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| I have an off the track mare and lately getting her to slow lope (off the pattern) is impossible. I've had her checked by the vet and he said nothing bothering her to make her act like this, so I'm wondering what exercises can I do to help her relax and lope without trying to run through the bit. I've never had this problem before so I'm a little stuck. I've done lots of round pen work with draw reins and lots of circles, but she still goes nascar on me. Thanks in advance! |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
 
| When a horse speeds up in any gait, i first will not and i know lope is what we are talking about right now. Start off at the lope get 3/4 around a circle stop and back up turn the othe way do the same thing dont lope circle upon circle and let then go fast as they are not balanced. Do 3/4 of a curcle when you stop back up a step get wear you back up,several steps and when the horse starts to,stop lope around a circle then stop and back up i would let this go on until untul horse anticipates, and then just lope a circle or two and when he starts to,speed up stop and back up you will be surprised how collected he will get. |
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Fire Ant Peddler
Posts: 2881
 
| I make mine work very small circles instead of larger ones. When they can go slow, then I start to open up the circles. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| How long has she been off the track and how was she brought off?
A lot of loping slow is about muscle memory and having the strength to do it slow. If she's not been off the track long her muscle memory is still thinking "fast!"
I like transitions. They build muscle and encourage collection while keeping thing a short. Simple ones would be lope the short side, trot the long side. Do serpantines loping the straight and trotting the turn. Lope the long trot the short. Lope the diagonal and trot the top of a figure 8...anything that keeps it mixed up and makes her think
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 Expert
Posts: 1210
Location: Kansas | I have a cow bred mare that does the same... she wants to go go go all of the time. I tried the highest dose of calming cookies and the loping/stopping. I'd also like to know some techniques to get her to slow it down a bit. |
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 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | Yesterday I received a new bit/martingale set I had ordered for another horse and was actually walking out to start day 1 exercise for my big girl (just big boned you know- fat on air). Well the big girl has the heart and all the GO in the world. Her fave move is to be turned the opposite direction from the alley and 360 run in. I have tried trail riding and it usually ended up with us frustrated with each other. Her wanting to go fast and me wanting to enjoy. So I put my new loomis on her with the special martingale for it. Set on loosest setting (usually she rides in a tie down). We went off and if she tred to trot from the walk I one rein stopped her every time. I was actually using my equi track app with voice cues and when it told me to trot I did. Every time she broke out I trot I one reined stopped. Really ticked her off. Head up and then stretching down. I was letting her pick her own relief from the bit. I never used both reins at once to cause her to brace or pull. App asked for lope but I continued trot. We will work our way up on our "trail ride" to where she can be ridden at a trot on a looser rein. After yesterday she could at least walk on one. So I'm working my way up. On a side note we did a lot of circles and spins. 1.59 miles of walking, trotting and spinning. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1031
Location: Oklahoma | Some may disagree with this approach but if they want to go fast, I let them go fast until they no longer want to. When they run out of wind, they will slow down. Eventually, they will figure out it is much easier on them to just lope nice slow circles to start with. I would make sure she isn't hurting somewhere first.. If she is just wanting to be a brat, let her go until she not longer wants to, plus another ten circles. I don't pull or fight one, I try to teach them it easier for them to do what I want them to then to not. |
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Veteran
Posts: 171
| I was getting frustrated with my OTT horse. We were not enjoying each other. Getting head up in the air, prancing, and not willing to go slow. A good friend whom is a professional suggested I ride him at home with a martingale.... the difference was amazing. He is now a joy to ride, loving him.. Good luck. |
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Lickable I mean Likeable
Posts: 3965
Location: De Berry, Tx | My mare would lope really fast circles for about a month after starting her back every year. As she got older I just did a lot of long trotting instead of fighting her to lope. You have to know your horse and what they can and cant do. She never did lope real slow. She got slow for herself but never nice and slow. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | Quick3 - 2014-04-18 10:27 AM Some may disagree with this approach but if they want to go fast, I let them go fast until they no longer want to. When they run out of wind, they will slow down. Eventually, they will figure out it is much easier on them to just lope nice slow circles to start with. I would make sure she isn't hurting somewhere first.. If she is just wanting to be a brat, let her go until she not longer wants to, plus another ten circles. I don't pull or fight one, I try to teach them it easier for them to do what I want them to then to not.
i agree with you.........
m |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I agree that lot of it is probably balance.
Horses will always rush faster when they're off balance and they're heavy on the forehand. If you think about it, they're not taught to give to the bit and carry themselves on the track. Up and down transitions, stopping and backing up and loping off, or stopping and changing directions all help with balance and help with slowing one down.
As far as the mental side of it, I agree that making them lope past the time that they want to will help one relax a bit and slow down some. But I do still think that the balance side of it needs to be addressed and worked on.
As far as martingales, draw reins, etc. if they're not adjusted properly or used properly can actually cause one to become heavy on the forehand. IMO, I don't want to use them as a crutch to teach a horse to slow down or carry themselves. They need to learn to carry themselves without all that -- and they can learn it. The only time I use anything like that any more is to maybe keep them a little more consistent while we're working on something else but the balance and control is already there.
One of the best Western Pleasure & Hunter horses I ever had was a big appendix horse off the track. When I got him he loped 9-0 all the time with his head in the air and was hard to ride and had absolutely no mouth. He wound up loping so nice and collected that he got passed all the time -- this was mid 90's. I didn't work him with any martingales or drawreins. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2276
Location: ohio-in my own little world with pretty ponies :) | mruggles - 2014-04-17 5:24 PM Quick3 - 2014-04-18 10:27 AM Some may disagree with this approach but if they want to go fast, I let them go fast until they no longer want to. When they run out of wind, they will slow down. Eventually, they will figure out it is much easier on them to just lope nice slow circles to start with. I would make sure she isn't hurting somewhere first.. If she is just wanting to be a brat, let her go until she not longer wants to, plus another ten circles. I don't pull or fight one, I try to teach them it easier for them to do what I want them to then to not. i agree with you.........
m
This is what I did! Every now and again she tries to pull it again so we find a safe spot and I let her go until she wants to stop and then we go a little while longer and just like that she decides it's better to do what momma asks |
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| Thank you all for your advice! |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
Location: 31 lengths farms | Have a little mare that was the same way, big motor. Ed Wright helped me the most with his decision to have me do figure 2's on her, smallish ones at first to keep her "controlled" with out pulling on her, the lead change to change direction on her to bring her mind back to me again without pulling on her. Within half of the first day of the clinic I had a completely new horse. By the end of the 3rd day I just put my old solid horse away and rode my new shiney ride, LOL!!! Still use the drill on her at a new place to warm her up if she feels "chargey" at all. Again, rocks her back to her hind end, lightens her front end and opens her mind with out me having to pull. |
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