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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
 
Location: Northern Ontario | So I haven't even showed Lola the pattern yet specifically because I want to fix issues like this before. I have three barrels set up in a row in the arena. I do spirals around then, lope nice little 1o foot circles and basically practice proper form in circles as well as approaches, proper bend, ect.... recently she has figure out that it can be fun to lope from one barrel to the other and turn, so sometimes as we are loping around the arena she will try to drop her shoulder and turn into a barrel if we approach one, or she will simply turn and drop her shoulder if I ask for a bit of bend. she just does it when we are loping to the left. On the right she is good and has nice bend, the left has always been her stiffer side so I work on a lot of shoulder control exercise on that side(like shoulder ins). When I go to correct her for the dropped shoulder, I lift my inside rein and push her off with my inside leg at the girth and outside just a bit behind to hold her bend, It works but not enough to correct her because she still tries to do it. Also when I do that, she tends to lose the bend in her neck. Next, when I lope her on a larger circle I tip her head to the inside and support with my outside rein, but then again she tries to dive in, so I try holding her with my outside rein and it just gets really messy. Any advice? She just started doing it so I really wanna nip it in the butt cause I know it"s a terrible habit to break. When I pick up my rein she want to turn(and drop her shoulder) instead of bend.
Edited by SuperTrooper 2015-03-15 2:00 PM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| What type of bit, and does she know how to reverse arc.
I find most colts go through this, I call it the teenage years where they think they know it all.
Sharon Camarillo has a good drill for these horses, she believes in working boxes, which I use on my horses who have too much bend.
You will drive into the turn, then pivot 90 at your corners, if doing it properly they cannot drop a shoulder.
Another drill you can use is when the horse drops the shoulder, reverse arc a 360 then complete the turn.
With big circles I will reverse arc into a bigger circle each time they try and make the circle smaller.
I have never been too worried about the bend in the neck, I am more worried about the bend in the rib cage. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
Location: Northern Ontario | She is just in a d-ring snaffle.(she is really light in that bit, but I need more lift in her shoulders) I have just started teacher her counter-arcs. When her neck is stiff with no bend, she typically has no bend in her ribcage, so I pick up my inside rein and apply inside leg to get my bend. Is there a video on youtube or an article I can look at for the 90 degree exercise? |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
 
| Martha Josey has a new book out with drills for that. |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4553
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Instead of making a circle around the barrel you pivot making a square. If drawn on paper you have a square with a circle in the middle. As a rider you are creating the square. Now you are creating squares. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I would teach her reverse arcing before I start going around any obsticle.
Also if she is pushing into the bit, I would suggest getting a different one to make her back off of the bit.
It sounds like she needs more buttons and foundation work before advancing any further |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
Location: Lost in the swamps | Keep her guessing, pass it up and NOT allow her to turn if you feel any anticipation,move on to the next. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 911
Location: Northern Ontario | I guess it was just a phase or one of those days because she hasn't tried it again :) thanks for the advice |
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