Head Tossing Problem

Q:

I have this 19-year-old Morgan mare. Every time I ride her and we stop and stand she pulls the reins out of my hands. How can I stop her from doing that?

A:

Your problem is not uncommon.  If I am not mistaken your horse is also probably heavy on the forehand during the stops as well.  Fortunately the solution is an easy one.  It just takes a little time.

The first thing you need to do is to get your horse to soften her neck and break at the poll when you pick up the bit.  The easiest way to do this is “drive the horse up into the bit” at the standstill.  What you do is take the slack out of your reins “with as little pressure as you can but as much as you need to”.  Remember that phrase, as you will use it throughout your horse’s training.  Once you do this any number of things might happen.  Your horse might back up in which case you drive them forward with your leg but don’t allow them to go forward with your reins.  They might root their head out trying to take the reins from you again in which case you apply more pressure to the reins.  They might raise their head in which case you will lower your hands to your knees to change the direction of the pull to clarify that you want their head down.  Your goal is to get them to round out their neck and break at the poll.

Once they do this at the stand still then you can practice it the stops.  Walk out four to five steps and then stop.  Ask them to collect up and repeat.  Allow them to stay stopped for 3 seconds to 3 minutes so they wait for you to ask them to go again.  Once they do it the walk then you can progress to the trot and then the lope.

Have fun and keep you sessions short.  10 to 20 minutes at a time at most.

~ Raye

• < Prev
• Next >