Some of you may remember my  "Lesson horse" post from a few weeks ago.  Well, a few drenched saddle pads later and she is being great for me.  The other girl, well, let's move on.  Problem now is her collection.  She feels so unbalanced when she moves!  I free lunged her and my barrel mare in the round pen on the same day and there is SUCH a HUGE difference in how they move.

When I lope her it seems as if she is lunging out with her front end almost.  It is really choppy.  Do I just keep loping and loping and loping and hope she comes to herself?  I haven't broke any horses before and I think it goes back to that.  I have been on rough horses before and this is different. It feels like she is unsure maybe?  I have gotten her to move into her lope quicker now, it used to take 100 feet of fast trotting just to get into it.

After all health issues are ruled out, what would you suggest (Vet appointment coming up for vaccinations and exam)?  She is a 9 year old grade QH mare.  Never used for anything special in the past, just riding I believe.  Definately no showing as her gaits are undesirable!

Don't ya just love the not balanced part?! It's so hard to ride those critters when you're on trained horses for a while. I'm going through the same thing with a 9year old mare myself right now. She's in NO way balanced and does the peppy LaPue thingie when she canters or she drops her shoulder so hard to cut a corner that just now that you're going to wipe out.

It's hard and aggrevating, but what I've always tried to do is get absolute concrete consistency in tempo or speed at all gaits before I try to work specifically on collection and balance. The ironic thing is that if they're not balanced, they'll speed up or slow down breaking gait. So in  order to maintain gait, they have go get balance, but you're not concentrating on that. Hope that makes sense. It just kind of occurs as a side effect. Sometimes it takes a couple of months to acheive that, depending on the horse. But, you get truer movement and long term impulsion if you don't mess with their gaits until they're rock solid at staying in them.

I make sure they can move laterally and I can move their shoulders and hips and do side passes and all that. That they give to the bit  and really light at the poll and in the mouth, soft straight back and side to side. A good foundation. After I get all that I'll work on getting some balance because I can move them around. Because they've learned to move off my leg, I can push them up into the bridle when I ride and release when I feel them give. I also teach them to round their back and lower their head when I push them up. That teaches them to use that back end.

I try to not use a martingale or draw reins to teach that, but some horses it helps to get the concept a little easier because they focus more. I will also lunge with side reins- but you have to be careful and make sure they know how to give to the bit and pressure and you have to wade in with length so they don't freak out. After they're comfortable with it, I push them forward from the ground while I'm lungeing.

I do lots of circles and lifting shoulders and moving them over, especially after they drop them hard in a circle. This is where giving to your leg comes in handy. I do it over and over and over.

Eventually, with a lot of work they come out balanced. Some quicker than others.

I'm sure you'll get some great advice on here!