Self carriage when long reining

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
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The other day my friend/groom Carol took out Ziggy's field mate Bella on the long reins. Bella was a competition cob (dressage & eventing) until she was retired with suspensory problems. She carried herself beautifully all the way around.

The best shape we can get out of Ziggy when long reining is "long & low". He doesn't hang his head from the poll or really lift his back, and tends to be a bit strung out and on the forehand. He gets a bit better going up hills. Does anyone have any suggestions how we can promote his self carriage in the long reins, without gadgets if possible?
 
Since I've started doing clicker training with Rubic she carries herself much better. I ask her to touch a target and back up and to pick her hooves up one at a time and, more recently, we have been doing a bit on walking and getting her to lift up through her shoulder rather than mooching along. The backing up encourages her to lift her forehand and put more weight on her hindlegs and picking up hooves (I don't touch her hooves, she has to hold them herself) makes her rebalance herself and shift her weight correctly. I find that the first few strides of our walk are usually nice and active with good self carriage and then it starts to disappear but it is better than nothing. I treat Rubic where the "perfect" horse's head should be and often find that when we are clicker training she offers (nearly) perfect self carriage when we are doing small movements. It is a start but we are certainly getting somewhere!
 
Do you long rein him with a proper contact? If I let june mooch along she will go all donkey style. If I pick up a contact she drops straight away into a nice outline, helped along by a littlw bit of lateral work. She will leg yield and do a bit of shoulder in (though shes out of practice now) and I always find she carried herself nicer when shes doing a bit of lateral work
 
Ziggy is innocent of working on to the bridle. I think before I got him he was a "kick to go, pull to stop" pony and he really doesn't get offering contact at all.

When my RI rides him she can lift his back, whereupon the rest of him hangs nicely, so it's not that he can't do it. But it's obviously hard work because when I am involved he is happy to tool along on the forehand :redface:
 
agree with the others, you should longrein as if you were riding. contact-wise I mean. YOu could also try sidereins (quite loosely fitted!), and make sure you get him forwards and switched on, not just mooching along - lots of turns, circles, transitions. anything you'd do ridden, too :)
 
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