Exercises for young horse heavy on the bit

[rosinante]

@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

You have just opened the door to learning “equestrian tact.”

You say the horse is using you for balance. So, don’t allow it. If he starts to lean, dont’ hold him. Ask him to go forward. This is counter intuitive that if a horse is heavy, you ask for forward. The reason the horse leans is because the hind legs are trailing. So you ask the horse to bring hind legs under. IOW you ask for forward. If the horse then leans, you say NO! Don’t lean. It is a training exercise where you develop the understaning in the horse.

[MadTrotter]

agree. If you don’t have a motor, you can’t build self-carriage. A snappy upwards transition will do more to build strength and balance than 10 lopsided circles. I had a former coach tell me to “rugby” the horse, meaning drop the contact and strong leg to let the horse know you won’t carry him.

I have a WB who also gets heavy and disengaged and BORED, so I set up a little course of cavaletti to weave a set of barrels to crossrail. She has so much fun she puts the effort in, lifts, sits, and bends on her own accord.

[eightpondfarm]

@MadTrotter

I had a former coach tell me to “rugby” the horse, meaning drop the contact and strong leg to let the horse know you won’t carry him.

huh. That’s interesting. I will ask my coach about this. I don’t currently have a heavy horse, but i’m sure i will someday. My standardbred is forward but not heavy in my hand. But then i don’t take a good hold of him yet. So …maybe he would be? dunno. I’ll talk to my coach. I love bringing her questions from here.

[SuzieQNutter]

Sorry I have not read the replies. I have no time this morning.

Downward transitions are not done with the reins. If you are being pulled out of the tack, you are not using your seat and ‘dropping your weight’. This has nothing to do with what you weigh. It is very powerful, you don’t want to do it too much, otherwise you will ground your horse.

Leaning on your hands is one way for a horse to minimise pain from the bit. The horse will either lean or they will go the opposite way and raise their head and hollow and have no contact with the reins.

This can happen when riders try to have soft hands and are actually doing the opposite and are giving at the incorrect time.

Contact takes years to learn and has everything to do with timing.

I would say have a lesson with a different trainer and note any changes in what you are told.

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

Good slash bad update. Even with multiple trainers on the ground something didn’t feel right so I called my vet for a lameness eval. My lameness vet discovered he has a murmur and referred us to a cardiologist specialist. He has a heart murmur caused by a ventricular septal defect. This precludes an upper level career. The heaviness was because of his poor recovery. The finding surprised all of us because he never stress breathed or looked like he was unable to recover his breath. His strength issue was actually muscle fatigue. The cardiologist gave me some advice for fitness work and said he will tell us when it’s time but that lower level work is just fine and beneficial even since he will be in better shape ridden than retired in a stall. It’s been a year and he’s past what he was training when I made this thread. We’ve catered his training sessions around his heart rate recovery. The heaviness in the bit was a symptom of his exhaustion and has totally gone away with a more mindful approach and ten minute walk breaks between training sessions. Yes an actual ten minutes. So my advice, listen to the horse!

[jvanrens]

I’m relieved that you managed to find out what your boy’s issue was. Thank you for sharing.

[strangewings]

Edited post - didn’t realize this was an old thread and responded before reading to the end.

Sorry to hear of the diagnosis, but good on you for listening to your horse. It sounds like you have a supportive team - good luck!