How do i get my green horse to drop his head at the trot during ring work?

Question

I recently got a 7 year old green horse that I have been doing a lot of ground/ ring work with. He is very sensative and I have had to take things very slow and gentle in order for him to build up a trust of humans. He is coming along nicely. Really learning body language and verbal commands. He has mastered bending at the pole with very little pressure & now has a nice paced walk with a fairly relaxed head set. When I ask him to go into a trot he engages nice, easy & relaxed but his energy immediately increases & he holds his head up very high. Same thing in the canter. I can't seem to get his energ level down. I was using a tie down for awhile. He hasnt shown resistance or pulled aganst it & there has always been slack in however, I dont think its the right approach. I need him to learn a relaxed head set without mechanics, since as soon as the lead is removed he would hold his head high again. Anyone have any suggestions or technics that might help me?

Answer 1

quickly and kind of hardly jerk on your reins real fast soo he doesnt wallk or stop and he should lift his head up do this 2-3 times everytime you do ring work and in a few days he will stop doing thet you juust have to train him.

Answer 2

losen up ur grip on the reigns and use a marting gale (idt that is the correct spelling)

Answer 3

Ha, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's getting a horse's head down. I'm an english rider, so this might not work for you if you're not.

You need a steady, elastic outside rein that's through your elbow. Supple if he's yanking back at it, but you might need quite a bit of pressure. Then, use a fair amount of inside leg, and if he knows bend, exaggerate the bend. If he's reluctant to bend, spiral, ten meter circles, and indirect rein is the answer. As soon as the horse shows signs of putting his head down, soften, and follow the motion with your hands. Lighten your contact when the head is down, let the horse stretch it out. He might put his head right back up, and you need to start all over again, gradually increasing the pressure until that head goes down again. The idea is to encourage him to strreeetch, and relax the neck. Just make sure you soften, soften, soften when the head goes down, and give the horse some praise. Eventually, it'll get easier and easier to get his head down and put him on the bit, and you won't need to throw away your contact quite so much-- instead, just take a lighter feel of the outside rein(make sure you keep using your inside leg, this keeps his head down!), and soften the inside rein for a few strides.

Answer 4

pulse leftrightleftright or martingale

Answer 5

I think the first answer has it right on how to get the head down.

Just a sugestion:

Look at him trotting with no one on him. Does he look balanced? When I did judging we were told that if we saw a horse with a high head set at a trot or canter that we should look closer b/c it could be from lack of balance at a faster pace.

Hope it all works out!

Answer 6

dont pull on the reins in any way, this includes se-sawing of the reins or just straight out pulling, get him on the bit and everything will be fine if u dont know how to get a horse on the bit or even what that is/means then post another question and i will tell you :)

good luck!

Answer 7

Yes, but you wouldn't like it.

Answer 8

Do A LOT of lateral and verticle flexing at the standstill.  Also, sounds like he just needs to relax in faster gates. He may not have done a lot of that and he may just need to do a lot of it before he starts relaxing. Just do a lot of trotting and loping until he gets used to doing it a lot and he'll relax like he has at the walk. Try vertically flexing him while you're in those gates then releasing for a reward as well. That gets them to start carrying their heads lower fairly fast if they're smart. Hope that helps!

Answer 9

When I first broke my warmblood I had the same problem. She was fine walking, but in trot and canter she almost knocked me out her head was so high. The way I dealt with her is to ride with a very loose contact to encourage her to stretch down. I know it's weird cos they feel like they're gonna run off, but if you just sit and let him go then gently bring the contact back on the reins it should help. He's fighting against the contact because he wants to go faster, so by letting him and *then* slowing him down he'll go with it. Eventually he'll soften for good.

Answer 10

The horse i used to ride did the exact same thing, and she was a very experienced horse too. When your horse does that it is called having a "hollow back". he does this because he hasn't figured out yet that it will be easier to use his hindquarters to and round his neck, it will be your job to help him figure this out. He will benfit from long, low work such as the posting trot, this will help stretch and relax his back. upward and downward transitions between the walk and trot are good means to initionally get the horse to step under his hinds and slightly elevate his front end. my riding instructor also tells me to "tickle" his head down. if your horse doesn't know how to do this already then this is how you teach him. first you put the bridle on your horse. then you step in front of him (in the way that if your horse had his ears perked forward they would be facing you). put your hands on each side of the bit, then gently "tug" on each side of the bit, in a motion with a 1-2 rythm while tugging pull downwards at the same time on the bit. keep doing this daily for a few minutes until he gives in nicely and puts his head down with a little bit of downward pressure, and gentle tugging from side to side. when this has been accomplished then you can get on him mounted and take a rein in each hand and place your hands about 1' from your horses neck then put a light downward pressure on the bit while pullin with a rythm on each side just like with the bit except with the reins. hope this helps :] any more questions just email :]

Answer 11

all of my riding instructors have taught me to gently pull on left rein the right rein alternating about every second beat, apply leg pressure to keep him going, but not enough to speed him up. moving the bit around in his mouth with soften his mouth, making the bit more wet and he will like it more.