider tends to do less when they drop and plod.

I don’t mind it and I allow it when we are stretching, I would be less concerned about holding him up but rather kick on.

Add leg. Give a kick if that’s needed to raise his poll and carry himself. Don’t hold, release instead. Transitions will be your friend, as will shoulder fore/in, poles, cavaletti and get him out of the ring. Sometimes they lose interest.

Good luck!!!

[MapleFarm]

I have been struggling with this with my young draft cross mare lately as well. Her anatomy definitely makes it easy, but I would concur with others here; it’s a lack of forward. The same goes for dropping a shoulder and falling in. With good consistent rhythm and forward thinking/movement, it stops. My mare is very very smart, and uses all these things to get me to take my leg off, get in an argument about straightness, and then get really slow/heavy. I have certainly not “solved” this problem with her, but it gets better with more forward and yes, transitions. Frequent transitions that keep the downward ones forward.