Have young mare that has opinions. Has recently started trying to yank the reins out of may hands at the canter. Teeth, back etc have been checked.
I know she wants me off her face, but when I give her more rein, she gets really strong. We try giving & then taking back if she picks up, but she can really get going in that couple of strides.
Suggestions? We do try lots of transitions both between & within gaits.
Balancing and shortening the canter in a young green horse sometimes takes more strength and fitness than they have, especially for a big, big strided or gangly animal. If they are weak or tired they will get “strong” because they are relying on you to hold them because they cannot hold themselves yet. Realize that it takes YEARS sometimes to develop the strength and fitness for collection at the canter and develop them slowly. Her “opinions” may be telling you that this is very hard for her and she is not physically ready for what you are asking of her. Just a thought.
With horses like this I try, oh I try, to ride like my reins are made of a single strand of a cobweb. t can take a while before the horse’s neck and back muscles get strong enough to carry themselves instead of expecting me to carry them for the horse.
This can take a long time to get results, but if the strength of contact is that which would not break a cobweb the horse is NOT laying its whole weight on the rein. They are not flinging their heads around in desperation because the strong contact hurts. It may take time for the horse’s mouth to regain its sensitivity. By doing this I’ve changed horses from leaning HARD on my hands to being controllable on light contact in response the the well timed tweaks of my little fingers.
Don’t forget to keep using your leg aids! It all works together, from the hind foot to the horse’s mouth.
We Re not even talking about collection yet per se, just the ability to rate in the canter. I am aware it will take time, I just would like some exercises to get us there.
This is what I am trying to do, with variable success. I would just like to not die during the process. She just seems to get more & more excited, to the point where I feel completely out of control. I’ve tried relaxing & just allowing the forward with light contact, but she just gets faster & faster. We have started asking for a bit more, so I stepped that down a bit, but we do need to make some forward progress. Very slow, but something…
Lots of transitions can help between trot and canter. You ask her to come down to trot where it’s easier to balance but then be prompt also in the canter transition. It can build strength while lessening the amount of time spent in canter before a break.
Doing the above also on a large-ish circle can also allow you to use one rein more. If really young and green this will be more inside opening rein until you have improved the throughness. Outside rein is pretty much just the half halt rein for the transitions. It’s a bit harder to root against one rein pressure versus two. Head tossing I would just ignore as best you can. Rooting /snatching at the reins is pretty rude and can be dangerous.
@trekkie is 100% correct.
I have a wonderful exercise for horses that are strong in the bridle (weak in the body) at the canter.
You’ll be working on a circle, preferably the width of the arena. Smaller circles are harder when the horse is young/unbalanced/weak. Pick up the canter, canter half a circle, come back down to the walk (probably through the trot in the beginning, but no more than 4 trot steps), make a half turn on the haunches (changing direction), then pick up the canter again. Go a half circle, walk, half turn on the haunches again. I’ll also throw in half turns on the forehand instead of on the haunches just to change things up. For a horse that’s never done this before, I’ll do 2-3 repetitions each direction (so a total of 4-6 half circles) before I give them a break. For fitter, more schooled horses, I’ll do 4-5 half circles each direction.
This exercise helps for a few reasons:
This will help with what you’re describing, and is also the basis for when I start teaching the collected canter (using a shorter cantering distance between turns), and can be progressed even more to start learning pirouettes. This also helps with sharpening walk/canter transitions, and getting a horse quicker off of your aids.
As with all new exercises, don’t pound on her, and I’d only do this 2-3 times a week for the first few weeks. This is a hard exercise and she’ll definitely be muscle sore after the first few times.
The things I know now, how I wish I could go back in time to apply this knowledge to my previous horses. But that’s how it goes for everyone right?
I was told to just keep going and that the fitness will come. But what happened is fitness didn’t come, compensation did, and what follows that is lameness.
I’m actually more grateful now for the horses that communicate and don’t internalize.
If she’s struggling at the canter she’s putting herself on the forehand and she’s not going to become strong in the way you need her to be. When I was working with my dressage coach how we managed this was trot work. Balance at the trot, not going any more forward or slower than what I’m asking. Standing straight and not leaning to either side. Lots of transitions within the gait and between the gaits. He should immediately walk, and then immediately trot. He should halt square and forward without taking tiny steps and crossing his legs. All of this was meant to transfer weight to the hind end. When we actually did canter it was very small bits of canter. Think cantering for a quarter of a circle, bringing him back before he started to fall on his face. The best time to ask for the canter transition is immediately from a downward to trot transition. We do this also at the trot to teach the half halt, one step of walk and back to trot until the half halt is established and effective at that gait. This also helps transfer weight to the hind end. This is something that unfortunately does take a long time to develop, especially if the canter isn’t already inherently balanced or if the horse’s conformation adds to the weakness in the gait.
