Free Walk........long and low??

[Monty]

Hi!
In my recent Dressage Test, I had to change the rein accross the diagonal in free walk.As I let the reins run through my fingers, I expected Rebel to drop his head and stretch, but he didn't AT ALL! He carried on doing a medium walk, as if he were in a decent contact, so my reins ended up like washing lines.I tried it again, and he did the same thing in the second test.
The judge commented on it,both times.'No stretching shown' and 'Not enough stretching shown'. How do I endourage Rebel to do this? He seemed afraid that if he put his head down he'd miss something important.Any ideas??

[Shiny McShine]

Have you been training the free walk at home and getting the required results? Is this your horse's first test?

Most horses aren't always naturally inclined to walk with their neck stretched down, because this is a sign of looseness which is usually something which needs to be developed, also if the horse is nervous this may also cause him to be less relaxed and not stretch out as you would expect.

If you have been training the free walk at home without problems and your horse is not new at tests then maybe you have to go back to establishing a bit more looseness and relaxation.

[Equitating]

I don't know how to "train" this, but our horsie group had a surprise dressage test last summer. We also had to free walk on the diagonal. I had no clue what a free walk was....the Grand Prix level rider walked beside me and told me let out the rein slowly and allow my mare to take the contact down. It worked, much to my surprise, but apparently the horse needs to be "on the bit" to begin with. ??

That was also the first day my horse and I ever cantered in an arena much less doing the 20m circles in the test. We did it and it was great. We also shocked everybody there by doing good shoulder ins and an excellent leg yield. You see, I have Heather's book and we practice out on the trail. Never had a dressage lesson except for what we have done on our own and apparently Heather's methods have great results!

Thank you Heather!

[ros]

If Rebel hasn't been encouraged to stretch down before, he may not realise he's allowed to. It will come.

When I was young I was told that you can encourage it by holding the reins in one hand (loosely, of course) and stroking your fingers down each side of the horse's mane - long, slow, sweeping strokes, until he gets the message.

I usually find that sliding my hands gently back along the reins works quite well (not just pushing the hands forward so the reins go slack all of a sudden) which is what I think Equitating is talking about. I sort of lift my hands up a bit and out, and the horse usually does take the rein down for himself.

[LindaAd]

Sometimes scratching the withers helps them relax and stretch too.

I think you're right, and your lovely Rebel just doesn't realise he's allowed to stretch! Most horses will stretch if they've been working "in an outline" and you offer them the reins. Try doing it at a break in a lesson, when he knows he's being allowed to relax.

[Monty]

Thanks everybody.Shiny, I only had Rebel four weeks ago and,this was my first test with him.Never occured to me that ne just mightnn't know, and I expected him to!! Poor fella!I haven't met a horse who didn't stretch spontaneously before! I evidently need to work on it.Thnaks folks.

[H & Bailey]

I taught my old horse to stretch out and' look down',by practicing at home with a trotting pole,try putting one on the floor to encourage him to look down by putting your hands down on his shoulders and say down.Exaggerate this until he gets the idea then you can gradually lift your hands higher and back to normal he will associate the lengthening of the reins by relaxing his neck but only looking down when you say down.
Practice lengthening and shortening the reins when on a hack.I always let 'Lady' walk on a free rein when about 5 mins from home so she could stretch right out then let her stretch down when we walked up the farm track.the down command is useful if you need the horse to look at something on the ground when out ie.branches pot holes etc, And felt the lengthening was good for her outline as when i got her she was very' up' with her head all the time