rein check

[Mellany]

Hi all!
I ride my 7yr old TBx cross in a flexi-mouth pelham. He's working long and low at the moment, which is a far cry from his 'giraffe' snaffle days.

I ride him on a fairly long rein, particularly at walk........he's a lovely 'swinger' and I don't want to ruin it.

Thing is, he's started stretching further down as we work - I'm talking, 'look mum, my whiskers are on the ground' down. Should I resist and ride him on strongly at the original contact............or what? Am I doing something wrong and is his stretching a way of protesting? Or am I just being too passive and he's taking the mickey.......ie. give him an inch and he's taken a foot!?

Mel

[qwerty]

Many of the school horses where I ride do this just because they are lazy! I would push him on with your legs and he should lift it up but if that doesn't work I would shorten your reins. If you don't want to restrict him you could still have them quite long but not so long that he can get his head down that far. I always ride on a short rein but at the end I give long rein so they can relax and stretch down.

[Shiny McShine]

If he is swinging nicely and stretching well the solution may be to simply spend less time stretching. Does he immediately go to the ground or after a while. If it is after a while I would move on to other activities once he is loosened up and not too low. If he is going right down from the start I would ride him energetically forward and then try it again later on. It sounds great that you've got him to such a relaxed stage all the same, good luck. :)

[Mellany]

thanks to both of you for your advice.

Shiny, he usually starts later on during our schooling, during the second half. At the moment, we're only working for around 30 mins, daily (including warm up/cool down) because Monty has had some time off due to a slow-healing leg cut. Most of our session is at walk, with plenty of circling and change of rein. We do around 5 mins walk/trot transition work.

He is very relaxed, more so since we started using the pelham...........he hated the snaffle, both single and french link. To be honest, a lot of it is down to following EE methods.......basically, we're learning together from Heather's book, it's brilliant (but you all know that already....lol)

[Heather]

HI Mel,

I wouldn't let him stretch this low unless you have asked him to 'chew the reins out of your hands' as the Germans say, encouraging him to take the rein down and stretch.

I would shorten your reins and work on lots of transitions to keep him light and also focus his attention. He should still stay round and light in your hand even with you reins shorter. A good way to think of it is to imagine you are shaking hands with someone, neither pulls against the other, and this is how the contact should feel.

Too much long and low is likely to make him go on his forehand, so limit his rations!

Heather

[Mellany]

thankyou Heather........will do.....starting tommorrow!