heavy on the bit

[ilovemilliexx]

my pony is quiet heavy on my hands, and leans on the forehand a bit, how could i correct this? ive tried a waterford snaffle and she hates it, the only bit she likes is a straight bar snaffle, so i dont want to change her bit, i hack her as often as i can but the weathers usually rubbish, and ive started giving her hay from the floor as she usually has it in a lowish haynet. thanks x

[GinaGeo]

Good Old fashioned schooling, lessons and hard work. You need to get her really light and responsive off the leg to start, ignoring where her head is. Really getting her to engage her hind end. Lots of transitions will help this.

You also need to be moving her round the school alot, getting her to move off your leg and getting her supple. Next I'd be lookng at Lateral work; shoulder in is a useful exercis for lifting horse's off their forehands.

But most of all you need a really good instructor on the ground to give you the guidance and help that we all need.

[sageandonion]

Its a very common problem and bits don't correct it, it is training and correct muscle development. It takes a fairly long time of consistent and quality schooling but do not despair for the achievement is well worth the effort.

You need to have lessons from a really good qualified instructor. You need to forget the head (though I know it feels horrible right now) and think about the activation of the hind quarters and the suppleness throughout the body. Concentrate more on the shoulders than the head, lifting and correcting any tendency of one shoulder to lean on your leg. This is best done by lateral exercises described by GG and being really strict about the shape and quality of your circles. When hacking be strict on straightness and obedience to your leg and not slopping along.

I would suggest over the winter months that you do some dressage. It will give you a goal and the movements in the tests are very good exercises to help with the area for improvement.

A waterford can help for a very short period if your pony is strong and is pulling your arms down but the only way of progressing really is schooling.

[sarahp]

Agreed. No need to say more, it's all been said by the two posters above.

[belmont]

I agree with the above posters.

Lots of tranistions weather you ride or lunge her, you need to encourage her to use her hindlegs more and to work thro out her body, lifting her up off her forehand firstly then when she is carrying herself she will naturally want to drop down in front giving you a better softer feel. For now like the others i'd forget her head and get her to use her hindlegs/back more because once she is then she will want to offer you a better outline - i can suggest some exercises if you like?

[nia2311]

Belmont - you could repeat the schooling session that you put me through the other week! ;D

"Its my first lesson back, please be nice Miss!"

To be fair, we did get a rather stiff, big horse bending and working in something of an outline, which is an achievement. Belmont does have some excellent exercises which do work, I can vouch for that

[ilovemilliexx]

thanks everyone, she does move off her hindlegs and shes forward, which is why i dont understand why shes heavy on the bit. shes had her back checked 2 months ago, had physio 2 months ago(nothing was up, just a check) had a new saddle 2 months ago, shes having her saddle checked this week and had her teeth done a month ago. she went really light once, when i worked her for around 30 mins in shoulder in, leg yeilding, walk to canters etc, but on the yard im on we can only have a half hour slot per night, and she needs warming up and down so im only left with about 20 mins schooling so she doesnt 'work' properly. its hard to give her her head because shes a big mover and its hard to turn etc when i havent got a contact. thank you for your advice, it has helped

[GinaGeo]

When you give the contact it shouldn't make her difficult to turn. First of all you need to teach her to take the contact down, reach into the contact without changing pace. All steering should come from the seat and legs.

Here's an exercise to try; in walk to start with ride square corners, really concentrate on getting her to step round with her front end, this will sit her on her haunches. You ride the exercise with a slight outside bend and it's the beginnings of a walk pirrouette. You can extend this to riding a diamond shape and once you've got it in walk you can try it in trot.

In trot you need to keep her in her natural rhythm, it's very easy to push a horse with a "big movement" out of their rhythm, but this will push them straight onto their forehand. So it might feel too slow to start with and she might want to run on from habit, each time she does, back to walk, ride some square corners and go again. Use your corners in the trot to rebalance and sit her up.

Shoulder in once you've got that nice "tick tock" rhythm will be invaluable for lifting her shoulder and encouraging her to step up and take the weight off her forehand.

I think most of your problems stem from her rushing slightly, and once you've got that sorted you'll find her much easier to ride. An Instructor will be invaluable to help you find that rhythm and to give you exercises to improve her way of going. It is hard when you'relimited with your schooling. But all of the lateral work can be done on hacks also, and I don't find overschooling useful anyway - sends them brain dead!

[ilovemilliexx]

thank you, ill try that tomorrow, and also my instructors coming next week as hes at hoys this week we managed to go on a hack today for the first time in 2 weeks, we set off in sunshine, and came back soaking and freezing, but i agree hacking is defiantly much better!

[keepsake]

Riding the square is excellent schooling excersise. I have a cob who can get quite heavy on my hands, again lots of downward and upward transtitions making her use her hindend, my cob is only five so I think that has something to do with it too but I have starting introducing a wee bit of lateral and again getting him off the leg has worked a treat! Lots of great advice especially from GinaGeo.... Good luck x