"On the Bit" Exercises

[HorsieLuver]

Hey all!! Just asking for everyone's help....what are some exercises my friend can do to get her gelding moving forward with impulsion, enganging his hinds, moving "on the bit?" She's planning on 3 day eventing (locally) this year, and dressage was never a strong point for them, and I said I'd find some exercises for her and Buddy while I'm at home nursing the broken ankle. Thanks!! :rolleyes:

[AllEquestrian]

for engaging his hind quarters i'd use many transitions, simple ones like walk-trot-walk, but also halt-trot-halt. upwards ones will be particularly useful for engaging his hindquarters. other than that, plenty of circles to get him to bring his hindquarters underneath.

[palmerlover52]

serpentines, to supple up maybe? and maybe some flexion, which which supple him again, helping on get "on the bit" ???

[Werehorse]

I will echo allequestrian for the transitions to get him moving forwards. Halt-trot transitions, walk-canter transitions, get the energy and impulsion! Then work that energy into lateral bend to really engaged the inside hind and get it pushing up and through (my personal favourite - 20m circle spiralling down to ten and leg yeilding out) concentrate on keeping the energy but controlling the tempo of the gait. i find working on the quality of the pace yeild the best results in term of outline, rather than focussing too much on establishing outline (a mistake I am guilty of, very difficult to avoid when you desparately want your horse to go well! :o )

Hope this helps! :)

[Teasels_Mum]

And trotting poles are good for increasing impulsion whilst maintaing that even pace......... encourages more flexion of the hocks etc :)

[HorsieLuver]

Thanks all!! :o Passing all this on to my friend....will help her and her horse tons!!:D

[jenren!!]

I would give a long lengthy explanation of things she can do, but first of all can i ask how her horse works now?

Jenny

[PinkUnicorn]

id strongly recommend lunging with a passoa, they really help encorage the horse the engage the hindquarters and work into a contact, it has different settings so you can build up muscles.
when riding id recomment loadsa smal circles and changes of rein to keep the horses attention nd lots of transitions.

[Tangle]

As you're probably learning, there are any number of answers to the question ;)

I'd be wary of a pessoa unless she's experienced in using it - there have been cases of horse's freaking out and going over backwards and (if incorrectly adjusted) it can tug on the horse's mouth with every stride (have a look on sustainable dressage (http://www.sustainabledressage.com/tack/gadgets.php#pessoa) for diagrams of what can go wrong.

I like to keep it simple, so I'd stick with basic ridden work. Changes - lots and lots of changes :). Changes between gait, changes within gait, change of bend. Lateral work will help to get the inside hind stepping under well. Definitely forget about head carriage and worry about getting the horse working ;)

As Jenren suggests, though, more info on what problems they're having now would let us be much more helpful :)