driving/pleasure horse query

[floppy]

the horse i ride is used for driving aswell as hacking and occasionlly used in riding lessons but isnt very good..howver i have a question...when riding out with the horse and trotting she always 'pulls' her head down and sort of slightly towards her chest...but she only does this in trot and iw as wondering if it had something to do with the fact she is mainly used for driving?? or has it absolutely nothing to do with it??? in the 17yrs i been riding i have never ridden a hrose that's used for driving or a horse that pulls its head down like this...however saying this if i encourage her to hold her head a little higher she doesnt do it at all

[Wally]

In theory a driving horse should carry itself in a similar outline to when it's being ridden. Over flexing like this is to be discouraged in harness as well as under saddle. If you can get her to carry heself in a better out line go for it. If the horse is being asked to pull a very heavy cart up a steep hill, it's outline it will have to alter, but not by tucking his chin in to his chest. It may be a habit formed only under saddle.

[floppy]

thanks wally..
she is improving in everyway but i was trying to figure out today while iw as riding why she does it and had a pic. in my mind of this haflinger attach to a cart with one of those big things around her neck trying to pull the cart uphill (sorry havent got into drivin yet so do not know the terms)
which is what made me think maybe she would pull her neck slighty towards her...not sure..
well i have only been riding her since decemeber and she has had all these problems since then and before and she is slowly but surely getting better:)

[Wally]

Haflingers, Fjords, Highlands and the like were bred to be driven under heavy loads. Their conformation is, or used to be, designed just for this. When a Haflinger of Fjord pulls they lean hard into their collar and lower their heads and heave! This is frowned upon by driving judges because although a very efficient way to shif a load it looks unsightly. They prefer to see a balanced horse going in an outline. This is why my old Haffy who's the old fashioned shape, never did as well as his son, who is a more elegant riding shape, in harness. The old man used to put his shoulders into his collar and go, where his son was more elegant about it, and pulled from the backend!

[floppy]

ahah
well the owner has 2 haffies...the one i ride is the younger (6) and is more bulk than elegance...and the other (13) is more elegant and also alot more powerful..but doesnt look as half as pretty and nice as the one i ride!

[Liz E.]

how'd you come up with the name "FLOPPY" ?

[floppy]

well my real name is flossie (well its actually my nickname that i use as my real name because people have called by this name all my life more than my real name)
and when i lived in turkey an italian friend had troubles at first calling me flossie (foreigners find it hard to pronouce!) so he called me floppy instead..so my friends found it amusing and started calling me floppy :)
(there was also my friends baby sister couldnt pronouce flossie so she also used to call me floppy or frostie!)