For both of your sakes I would back way off and listen to the mare that this is too much before even more undesirable behavior or habits start. I had the thought recently that horses do communicate and if it gets loud it’s because we didn’t listen.
Few things… from having mares and young fillies/mares:
This is what I did and am still doing with my younger horse. His canter has improved leaps and bounds.
This will sound counter-intuitive.
I’d practice this at a walk first. Whenever the horse’s barrel swings out against your leg do not let your leg be moved, just tense it up a little bit and hold, then release/relax your leg when the barrel starts swinging away from your lower leg.
I picked up this technique from the wonderful book “The Way to Perfect Horsemanship” by Udo Burger, a book you need to read. Burger explains that when the lower leg is applied exactly at this time it encourages the horse’s hind leg on that side to stay grounded for a split second longer, which results in the horse slowing down.
I do this a lot in my lessons. When I ask the lesson horse to transition downwards from a regular flat footed walk down to a super slow walk I just use my lower legs like this, alternating the lower leg as the horse moves. I have gotten my lesson horse so he will slow down from a free swinging walk down to the super slow walk with this aid only, no hand aids and no seat aids. I use this aid when I want to slow down when I am riding with loose reins.
At the start do this alternating leg aid then, if the horse does not respond at all then back it up with your usual halting rein &/or seat aids. It may take several repetitions before the horse starts to understand it but I usually get the horse to understand it in the first 30 minute lesson I use it in. Accept minor slow downs at first, your seat bone on that side won’t feel as much push from the horse’s hind leg, and that is when you release/relax your lower leg, stiffening up your lower leg on the opposite side because you have to alternate this leg aid for it to work properly. When you get to the speed you want stop using your lower legs unless 1) the horse speeds up again, then repeat this leg aid with reinforcing hand aids if necessary, or 2) the horse slows down too much then your legs start alternating in the more normal way, pressing against the horse’s side as the horse’s barrel moves away from your leg just like you do when you want the horse to lengthen its stride at the walk.
My riding teacher has gotten used to seeing the lesson horse I ride slow down a good bit while my reins are sagging/on the buckle. The horse shortens his stride, his hind legs do not move forward as much, and the horse sort of collects itself even though no rein aids are used. My seat moves back and I start sitting upright because that is what the horse’s back tells me to do.
When your horse understands this leg aid at a walk then you can introduce it at the faster gaits.
It may take a while, but between the cobweb reins and this particular leg aid the often super resistant lesson horses I ride become light in hand and a pleasure to ride.
The book I referred to has been reprinted and is available on Amazon and other sites. EVERY rider should read this book.
“I know she wants me off her face, but when I give her more rein, she gets really strong. We try giving & then taking back if she picks up, but she can really get going in that couple of strides.”
The key is to give and take EVERY stride it’s needed. In the beginning that may be every stride, 5-10 strides in a row.
The “give” is so important; many horses will begin rooting because they are unhappy with the contact. I see many riders at canter using their aids completely backwards in rhythm with the stride; they lock their elbows and pull in the final phase of the canter stride, when the horse’s head and neck goes down. As riders, this is when we feel the horse is heaviest so we naturally want to apply a strong aid with our hands. But this is really annoying to a horse… he HAS to stretch his head and neck when the leading foreleg strikes the ground, and if we restrict that motion what is he supposed to do? Yes, we want him to slow down or shorten his stride or improve balance; but asking when his head and neck has to go out is the wrong time to do it.
Instead, use your half-halt and lifting/shortening aids on the “jump up” of the canter, in the suspension phase and when the outside hind leg strikes the ground. When your hands naturally come back, following the rising/shortening of the head and neck at canter, that is when to apply your rein aid. Follow the head and neck back with a little stronger contact than normal, VERY briefly pause as the inside hind comes forward (to ask it to shorten a little, not as big a step) and then allow your hands to follow the head and neck forward as the front legs hit the ground phase of the stride. You don’t have to follow on “light” contact…you can have a bit of resistance to reinforce your seriousness of Whoa Now Please, but it MUST be a following contact. Your hands MUST move forward and follow the neck. In this way, every stride of canter has a “take” and a “give” to allow the horse to move.
I had a mare who was quite fussy and used to toss her head and root. We tried various things, but even now, she still roots at times. We eventually discovered that she has a condition that causes her face to go numb when wearing a bridle. So, we got her a Micklem bridle and a D-ring snaffle. When riding her, we have an agreement that if she behaves well, she gets her head whenever we stop or wait for something.
This from the rooftops. It is the release that gets the result.
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