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Need some horsey advice? Well Bonfire is here to answer all of your horsie questions. So feel free to to send him your questions and I'm sure he'll do his best to answer them.
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| Dear Bonfire, |
| Hey. I have a 26 yr old horse named Jack. And every time I try to lift his hoof to pick it he will lean all of his weight on it. I have tried pinching the tendon and leaning my weight on him, but nothing works. Any suggestions? Thanks so much. |
| Stephanie |
| Dear Stephanie, |
| This is kind of difficult, some horses are just pains in the neck about stuff like that. The best advice I can give you is to just try and push his shoulder, so he has to shift his weight, before you go to lift up his foot, and then just keep trying to lean your weight onto him. If you have some one who can help you maybe they can help you keep his weight on his other side while you pick his hoof. Anne had the same problem with her horse, who was also 26 when she got him. |
| Bonfire |
| Dear Bonfire, |
| Heyy. Umm my horse head fights really badly. Only sometimes. tho. I don't know how to stop that. also he hates being out alone and ridden alone. when we bring him out and just let him graze he's fine by himself. But when we ride him he just wants to go back to the barn. also when we have other horses out and we're riding him he wants to go back to the barn he's verrryyy barn sour. |
| Alyssa |
| Dear Alyssa, |
|
This might sound funny but when your horse start
flipping his head around and trying to take your reins, I assume that's what
you mean by head fights) just give him and extra little nudge with your leg to
tell him to get going. If he has to focus on going forward nicely he won't be
able to focus on fighting with you. The best advice I can think of for a barn sour horse is to not let him go back to the barn when he wants to. Instead make him focus on what he is doing. Just like before with the fighting, if you make him focus on how he is going and where he is going he won't be thinking about just going back to the barn. Try riding different patterns and using cones and poles to make it more exciting and so he has to focus more. He may keep asking if he can go to the barn, but as long as he excepts your no for an answer it's okay. |
| Bonfire |
| Howdy Bonfire, |
|
I have the worst time with a canter (english, by the
way. Don't let my greeting fool you ^_^ ). Whenever I ask for a canter, I
usually end up with either: A) a faster, more out-of-control trot or B) Not much of a response at all I ride two horses, mainly, and this happens with both of them - which leads me to believe that it's definitely me, not them. I'm struggling over things like "canter depart at A" because I can't get my horse to canter AT A. By the time I do get him/her cantering, I'm usually as far as E (if I have my dressage letters right - I mean the ones that are in the middle of the wall on either side. E and B, I think?). Also, a lot of times I have to kick very hard to get them cantering, which I can't say I like to do because: A) it doesn't seem very nice. =( and B) As far as dressage goes, it's a big no-no. Also =( I think that part of it may be my confidence, but it can't completely be lack of confidence because something must have STARTED the lack of confidence in the beginning, right? I know I wasn't able to be entirely descriptive with my problem, since it's rather tough to describe, but please, any advice is very much appreciated. Thanks so much, |
| Lisha |
| Dear Lisha, |
|
This problem could stem from many different sources,
and because I do not know you or your horses personal, you will have to be the
judge of the source. However, no fear, I can help. First you have to ask
yourself some questions to help you figure out how much of the problem is you
and how much is your horse. 1. Are these horses at the same "level" of training? Do they generally know the same commands? 2. Do other riders have the same problem? How experienced are these riders compared to you? (This one is not to make you feel bad, it's just to see how much these horses are going to make you work to get the transition the way you want them.) 3. Does the canter feel, rushed, unbalanced, or extremely heavy after you do get the horse to canter? 3. Are all of you other transitions perfect or is this problem just more evident at the transition from trot to canter? 4. Are you keeping contact in your hands the entire time? 5. After you ask for the transition and he doesn't execute, do you get in a hurry and try to "chase" your horse into the canter? This questions should help you narrow in on how to solve your problem, because the first step to solving your problem is to know why it is happening. Okay now lets get down to some reasons why and how to fix them. This question really excites me, Anne and I were having the same problem and have just worked through it. Honestly it was a little bit of both of our faults. Firstly, if your horse isn't extremely well trained and is not used to have to "volunteer" this kind of precision you will have to work on getting your horse to volunteer this kind of precision. No I know you don't want to kick, and actually, for this I wouldn't recommend it, because the action of kicking hard will through off both your balance and your focus. Your going to want to stay soft and calm. If your comfortable with it and you know it will be productive you should carry a crop and/or spurs. From a walk quietly ask your horse to canter. (If you are using a crop just lightly tapp him on the shoulder.) Set a number of strides you want him to have to pick up the canter in. Start with a number like five. If all he does is break to the trot (It will probably be a bad trot), immediately bring him back to the walk, and set him up again. Eventually he'll get the idea you want him to canter, and will start cantering. Be sure to tell him he is a good boy. He will start getting the transition quicker. If you really want to test your horse, ask him to canter from a stop. Secondly, If the canter your horse eventually picks up is, heavy or unbalanced, then your horse is just that, unbalanced, and is most likely not going wonderfully from behind as he should be, and is instead running on his front end. It's easy to figure out if he is unbalanced, if he can not support himself through turns, he leans drastically into turns, or if his hoof falls are heavy, then he is unbalanced. If you listen to his hoof falls and don't hear a distinct 1-2-3-1-2-3 (Think of a waltz) then your horse is unbalanced. You will notice that if the issue is balance that your horse is also unbalanced at the walk and trot, and the canter is just magnifying it. Therefore, you must build the balance from the walk up to the canter. Working on a variety of different size circles will help your horse improve his balance. Thirdly, you are going to have