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Expert
Posts: 2685
   
| So I was curious the different things people do to teach their more forward horses how to hold a gait. For instance, you ask for a walk, he starts to pick up a trot (repeatedly), you ask for a trot, he picks up a lope without constant reminder to stay at a trot. You ask for a lope, he wants to reach a little more than your comfortable with. What do you do? Assuming you have checked out all possible avenues of pain/soreness.
My OTT mare who is a whole new horse on Breath Eze (ulcer sup), walks and lopes calmly very well. Occassionally she wants to pick up the lope at a trot. She does it the first few mins and then settles in. I just stop her every time she does it and make her take a deep breath and realize there's no need to be a in a hurry. She does well about dropping her head and walking off anytime now. What do you guys do? | |
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Regular
Posts: 51
Location: CA | I kinda do the same thing you do with your OTTB mare:
For mine, I walk her on a loose rein and every time I even slightly feel her get ahead of me, I say whoa and stop her using the lightest pressure, then I back her a few steps and just sit there until she's relaxed(i.e. licking and chewing, cocks a back leg, takes a deep breath)I might even sit there for a minute or two. Then I give her a big reward, pick up the reins, kiss to her, and start walking again. I repeat this until she's walking calmly around the whole arena with zero rein contact. Then I pick up a trot and repeat the same process except after I let her relax, I walk her for a few seconds. After doing this, my mare now lopes around calmly without me constantly nagging her.
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| Slow and calm the body language down.
I don't stop, I go back to the speed I want to, if they continue changing speed, I do circles until they go the speed I want.
Body language is key | |
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| I have a gelding that is VERY forward, wants to go type and when I have him stop and wait for him to relax till I continue. He does the opposite and will just get more and more anxious wanting to go that it causes more of a battle getting him to stand relaxed. I try and avoid getting to that point and he has been a big challenge for me to figured out that's for sure.
I agree with the post above
Edited by JagsLuck 2016-01-28 2:09 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 509
| I have never owned a forward horse. If i did i would just stop not make a fuss about it and keep asking for my speed, i ran the same bloodline for years and they were mellow, I've never owned a free runner | |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | For me it depends on the horse & why I think they're doing it. They can be going faster because they're not balanced yet, or they're impatient, or they're just not relaxed.
For balance, I do a lot of transitions up down, I also work on collection and extension within the same gait. I'll do a half halt to help re-set them too. Depending on the horse, I'll also stop and back up and then continue forward at the same gait, or I'll do a rollback.
Horses that are impatient, I'll let them go faster but they have to stay at that speed until I say stop. I keep them moving at the speed they wanted to go
Eventually, they'll want to quit and that's when I ask them to step it up and keep them going. That works good with a horse that's lazy.
For horses that are just plain nervous, I look at total management. Turn out time, feed. I give them a few minutes to get that energy out -- kind of like a kid they can't learn something if they're not focused so I give them a chance to get that energy out. Then I'll start using the stuff above, and I'll also sit a whole lot. Horses have to learn how to sit and wait. If you work them hard enough, stopping and sitting will.be a treat - kind of like us when we work out really hard.
I also look at my body language. If I've ask my horse to stop or walk but I still have tension in my body then I'm still telling my horse to go forward. Sensitive horses will pick up on that in a heart beat. You can make a horse trot by just putting tension in your body. So I pay attention to that. I want my body to be saying the same thing my hands, legs, seat are saying. | |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | I agree on body language--keep it calm. My horse like to jig instead of walk. I find that REALLY contacting the saddle with my seat helps bring him down. I hold constant pressure on his face until he breaks into a walk.
For your horse, it sounds like she has a lot of excess energy. If I were you, I would either round pen or lunge her before you start working on these transitions and maintaining the same gaits. If she's on a sweet feed, I'd take her off it. If she's been stalled a couple of days, I'd turn her out and let her burn off some energy. | |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | halfhalts, transitions and body language.. and steady outside rein to keep balanced and under himself.
Edited by Bibliafarm 2016-01-28 8:25 AM
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