Whats the best way to get a western pleasure lope?

Question

so im using a simple tom thumb bit and so far it seems to work great...anyways, i really want my horse to get a nice collected western pleasure lope, hes got the jog down, but we have yet to accomplish the lope. What ive been doing is lightly massaging the bit in his mouth until he drops his head, but he still wont slow down?

any suggestions??

Answer 1

the only time you should be on the rail is when your horse is doing what you want, the rail becomes the reward. if your horse is loping fast you need to be doing your circles and figure eights. I dont mess with a horses mouth unless you are bumping for a response of dropping their head, this is achieved by bumping your inside rein to match the lead leg when it is forward with using your legs to drive your horse into his head, the bumping of the inside rein will get them to drop and relax and also slow down. The other trick is when in you do circles is to give the horse his head and just direct rein into a tight circle , not to tight so they drop out of the lope but small enough that they have no choice but to slow down. Just give them their head, sit back on your pockets, nice and deep in the saddle and just steer and let them lope to their hearts content until they start slowing down once they slow to a real nice lope go one more round and stop. giving them the reward of rest when they do it right. The purpose of giving them there head is that then they can find their balance without someone cranking on there face. I would suggest going back to a plain snaffle and do some bitting and lateral flexing as well to get your horse more supple and responsive.

Answer 2

massaging his gums wont slow him down. that only fixes his headset. bump on his face while youre loping off. once hes at a steady lope, if his head is down, stop bumping. if he puts his head up, bump until he puts it down.

make sure youre relaxing your body. if you relax, he will too. once he settles into a good lope, pat him (while youre loping) and make sure he knows he did the right thing.

Answer 3

Turn him (off the rail of course) in a small circle(s) until he gets to the speed you want him at. Then turn him back out onto the rail. He will get the hang of it.  

Answer 4

Ask your horse into a lope, slowly make his circle smaller until he is basically forced (in a nice way) to slow down to your desired pace...once he is at it, you can begin making his circle bigger, bit by bit. If he does speed up again, begin making the circle smaller again. and so on....the massaging the bit is a good idea as he will realize he needs to be attentive & listening to you because your asking him to respond to something. Also check your position, make sure you aren't sitting too far back in the saddle & therefore driving him forward & faster. GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 5

what i do for my finished pleasure horse is ask for the lope, keep the spur lightly on him and pull lightly on the reins. have your hands wide and gently ask for his head down. keep you outside leg on him and bend him. if he continues to speed up pull him back harder and spur him. this worked for my horse, and it all depends on what the horses breed is like it would be really hard doing this on a TB but easy on  quarter, lol. =]