Difficult little cob.

[kgj66]

I have started riding a little grey cob and my riding school. He is very sweet natured and isn't a nasty horse at all.

However i have a lot of problems with his brakes, when he first arrived he was ridden in a snaffle and had no brakes whatsoever and so his bit was changed to what i think is a type of gag, the cheek pieces of the bridle go through the bit and are attahced to the reins. This helps a little but i still have a lot of trouble stopping him, even from walk to halt.

He also has another problem, he races at jumps and then jumps flat and knocks them down. i have tried putting my leg on just before the jump but he just goes faster and sends the poles flying!

can anyone help me??

[Yann]

I take it from your post that he's a riding school horse? How often do you ride him? Unless it's very regularly it's unlikely that you'll be able to do much to help him. The bit he's in is very severe too, sounds like a cheltenham gag, not a suitable bit for a riding school horse at all. He may actually not understand what is being asked of him, or be running away, either from physical discomfort or through insecurity. He should be checked over and perhaps sympathetically reschooled before he's used in lessons.

[snoopy20]

hi klg!!

i personally ride a diffrent way to the bhs, way which allows me to use my body as my form of comunication to the horse with very little contact on the moth. But i did ride the bhs way last year. I think changing the bit into a gag is not going to do you or the horse any favours, you have to think like a horse and vary the problems that is causing the horse to mess round and find a solution. With slowing him down do plenty of schooling and introduce half halting as a means of steadying him up, then apply more pressure with a deep seat, to get him to holt. Take him back to his basic learning and think about your manovers before you perform them.

With jumping if cobs are a mixed breed they often have a livley blood line like arab or TB. Use a martingale as means of support, and control. You need to understand yourselfthe 7 moves to jumping. This will help you balsance yourself out more and encourage the horse to come to you. Counting the strides is ideal and allow the horse to jump at his own pace. There are sevral methods of controlling his speed which all relates to schooling, such as trot poles, stride counters, take off margins, etc.

my best advise is to talk with an exsperoienced instrucrour at the school and wrk with them on the horse. If he is new or young you might not know his history so give him some credit. You cant move on to the challanging stuff until you correct the basi's. There could be an injury there without you being aware. But remember the more you battle the horse, the more they will fight back, your the rider hes the horse, you work as a team to tackle challanges. Trust is important and he will eventually come to you if you dont battle him out, because remember riding is like any other sport in order to suceed you have to work together, and encourage team spirt, becuse in the end you will suceed.

good luck and if there anything more i can help with PM. me

love ellie. x x x

[kgj66]

Yann,
I ride him twice a week at least and sometimes can take him out on my own to ride him alone.

He is only used in lessons with advanced riders and so the bit is not taken advantage of.

He has not been in the riding school for long, only a couple of weeks so he's not really used to it.

The bit does seem a little severe but what else could be tried?

I have used two methods, pulling and half halting a lot which had no affect so i tried letting him have his head which let him relax a lot more but it didnt help with the brakes

[AvantiEqCenter]

Sounds like he's running out of insecurity. This may be why he rushes his jumps/jumps flat. Insecure horses are by nature sensitive and since he obviously isn't listening to the gag anyway I don't see the point in having such a severe bit. This makes him want to take the bit and run with it, or go above/behind the bit to avoid it. I would suggest lateral work--start from the ground, with a halter and lead. Pull his head to one side, and give even when he moves the slightest bit. Do this many times on both sides until he calmly moves his head all the way round to touch his shoulder. In the same way, ask him to drop his head. Then move to the saddle, taking his mouth with your hands and bending him from one side to the other. Make many circles and serpentines at the trot, and stay at the trot for 20 minutes or so until he's really good and warmed up. Sit down and deep, remember to breathe, half-halt, and ask him ever so slightly for a halt. If he won't, ask more firmly a couple more times. Never yank. If he still is trotting, take his head round to his shoulder and move him in a tight circle until he is walking calmly. This position is uncomfortable to the horse and he can't run off with you if he's turned that tightly. Once he walks, make sure to relax the reins a little as reward, praise him quietly and let him walk for a while to rest. Repeat this from walk-halt and trot-walk before trying like canter-walk or trot-halt. Make sure whenever he stops for you, let him stand and rest and pet him. He will soon learn that if he won't stop, sure he can keep going, just in a circle. :) This has worked on many of my horses. You can't expect to beat a 1000-lb horse in strength by just pulling back, so the one-rein stop is handy. It gets horses thinking.

[NuttyMare]

Originally posted by kgj66
I have started riding a little grey cob and my riding school. He is very sweet natured and doesnt have a mean bone in his body.

However i have a lot of problems with his brakes, when he first arrived he was ridden in a snaffle and was almost uncontrollable and so we changed his bit to what i think is a type of gag, the cheek pieces of the bridle go through the bit and are attahced to the reins. This helps a little but i still have a lot of trouble stopping him, even from walk to halt.

He also has another problem, he races at jumps and then jumps flat and knocks them down. i have tried putting my leg on just before the jump but he just goes faster and sends the poles flying!

can anyone help me??

when he bombs off or you are having trouble stopping him, sit in the saddle, straighten your back and lean back a touch, instead of pulling constantly, play with the reins by taking and releasing, and use half halts.

As for jumping, if he races at the jumps he's trying to tell you he doesn't like doing it. Don't necessarily put your leg on, as this will, like it does, make him go faster and crash through the jumps. Use half halts coming up to the jump (encourages him to round his back, helping him to bascule over the jumps) but keep the impulsion, otherwise he will stop.

Hope I helped :)

[kgj66]

i rode him today on his own and i have to say he goes a lot better on his own, as there is no one to catch up with, however i was forced to run him into the fence several times to stop him.

i walked him for 15mins, flexing his head to the left and right until he walked a circle with his head in the correct postion. he did this very well, i was suprised! we then went outside to an outdoor school and did some canter work( i did work him in trot as well before you become outrgaed that i onyl did walk and canter :-P) i am pleased to say his canter was a lot more collected than usual and he was jumping better, well slightly anyway

I think for now i will try to ride him out of rides, so he is not concentrating on what other horses are doing.

thanks for all of your advice. :)

xx

[k8schmutz]

when your jumping are you showing him teh jump a long way before he jumps it? it sounds wrong but he might jump better if you only give him a very short run up b4 he has to jump. The pony my sister rides rushes the jumps and crashes through them unless you turn at the jump right at the last minute. Or maybe your horse is just off balance?

[kgj66]

he usually sees the jump from a long way off. its not so much that he crashes throught the jump, just that he doesnt clear the jumps, even if there not that big. i guess he just hasnt had much experience jumping.