I really, REALLY want to see you be able to LET him stretch when he's bringing his nose into his chest really tight and curling - when Harper does that, I'm pushing her forward and making her stretch DOWN, not curl. Is he to the point that you can get him to trot and basically be moving out but plowing dirt at the same time, without bring overly on the forehand? I feel like when she's asking you to soften your outside rein and flex him in, he's bringing his head in, but pulling you down because he wants to stretch his neck and over/through his back so he can REALLY stretch his stride out.
I think if you can teach him to move out and strong, but stretch himself out and down and maintain steady contact on your outside rein, you can get some nice, swingy, looooooose trot work out of him.
his curl & going BTV has been an issue since i bought him. i think he's improved, but he'll get back to it if he's tired especially.
mm, i have real trouble with maintaining a steady contact because i'm so inconsistent. he'll stretch, then curl, then raise his head up or whatever. it's a confidence thing too because i'm not good enough yet to keep him focused & flexed with a looser rein (it's getting there tho, i *felt* it for the first time on friday) and then he'll boggle at something outside and i'll fall to shit. he does start to strech out super nice at the end of a ride tho & i'm at the point where i can trust him enough at that stage. i tend to hold on for dear life tho at the start of a ride. carly wants us to work on stretchy long & low too.
okay, so in my rides both today and last night i tried giving him as much rein as he wanted - but he jabs? how can i address that? he'll jab forward, then sort of flatten out, then jab forward again
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to clarify - if i'm trying to *give* him rein, he doesn't seem to know what to do with it. is this something that will come with time & practice? i try to keep my hands 'loose' so he can take more rein if he wants it, but he does the jab thing & i end up with NO reins.
By 'jab', do you mean poking his nose forward like he's jerking with the bit? That seems to be a maturity issue with my experiences with Harper - the more she does with going on the bit, the less she jerks around. BUT! if she gets tired and is fed up with me asking her to collect, that's her signal that she REALLY wants to stretch out cos she's getting too tense. No idea if that's the same with Beej or not, but you might want to play with his reactions with that
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I think if you can teach him to move out and strong, but stretch himself out and down and maintain steady contact on your outside rein, you can get some nice, swingy, looooooose trot work out of him.
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mm, i have real trouble with maintaining a steady contact because i'm so inconsistent. he'll stretch, then curl, then raise his head up or whatever. it's a confidence thing too because i'm not good enough yet to keep him focused & flexed with a looser rein (it's getting there tho, i *felt* it for the first time on friday) and then he'll boggle at something outside and i'll fall to shit. he does start to strech out super nice at the end of a ride tho & i'm at the point where i can trust him enough at that stage. i tend to hold on for dear life tho at the start of a ride. carly wants us to work on stretchy long & low too.
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