Air Pony

What suggestions do you have for teaching my horse to put down her head?

My horse and I are starting eventing with Pony Club and we need a lot of work with dressage! She likes to have her nose up in the air and be alert plus her neck is not very supple. How can I get her to keep her head down and her neck rounded while riding? Thanks!
I have tried alternating contact in the reins and she does not respond to it.

There are a lot of potential reasons for this problem. But probably the most frequent are problems with tension / anxiety, and problems with the bit.

Tension and anxiety can come from too much pressure or from pressure that is never released. Horses are trained by applying a particular pressure and releasing that pressure when the horse offers the desired behavior. Key areas that cause problems for eventers and other English riders are the use of too much force for contact in an attempt to keep the horse slow or driving it into the bit to collect. Horses who are "too hot" need retraining to self-carry the correct speed, but many riders are unaware of this or are unaware of how much they can do to correct the problem. Thus, they hold the horse too tightly and then push the horse forward and the conflict between go and stop aids generates stress for the horse, which shows up as high head, hollow back and a variety of other problems.

Bits are another perennial source of problems. Just as the horse really does not need a lot of leg pressure - they can feel a fly land on their hairs after all - they don't need a lot of bit pressure to cause pain on their sensitive gums, cartilage and tongue. If being ridden is like a dentist visit without Novocaine, no wonder horses struggle with and evade the bit. Lots of ways to go wrong here. Even an O ring jointed snaffle can cause problems because of fit, nutcracker effect, pinching the lips or a gag effect. And then there is the use of completely inexcusable torture devices like twisted wire mouthpieces, intentional gag bits, tom thumbs, cathedral bits or spade and spoon bits.

Tie downs, martingales, weird bits to "put pressure on the poll" are all excused by the "need to get my horse's head down". But they don't fix the problem - they mask it. The problem is that the horse is tense, in pain or afraid. The high head, inverted carriage and star gazing are signs of these problems.

So start with the horse on a completely loose rein and see how she does. If she goes rushing off - that's a training problem that needs to be addressed - I've done lots of responses for people whose horses rush, you can look for one or drop me an email.

If she doesn't and she lowers her head after a while (at least a few laps of the arena at the walk), then it might be too much rein pressure or bit discomfort. Try to draw back slowly on the reins and find out where her head goes up and then go for a little slack so she comes back down.

At the same time, check her bit and bridle. A bit that pinches the lips is bad. The best snaffle you could pick is something equivalent to a D-ring Myler comfort snaffle. This generally avoids pinching and nutcracker effect.If the bridle is too loose or too tight, that can also cause problems.

Next, let's talk about suppleness. Horse neck muscles are primarily across the top of the neck. To relax and stretch these, the neck needs to be able to go long and low. You can train a horse to lower its head on lead rope and stretch this muscle - I've also done some responses on that which you should be able to find here at Y!A. But even when that works, you need to follow up under saddle by letting your horse warm up and cool down long and low, and letting her have long and low periods when working.

Side to side bending can be done at the stop, but don't do this a lot, don't do it when the horse is not warmed up, and don't go to extremes. Thirty to forty five degrees of bend is fine. If you bend while riding, this is risky to the horse's training, but the safest way is to bend to the inside of the turn. You will need good seat and legs to keep the horse from falling in or out however when doing that. Never counter bend as this damages the turn cue and response.

A relaxed horse tends to take on a naturally athletic frame that can be shaped, but it must be shaped gently, without ruining stop, go or turn responses. A horse trainer is your best bet for this, and the horse trainer should show you exercises to help the horse retain the training. However, keep in mind that many horse trainers also believe in doing things which they do not realize are damaging to the horse's mental state and training progress, including counter-bending, gadgets, driving the horse to the bit, and using drastic bits.

I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and your horse.

 

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