Hi. I got interested in long-reining my horse but a few problems have occurred.
The horse is a 12 year old friesian gelding, so a big and a strong horse. Like most of the friesians, it has been taught to carriage driving in the Netherlands. So reins touching his sides and hind legs aren't a problem for him. But what is a big problem, is that he won't halt or slow down.
When walking he does everything right, he doesn't pull his head up or resist any way, he actually seems to like it. But when I pull the reins wanting him to stop, he starts to wriggle and shows me all the leg yieldings he can do but will not halt.
When trotting he goes nicely too, carries his weight on his hind legs and everything, but again will not slow down to walk. I haven't even tried this in canter, 'cos he's too strong for me if he decides just to go on. The more I pull the reins the faster he goes, so that can't be the right way to do it.
I've been thinking this is because the carriage driving, can he have been taught to increase speed by pulling the reins or what? Or is this just something else?
When I lunge him, he won't change his pace punctually by my orders but he does slow down. I'm asking 'cos I know long-reining can be very efficient when done in the right way, but I don't want to ruin anything by doing things wrong. The horse clearly doesn't understand what I'm asking him to do when I try to halt him. Does someone know how the carriage horses halt or at least something that could help me? Thanks
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