schooling tips

[nutkin]

Does anybody have any good schooling tips. I have a green and unbalanced 6year old who is very on the forehand still. I am working on lots of walk to halt and walk to trot transitions and large circles.If she leans on me then i throw the reins away so she learns to take more weight on her quarters. What else can i try to improve her balance? I am not working on canter yet as i feel that she is not balanced enough to carry the weight of a rider at that pace. Her previous owner never did any schooling, only hacking so she is an angel to hack but I would like to be able to do a little jumping with her eventually which untill she is able to carry her own weight with a rider i feel that i need to work on her flatwork first.

[Rakeli]

First bit of advice - don't think of it as 'schooling'. Think of it as playing with your horse: it makes such a difference! There is no pressure on you or the horse, and it enables you to be creative, to think 'this might work' and to try it out.

About balance - keep it up with your transitions, trying to lighten your aids each time. Poles might be good, to help her co-ordination (TTEAM and TTOUCH could also be something worth looking into, as one basic theme running through it is to increase the horses awareness of their body which would then create better balance). Lots of circles and shapes. Really just play it by ear - sounds odd, but you know your horse and can feel when's the right time to do something.

Do you have an instructor? It may be worth having a few lessons, as they would be able to give you advice on what they see and ensure that you are not preventing her finding her balance through your position.

[AJB]

Id go along with poles, trotting poles help the horse place its feet and are great for youngsters as they get them to concentrate!-lots of circles and serpentines and transitions are all good and instead of throwing the reins away try flexing your wrists so the action is not as obvious-i cnat explain it really sorry!!!-also a good instructor once or twice a month if finance allows is a great benefit-I have been going weekly for a bout 6-7 weeks and my instructor says my boy and I are now 100% better-mind you that of course could have meant that we were really bad before but I hope not!!!!....with a green youngster try to keep the schooling less intense-only ride a couple of times a week, lunge or free school in between and make sure he has a few days off a week when its just groom and fuss and feed so that its not all work and no play

[Lovecat]

OMG, Nutkin, I think I've just bought your horse's twin! Murphy has exactly the same problems and has come from exactly the same background...

Thanks for posting this and thanks for the replies - all good stuff to try!

Cathy:D

[nutkin]

thanks all for for the help. HI Lovecat may be we should swap notes as we go with our training. I just read your profile and I see that like me your previous horse was an oldie. Is that strange or what?

[NaTaLiE27]

I don't think dropping the contact with a green horse is the key, it will not teach them anything if they don't have the muscling to balance themselves. Aside from that work transitions, circles, serpintines, poles, leg yields and my favorite exercise for moving a horse off the leg is....

Circle spiralling down and then leg yielding out.

[welshcoblady1]

hello nutkin . riding a green horse can be unbalancing for the rider to.
do you find your self tipping forward with out meaning to,be cause if so this will have the effect of tipping your green horse on his forehand to .
your baby horse is pulling him self forward on his front legs in stead of carrying him self on his back legs.
riding long and low will help improve him as his muscles strengthen. ask for more forward movement by applying alternate leg aids as he responds to your leg aid he will step under more behind thus this will lift his head and neck which in turn will stop him leaning on your hands for support.
do see that you are sitting up right with heel, hip, and shoulder aline ment and keep your seat soft and supple through your back . if he gives you 5- 10 strides of balanced walk reward him by slipping your rein and let him stretch down but ask him to keep up the active but not rushed walk ,in between let him stand
and stretch down it is very hard work for a green horse i normaly end on a good note after 15 - 20 mins working both sides .
if you are not sure about the alternate leg aid i would be happy to esplain how and when to apply them ,i think it is kinder than keeping your leg on constantly to start with as the horse learns to stay responsive to your leg later as he is educated .
best wishes ,welshcoblady1.

[nutkin]

I am certain that i am not tipping forwards as i have already had an experienced person check to make sure that i am not doing anything wrong. I am getting a few strides of walk in a nice outline and the same in trot, but after about 10 minutes she is pulling me forwards by leaning on my hands. I do reward her by loosening the contact after we get a good circle or a good circuit. It is just a little frustrating that the good work is few and far between at present. She has been backed since she was 4 but has done nothing with her previous owner in the way of schooling so its as though she has only just been backed. She is willing to try but lacks confidence at present but i have only had her a very short while so hopefully her confidence will improve as she gets to know me better. I am unsure of the alternate leg aid. Do you mean put my legs on every other stride?

[Rakeli]

nutkin, if she is able to do a nice outline for 10 minutes and then pulls down what does that tell you? She is trying for you, but can't mentally or physically do anymore then she currently is. You have to remember how tiring it is for an unshooled horse to hold an outline when they are not used to it - physically tiring on the muscles and mentally tiring as she will be putting herself in what she sees as quite a dangerous position, as she cannot see very well. If it is possible, really limit your schooling sessions, even so that they are just 10-15 minutes long. Better to have a very short period of good work than an entire 30 minutes of poor work (which won't help either of you).

I would be wary of using long and low with a horse that is already on the forehand, as it makes it much more difficult to lift the forehand if the majority of weight is on it. Stick with transitions (a hundred every session!)

[nutkin]

We just had a fantastic schooling session today. She really carried herself well. We did lots of circles and serpentines followed by a reasonable period of trot where she carried herself quite well. We had some sessions of walking on a loose long rein and worked on improving our half halts. I changed over to the cherry roller bit and that made a real diffrence as she was forced to carry her own weight. She took to the bit really well too. No head tossing or pulling and she was working on the bit at times too. thats a big improvement on what we had previously. Hopefully things can only improve fromm here on.