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| flexing | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Fri Jul 4th, 2008 06:52 am |
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1st Post |
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ShadyDeal G.O.G Community Member
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I read a few of your older post to get an idea of things you have tried. I think you are using the Imus training bit as a snaffle. Anyhow, you should do a lot of work at a relaxed walk. It easiest to have live instruction for this work but I will try to help with a few things. For warm up exercises walk your horse with a long rein and let her move into a nice free working walk. Do this both directions and then gently take up some of the slack on your reins. Your horse should still be in a relaxed position but you should feel a small/light amount of contact on both reins. Get her to work from behind at this relaxed walk. If she does not work from behind push her with your legs and seat and do a half halt. Assuming she then is moving from behind stop pushing her forward but keep an open seat and hold a constant feel with your legs. If she breaks from her forward from behind movement repeat. If she becomes heavy on the bit drop the contact on your inside rein only, hold the outside rein steady. You do not want to throw away your communication. At this point she should pick herself up, work from behind and you should have taken back your light contact. If she gets behind the bit work her into your hand. When you are turning a corner make sure her body is bending. If you are steering your horse with your reins you will have a horse that is stiff and follows it’s head. This will result in heavy on the forehand and no collection. Use your legs and half halts to help bend your horse around a bend. You can do this by keeping your inside leg on or near your girth area, outside leg behind the girth, hold your outside rein steady but long enough for the horse to bend and use the inside rein (half halt) to encourage flexing/bending. If your horses outside shoulder falls out of line when bending take up a little slack on your outside rein. If it continues to happen half halt with the out side rein before the shoulder falls. You may have problems at first with keeping the horse collected just keep with it. A horse that bends it’s neck side to side when standing still does not mean that it will flex or bend when being ridden. As soon as you steer your horse you loose your horse ability to remain collected. Let your horse relax (walk on a free rein) after these exercises. Even thought it does not seem like much they will be building new muscle. At this point I would take her for a trail ride and end the lesson. You can work on having fun and building up her walk. They have an excellent article about walking to the breaking point on this site. The next time you work her start with these exercises but then gently take up more rein. Do not ever take up the rein and have a hard/harsh contact with her. This will cause her to go stiff and throw her head. As you take more contact with her and she is moving from behind her head will naturally be held in a higher position. You do not need to hold her neck and head up by holding your hands high. Have you ever ridden her when she was afraid of something. Most horses will self collect. They move from behind and have a very high head position. When they move they seem to float on air. Now you just want to teach her to do this natural thing when you are riding her. Remember this takes a while to perfect, be patient she is still very young. After you work on this for a while add the gait. If she starts to pace you need to go back and work the walk again. Hope this helps.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 4th, 2008 03:26 am |
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2nd Post |
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ssecmft G.O.G Community Member 
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Thanks for the link GypsySusan. I've been hunting the web for this kind of info. I should have known it would be here somewhere.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 11:56 pm |
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3rd Post |
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horsecrazy1982 G.O.G Community Member
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thanks Last edited on Fri Jul 4th, 2008 12:03 am by horsecrazy1982 |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 11:56 pm |
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4th Post |
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ShadyDeal G.O.G Community Member
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If you horse rides with a stiff head and neck you first need to work on getting your horse to relax. You need to figure out what has made your horse stiff and nose out. How old is your horse? Does your horse hold it’s head high with her nose out? What type of bit and saddle are you using? Any other information you can provide about your riding style and her experience would be helpful.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 11:47 pm |
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5th Post |
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GypsySusan G.O.G Community Member 
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http://gaitsofgold.info/wowbb/forum41/5934.html These are basic chiropractic exercises you can do yourself that will really loosen up your horse and keep him loose. They should be done before and after a ride or work session. Good luck and let us know what you do and what works best for you. Last edited on Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 11:48 pm by GypsySusan ____________________ Susan www.gypsytrotters.com Phil 4:11-13, 19 Missouri Fox Trotters: To Ride One... Is to Own One. |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 11:43 pm |
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6th Post |
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GypsySusan G.O.G Community Member
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Lateral flexion is key to vertical flexion. You can work on lateral from the ground and then in the saddle - both ways equally unless you find stiffness more pronounced on one side - then do that side 1/3 more times. BUT, before you start with flexion exercises, have a chiropractor out to evaluate your horse for problems. If the atlas is out, no amount of flexion will fix it. If there are hip alignment problems, flexion won't realign the hips/pelvis and will make a stiff horse stiffer. A sore horse can become a dangerous horse, especially if you are asking them to do something that hurts. I wrote a thread somewhere about the exercises you can do to help with soreness and to increase flexion that are all done from the ground. I'll try to locate it and post the link on this thread.
____________________ Susan www.gypsytrotters.com Phil 4:11-13, 19 Missouri Fox Trotters: To Ride One... Is to Own One. |
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| Posted: Thu Jul 3rd, 2008 10:57 pm |
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7th Post |
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horsecrazy1982 G.O.G Community Member
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i have heard if a horse is stif this will efect ther gait my horse is verry stiff in the head and neck . and also travills with her nose out in frount how do you teach theam to collect and not have the nose out in frount.. is it good to wok with flexing
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