Hi folks,
My horse stretches down and out very nicely at the walk, but I’m having trouble getting him to stretch at the trot. He will slightly, very slightly, stretch down, but he seems reluctant to go any further. Any tips/exercises to help him let go? I can’t get him to do stretchy trot in the saddle or on the lunge.
Thank you!
Long and low is not a way of life. This is a test to check the elastic connection that you have with the horse’s mouth. You give and he takes the reins out and stretches over his back. You don’t want him to dump on his forehand and run and it takes balance to stretch correctly. So you do a little at a time at the trot. Offer him some more rein and let him take it down, maintaining the connection. Then take the reins up and ask him to give. It is a back and forth process. There is no benefit to this process if you suddenly drop the reins and expect the horse to lower his head. He needs to maintain the soft connection and stretch to your hand. When done correctly it is a reward to the horse. Watch videos of Ingrid Klimke but don’t get discouraged if at first it does not work as well as it does with her. We are not Ingrid.
Is he actually reaching into your hand and taking the other end of contact or is he softly in a general pleasant outline? If he’s reaching for the bit then he should eagerly take the contact as far as his strength and balance allows. If you’re having to do a lot of encouragement or if you give more than an inch or two of rein and he drops or inverts, you have more of a fundamental contact issue than a stretching issue. I think most of us go on a journey of what feels like connection and then have to dismantle and rebuild it. Even a very green unfit horse that is reaching into the bit should stretch down and out following the hand. I wouldn’t expect a first level horse to have their nose at their knees with a lifted back and open throatlatch for laps around the ring so it’s also important to check if your expectations of how much stretch and the length of the stretch are aligned with his current level of training.
I can’t tell from your description, but your horse may be doing the “stretchy trot” correctly. From various judges workshops I have attended, the judges want to see a lengthening of the frame, the horse following the hand with the horse reaching out and forward…NOT diving down with its head down to knees.
I suggest finding a local judge and pay for a “test riding lesson” to see what the judge says. When I was competing, that is what I did for preparation. It was always helpful to get “the view from the judge’s eye.”
I agree some judges (though not all) want this, but the actual text on the test says forward and down and I’ve definitely seen some judges hold people to that and given poor scores when the poll was slightly above/at the wither but the horse was otherwise on the bit correctly and lengthening.
I agree with what you have said and perhaps I should have clarified. Yes, they want “down”…but how much “down?” The clinic I recall, people were told that below the withers was ok, down by the knees was not.
My takeaway was that the judges (or at least the judge giving this clinic whose name I don’t recall) wanted to make sure the horse was willing to follow the hand but not so much that the rider put it on its forehand…or at least that is what my pea brain interpreted.
And my caveat is this has been awhile ago, so the best thing is to find a clinician who is also a judge who might provide current feedback.
I’m going to suggest transitions from stretchy walk to stretchy trot so he gets the idea. And then from working trot to stretchy trot.
Agree with the other posters - this is related to contact. and that having a judge look at it and tell you their assessment is a good idea
As you trot around your arena, either going large or on a 20 m circle, try firming up your outside rein a bit and flex him a little to the inside with your inside rein…this often encourages a tendency to lower the neck and attempt to stretch, at which point you give the rein a bit and pat/praise. Short segments work best.
At the trot, his head is definitely above his withers.
As soon as we go into a trot from a stretchy walk his head pops up and I find myself with too long reins. I can’t quite seem to keep his head down in the transition
He’s not strong enough to do this at the trot yet. That’s ok - a true forward and down (over the back) stretch takes a lot of conditioning - the horse has to really be working from his hind end, but be able to be in enough balance that he’s not completely on his forehand. And the transition on the straight is probably the last place you’ll see it.
For now, focus more on the trot. I find it’s easier to get the concept on the circle, where you’ve already got a bend the horse can stretch in to.
Take the inside rein, ask for inside flexion but don’t hold…just ask horse to flex. Release when he flexes. Do this at the halt, then at the walk. At the walk ask for horse to spiral out of a circle with head low. Ask for the spiral with your leg asking the inside hind to move out…like a leg yield. When the horse reliable responds to request for inside flexion and to drop head in a circle leg yield spiral out, then ask for the up transition. Do NOT hold the head in flexion…take contact, and ask for the horse to yield. Rider yields when horse yields.
Yes, but that’s assuming that the horse is strong enough to put his head down that low without falling on the forehand. In fact, the horses’s strength is part of what being demonstrated in this movement.
OP, I would suggest a few things.
Don’t sacrifice the horse’s balance for a head position. When he is stronger, he will be able to put his head wherever without losing his balance. Stick to your guns and to the task of being fair to your horse.
When you halfhalt, make sure that your last part of that aid is a soft release of the reins (perhaps invisible to the onlooker) that lets your horse know that after he has brought his balance back, he can/should open back up his poll and telescope out from the base of his neck as much as he can or would wish to.
IMO, there’s too much emphasis on “the contact” (which people start to mean "pushing into the bridle), and that can turn into too much holding with the hand, in pursuit of that feel. To me, that’s digging a training hole that’s hard to fix. It’s also kind of a bummer for the horse.
– check yourself to make sure you haven’t leaned forward, or collapsed the front of your body. Having short arms myself, I wouldn’t mind if you had to lean just a touch forward to help give him that space in front (if/when he gets to that place where he can reach down far and you are almost on the buckle.) But! continue to support yourself in your core. Make yourself still and easy to carry,
– Post slower. This helps a horse continue to find his hind leg and push from back there as opposed to rushing a bit. Rushing, taking shorter steps, is a horse who is essentially falling on the forehand and stepping out quickly with each front leg to catch himself.
I like to do these two things to modify my own eq first, to make my own balance “back,” slow and strong a couple of strides before slipping my horse the reins. This way, I have told him with my body where the balance should be and now I’m allowing him to modify his own head and neck position as he can/would like to gain some freedom there.
To me, this is part of making the horse’s overall balance independent of the reins. That’s a nicer deal for the horse and, IMO, it’s generally a more correct way to ride a horse (though plenty of dressage theory would make it appear otherwise).
I hope this helps!
I’m with mvp - this behavior is a symptom of your horse not having adequate balance to perform the exercise. He’s telling you that by popping his head up - he knows he’s going to fall on his forehand and sacrifice what balance he’s obtained. So your job becomes doing the exercises posters above ^^ have recommended, to help him improve and then maintain his balance, hence the contact, all the way down. I’m also with pluvinel in that down is important, but not as important as forward and out, and also maintaining the contact. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve judged a rider who just drops the contact like a hot potato and the poor horse is left to his own devices to maintain his balance. You’re getting good advice here, let us know how you fare. 
Thank you all! I’m taking notes of all your comments so I can implement your suggestions with him.
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