Teaching horse to lengthen stride...

[Monty]

How do I go about asking Willow to lengthen her stride.At best if you hurry her, she's a little trippy, because of her conformation.This improves over summer as she gets more supple, but it never goes away completely. It's important that I get her to understand what it is I'm after, because otherwise she just tries going faster, and ends up doing a marathon trip.
Any instructions please???

[Tor&Warrior]

When I have had lessons and been told to lengthen I have been told to keep a good contact, use the leg more to drive them alot more forward and to rise higher and for longer, and if they rush to use half halts. It did work so it can't be far off! But others will know for sure!

[welshcoblady1]

when asking a horse to lengthen ,ask by applying alternate leg aids .

as you are riding relax your seat enough to feel your horse moving his ribcage fron side to side under neath you ,feel the movement first .

as the ribcage swings away from your in side leg the inside hind is coming forward, apply your inside leg aid .

as the ribcage is moving away from your outside leg the outside leg is coming forward ,apply your your leg aid. so for alternate leg aids .

as you apply alternate leg aid as each leg is coming forward you are asking the horse to place his hindleg further under his frame
to cover more ground and hence lengthen ,but you must also allow in front for the lengthening of stride but not drop your contact ,just soften alittle to allow forward .
with the green horse try in walk ,you will find he may lower his head alittle as he lengthens just soften alittle and allow forward
and slowlt progress from there with patient schooling and reward well for trying , you will need to be soft through your back and seat to feel the movement ,it is important that you can feel how your horse moves before asking so that you can give the aids clearly and not confuse the horsewith wrong timing aids.

[Lgd]

I assume you mean lengthening in the trot rather than the walk.

TBs can be a bit dim in this respect. If she doesn't get silly about poles you can use a set of five trotting poles and set them slightly wider than a working trot length. This will encourage her to lengthen the frame.

If ridden rising think about dwelling fractionally longer in the saddle on the sit phase. If going from sitting sit a little deeper, careful not to lean back, really lengthen your leg and feel as though you are reaching down and slightly back for the hind leg. Try teaching her to go off one stronger leg aid and then sit quietly with minimal leg - TBs are very good at running off the aid if you use too much leg. Only go for a few strides at a time, collect and then ask again when training.

Try to go for the feeling of longer, slower steps and imagine you are pushing the poll up and forward. If you are hacking out try trotting up the hills and ask for the lengthening. The natural push needed for going up hill helps them with the concept of putting the hind leg under and lengthening the frame.

If it is for the walk a lot hinges on getting her to stretch forward, down and round with neck without her getting behind the bit. Widening and lowering the hands may help, but make sure she stays forward to the contact. Stronger alternate leg aids to encourage lengthening.

[DITZ]

i managed this for the first time ever yesterday:D I have a 16 yo tb who I inherited with a french link snaffle which he used to fight. Long story but anyway I just changed his bit to a mullen snaffle and he is amazing in it. The main difference is that he can listen in it (I suppose its hard to listen when your head is full of fighting talk!). So I hacked out yesterday and we were trotting home and I tried extending and collecting just by collecting or extending my own rise and he did it! I've always been able to slow him down with my rise but never managed to collect/extend. In the end I stopped trying and just thought I was doing it wrong.

What a difference a bit makes!

[Monty]

Yes, sorry....I didn't say, did I??? I meant at trot.
I think I know what you mean about the alternate leg aids, Heather is quite into them in a big way isn't she?? This may well prove quite a stumbling block for poor Willow..(Possibly even literally...???) She has quite a weak back end, so it's quite difficult to feel what's going on under there. And sitting quietly on Willow is difficult too, because her trot isn't easy to sit to....it's quite jarry!
I think I'll wait just a tad longer, whilst she muscles up a little bit more.But I know she'll never been wonderfully muscled. She's striding out quite nicely at walk. She's even had to have the heels of her front shoes turned back, because she stands on them with her hind feet, she's tracking well, and even over tracking too. Especially to music, which gives her even more enthusiasm.
Once I've got a little more muscle on her, I'll have the trotting poles out, and try and feel this rib cage if I can!
Thank you folks. It's nice when a lot becomes clearer just by changing the bit, isn't it??? But I think Willow is quite happy in her little dressage bradoon. She's really starting to lick and chew now. Fights a little at the halt...but I think that's just her little objection to not being allowed to be nosey and having to concentrate!