Do you use side reins? They don’t have to be tight, just adjusted correctly. Often, that will bring a distracted horse back into “work mode.” A light contact on the bit means work, whereas being loose to do as he pleases, makes him think round pen.
I haven’t, yet. Although the lady I bought them from, who is a barrel race trainer (don’t worry, He was never ran on barrels and actually she seems like a pretty dang good horse woman) I remember tied her split reins to the saddle when she was round penning him. I’m assuming for the same reason. Now for me she had too much inside bend but either way I know he would be okay with the concept.
He also was diagnosed with kissing spine, So that very well could be a part of the distraction. Now he’s being treated for that and preemptively for ulcers as well…
Flip your dressage whip around. Stay on a very small circle like work in-hand size. The bigger circle is the reward for the correct bend.
First push shoulder out with other end of whip. It should lift and move over then bring head in towards you, then when they lower you release and stop asking. When they get it you will see and you can let the circle go bigger until they lose it again.
1 Like
Almost. Push the haunch out. If they’re not weighting the outside hind, they’re not correct.
I do haunches after I get shoulders
For me, pressure is always at the girth. That’s where your leg will go. Also, it’s the horse’s barrel that you are trying to swing to the outside. You don’t want to swing the haunches or the forehand to the outside of the circle.
But I’m not sure that straightness can be accomplished without sidereins.
I find it’s easier to get proper straightness after the horse understands weighting the outside hind. But I’m dealing with retreads, not young horses who don’t know how to do it incorrectly.
This isn’t my thread but I wanted to update that I focused just on his ears last time. And while we didn’t have perfect bend, I was about to keep his attention better by asking for an ear on me when his attention drifted to the outside (usually one spot of the arena.)
I don’t like to lunge much unless needed because of stifle issues so progress will be slow but definitely lots of good tips on this thread.
I meant to chime in before, but I use the 3 Circles game. My boy went from a hollow cardboard giraffe to round and stretchy on the line in trot after some sessions of working on this…canter isn’t there yet, but we’re working on it
2 Likes
