Breaking a young horse ?

Question

I am breaking in a 4 year old warmblood. It's the first youngster I have broken but I am an experienced rider. The hard part is done, she is backed and capable of walk and trot in 20m circles, as well as basic transitions with bend and her downwards transitions are better than her upwards. My question is:

She is not very forward. Is this something normal for a newly broken youngster or is it likely to just be her way of going?

Answer 1

horses hate just walkin round and round in circles i understand that you hasve been breaking her in but now she broken in try hacking her out she mught have a change of personality and enjoy it and therefore become lively

Answer 2

It sounds like she is worked mostly in circles?  Do you ride her, or just work on a longe line?  My youngsters didn't develop forward movement until I was riding them long and low and on a straight path.  It sounds like she is doing well in developing the basics, and just hasn't moved on to the next phase yet.  If you're riding her, I'd start by working in a larger area and letting her stretch out more.

Answer 3

My filly was not very forward either and now she is the most forward horse that I have.  My experience with my horse was that it was both a lack of confidence and a lack of strength.  Over time she grew stronger and became comfortable with having someone on her back.  I think the fact that she is having a harder time with her upward transitions speaks to her lack of strength.  It sounds like you are doing everything right.  Good Luck!

Answer 4

well it could be that the horse just doesn't have much muscle build up & gets a little lazy or it could be the horse's temperment. i know my horse used to want to walk as much as she could & onces she started building muscle and burning fat she began to liven up & get a little more enthusiastic :)

Answer 5

Quite often a very young horse can be a bit jumpy and excited but when it actually gets down to doing work it takes time for it to build up stamina to keep working for a length of time and muscle/strength too. Keep working your horse well. Make sure you exercise her on a regular basis to work on her stamina. But don't work her too hard because she might loose a lot of weight. Do something like an hours exercise every other day. Keeping to a regular routine is very important when training or breaking in a horse. If after a few weeks she is still a bit slow then maybe in courage her to be a bit more forward going by nudging her with a lunging whip. If she end up going a lot more forward than before then try and keep that pace going and if you manage to then maybe finish the session a little bit earlier. The next time do the same again but for a bit longer etc.

I hope i have helped and best of luck to you and your horse :)  

Answer 6

In my experience it can be common, though I'm not sure I'd call it normal as it wasn't THAT common, lol.

I find that it occurs in babies who lack the confidence, balance and suppleness to carry themselves forwards properly. I would work on encouraging her into an outline, to enable her to open her back and carry you (and herself) correctly. The will loosen her back muscles and she will be able to open her shoulders and carry herself forwards. At the minute, she is still grasping carrying the saddle and rider as well as carry herself, so be patient. She won't offer her back to you until she is fully confident and also physically devloped. Warmbloods mature late and she may well still be growing at 6 or 7. Keep work sessions short for the time being, and definately work on getting her into an outline.

Email me if I can help :-)