to make sure that your reins don't have slack in them, the should feel like rubber bands, from the tension between your hand and your horses mouth. As well, you want to make sure that to get your horse to go you are not chasing him with your seat. Your body position should only change slightly to ask you horse for a canter. As well, you want to make sure that you are being vary clear about you signals. If you tell him to canter, and he trots, don't post, by posting your telling him it's okay to trot. if you don't post he's going to have to guess something else besides b i g trot. Which would logically be to either to collect to a nice sitting trot (which if you have leg on him he shouldn't guess to do) or to canter. Finally, I know that when you get into the show ring and you need something to work and you need it to work now, it's important that it does work. So, if you have to show before you and your horse have completed these suggested exercises. Here is a quick fix, that should only be used when necessary. Get a good feel of your reins, tip your horse's nose every so slightly to the outside, lift your butt just slightly out of the saddle, think of an almost jumping position/two-point. Then let your outside leg slip slightly behind the girth and give him a HUGE squeeze. (If he is light to your leg you don't need to give him a HUGE squeeze.) This will put your horse on the correct lead, and will clearly tell him to "canter and I mean NOW." I know you were worried about you confidence too. If you second guess how you are riding your signals, then your signals will not be clear and your horse will second guess them two. Dressage is a sport that is based on precision, it takes time to learn these things, and if you riding tests with canter in them you are at least riding training level tests. Don't let something like a sloppy transition get you down and doubting yourself. Hopefully these suggestions will help you and once you get it your confidence will be restored. Good luck! |
| Bonfire |
| Dear Bonfire, |
| I have a Quarter horse mare that I started on barrels and she has a hard mouth. Also what can I do to speed her up any? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. |
| Heather |
| Dear Heather, |
|
I wish you would have include more information on the
problems your having with your horse. What exactly is your horse doing that
you think he is being hard mouth-ed. Does she not listen to your aids at
all, is she just slow to listen, most importantly is she only hard mouth-ed
at certain times. If you want to email me again with more information I
would love to give you more detailed advice. (I tried to email you but it
wouldn't go through;.) Since I don't really know what is going on I'm going
to give you a bunch of scenarios, causes, and solutions. First many problems with the hand can be problems with the rider. A lot of the time the rider is being heavy handed, with out the leg to back it up. As well, people often try to correct a hard mouthed horse with a more severe bit. However, if your horse has a sensitive mouth this can make the problem much worse. So no matter what the scenarios is, make sure your not being heavy handed, the bit you have in your horses mouth is the right bit for that horse, and your horses movement is coming from behind, with his weight shifted onto his back legs. A horse that is running with his weight on his front end is going to be out of balance, and is going to be much less responsive to all of the aids. If you horse does not listen/is slow to all of your signals for example, she's sticky about moving off your leg going to the side, turning, and she is very slow and difficult to stop. Your horse could not be well trained, if she is very young, you might have to wait and take the time to make sure she knows all the basic leg movement. Take it slow and start getting her to responded well at the walk then the trot then the canter. If she doesn't listen at the walk and the trot, there is no way she is going to listen at the canter and then gallop. If your horse is unbalanced/running on her front end this will make her significantly less responsive. work on circles, moving in and out, and getting her to bend and stretch with her body. As well use Shoulder-ins and haunches-ins to get her to bend and stretch. If you don't work a lot with haunches-in and shoulder-in your going to really want to exaggerate the movement to make sure she is stretching like you want her to. So, make sure your being soft with your hands, make sure you have the right bit for your horse, and make sure you have enough leg on her to back up whatever amount of hand your using. yougoing to want to work on circles, moving in and out, doing haunches-in and shoulder-in, to get your horse more balanced, and your going to want to take it slow and make sure your horse understands what your asking her to do. Now about the speed, I suspect your horse is not balanced with her weight shifted to the back, and this is the root of the hard-mouthed problem, the ame for speed. Once your horse's weight is shifted to the front the better she can rock back, kick it in from behind with more power, and therefore more speed. Good luck! Fell free to email me if you need more info! |
| Bonfire |
| Dear Bonfire, |
| My horse Ben is a downhill biult horse. He likes to tow on my hand and run on his forehand. We have switched him into a pelham to help develop his topline and it seems to be helping, but he still gets very downhill sometimes. Any ideas to make him more balanced on his hind end? |
| Kylie |
| Dear Kylie, |
| I am a little bit worried about the Pelham. A pelham is a very harsh bit, make sure you are very quiet with your hands, when using it. A wonderful alternative would have been to work your horse with side reins and draw reins in a less severe bit. To get your horse more balanced work on circles, moving in and out, making sure your horse is bending on the circle. Shoulder-in and shoulder-in with renvers will help get your horse standing up taller and teaching him to stretch. Also, since I do not know how advanced your riding level is, I want to mention that when developing your horses topline, you want to make sure the his head and neck are stretched long and low, and there is only a slight arch. If your horse's neck is high, and his head is arched sharply, the chances are he is trying to evade the bit, and is not stretching his topline, but arching his neck and putting the pressure on the poll. you will be able to tell this 1 from his neck and head position (as described) and 2 by which muscles are developing. if the muscles behind his ears are getting large, and the top of his neck along his mane is not developing then his top line is not getting worked. In which case feel free to email me and I'll give you hand. Please do not take this as an insult. It is extremely difficult to develop the topline of a horse properly. Good luck! |
| Bonfire |