Slower trot/canter

[zansgoodnews]

I have been trying for many months now to simply slow my horse down. Whenver I ride her she just wants to race off with me. I can't keep a lot of contact on her mouth because she will start throwing her head. I have tried posting slower and tried half-halts but neither are working. Also riding in circles does not help her at all. I'm not sure if there is anything else I can do so I figured I would see if anyone has any helpful tips :)

[lcunningham]

Half-halts are definitely a good place to start, but since your horse starts throwing her head try this first: go back to some basic side rein work with her and get her to yield to the pressure and give at the poll, when the horse collects and balances they generally slow down and move with a little more impulsion. Once she can handle yielding to the bit, she should be more responsive to your requests for half-halt. Also instead of slowing your posting, sit the trot and try driving her up into herself.
Also, are you lunging before you ride, she might just be a little hyper!! :)
Hope this helps!

[zansgoodnews]

She isn't hyper. It feels like she just wants to run away from me, lol....also she gets excited after we canter so I always leave cantering as the last thing we do.

[silverleprichuan]

If you cant slow her down at the trot then certainly dont canter. Do TONS of walk work, concentrating on shortening and lengthening her stride using your reins, seat, and legs. Use lots of walk-halt-walk and walk-halt-reverse transitions to help keep her hindend underneath her body and her energy compacted. Also try a few steps on leg yielding, working on teaching her to move away from your legs and respect them.
It may take a few days or even weeks but staying at the walk until you have perfect control and you can manipulate her gait inside of the walk will really benefit the other gaits.
When you do trot work, work on quiet transitions from the walk to the trot, trot for 10-15 steps, then do a quiet transition back down to the walk. Once you are at the walk continue walking until she's calm and responsive then repeat the transition. By only doing a handful of steps at a time you can contain her energy and prevent her from getting fast.
Over the days/weeks you can lengthen the amount of time you spend trotting as she learns to listen to your aids. Once she is completely responsive to you walk-halt-walk, walk-halt-reverse, walk-trot, trot-walk-halt, transitions then you can use the same principles you used while introducing the trot to work on the canter.

[zansgoodnews]

Another thing is she is VERY sensitive when I use my legs....I barely touch her and she goes faster....if we are walking she will respond but trotting and cantering if i touch her with my legs she only moves faster....anyone have any way to fix that?

[alliekk]

try not to use strictly your heels on her. use your calves. I've found that this works best with Cynder, my sister's national show horse. she is also REALLY sensitive to let cues... my suggestion would be to work consistently for 15 minutes at a time just doing maneuvering by leg aid only. use your calf and slightly squeeze (keep her reins loose) and direct her in a pattern of your creating. you will be able to tell that she is relaxing when she puts her head down and that she wont try bolting from your leg every time you put it on her. practice walking serpentines, barrel patterns (even though you don't barrel race her), pretty much anything that has to do with multiple turns... practice riding hands free (only if she is calm and quiet) and do arm stretches to relax your body which will make you trust her a little more. only use the reins when your voice doesn't slow her down if she starts moving too quickly for what you asked... hope this helps

[zansgoodnews]

Well, I have to keep contact with her mouth at all times or else she will take off....also if there is no contact to her mouth there is no possible way to engage her hindquarters....

[alliekk]

what I suggested is just to calm her down under saddle. It may not work for every horse, but it worked for the ones I have ridden, like an EXTREMELY hot barrel horse (who did very well in walk trot classes) and my sisters mare. maybe just try it before and after your workout, just to loosen her up a bit. also, you shouldn't need contact with her face to engage her hind end, that should be built up with collection and confidence.

[silverleprichuan]

Having a hot hot hot mare, I completely feel your pain. As weird as it seems, hot horses need the security of constant soft leg pressure. I can always tell if I'm slacking off with my legs because if I ask my mare for an upward transition she will pop forward and toss her head. If I keep a steady leg contact and lightly increase the pressure then I get a wonderful uphill transition.


From the minute you get on to the minute you get off think about lightly "hugging" your horses side. If she's used to being ridden without a lot of leg pressure she may fuss at first, but stay with it and eventually she will calm down and accept your legs.

Once she learns to accept your legs then you can really push her into your hands during transitions which will keep her compact and will help to recycle her energy.

[zansgoodnews]

Oh, and she is a very unconfident horse, lol....The whole working slowly thing worked. She was more relaxed. I didn't get to work with her much but for the 30 mins I did work with her she was a little better. I didn't canter her at all and we didn't do much trotting, just a lot of walking, standing still and backing. She didn't like it, but oh well.

[Spices1andOnly]

you are in exactly the same boat i was in about 4 years ago. i ride a hot arabian mare that still will try to take off on me and just now is listening to leg without completely taking off. my advice is to try what everyone is saying if you feel it is safe to try and be patient. i've been riding Spice for about 4 years and that's about how long it took to get her to slow down and listen to me. and make sure to always end on a good note :D

[zansgoodnews]

I also have an Arab that bolts constantly and runs away with the bit....I'm going to try all this stuff with her too....

[Haley]

Does she toss her head even with a martingale? Play with her mouth a tiny bit with the reins, using half-halts to slow her down a bit while still keeping some leg so that he stays collected. :)

[BigStarLover]

make sure You keep a tight reign ,

Pull her reign back as hard as she is pulling you.

Trust me a had the SAME exact problem, See the horse i rode had just gotten his teeth cleaned and he was VERY stubborn he trotted when he wasn;t supposed to and kept eating grass. I eventually FLIPPED off. What you need to do is keep a tight reign and make sure your shoulders are back. You want her head to come up to you. i also learned to masage your lengths, also singing to your horse works (try amazing grace) cuz they had a horse that needed to be trained some more and the barn hands were helping trainging him and thats what they were doing singing. Talk to your horse, be calm and you'll get there!!!
good luck

[silverleprichuan]

make sure You keep a tight reign ,

Pull her reign back as hard as she is pulling you.

Trust me a had the SAME exact problem, See the horse i rode had just gotten his teeth cleaned and he was VERY stubborn he trotted when he wasn;t supposed to and kept eating grass. I eventually FLIPPED off. What you need to do is keep a tight reign and make sure your shoulders are back. You want her head to come up to you. i also learned to masage your lengths, also singing to your horse works (try amazing grace) cuz they had a horse that needed to be trained some more and the barn hands were helping trainging him and thats what they were doing singing. Talk to your horse, be calm and you'll get there!!!
good luck


keeping a restrictive grip on a horses face will encourage the horse to speed up, avoid the bit, fall onto the forehand, etc.
I don't know what you mean by "masage your lengths" but if you means see-saw on the reins then you are going to end up with a horse that travels in a false frame and run the risk of teaching the horse to duck behind the bit and speed.

[Spices1andOnly]

don't try to pull back as much as your horse is pulling on you. his head weighs more than your whole body and there's no way you would win. that just teaches him to pull even more to get away from you, and see-sawing is one of the worst things you can do. yes, it gets your horse's head in but only for like 2 seconds and more importantly it bruises their mouth. one horse i know was see-sawed so much that she cant have a bit in her mouth at all.

[BigStarLover]

you guys have no idea what im talking about ?!?!?!?!?!?!
see- sawing ? ? ? ? ? ? wtf ? ? ?

[mandyicequeen14]

i agree with silver, but also she my just have alot of biult up energy so i would lunge her for 15 mins to tone the energy down, and just be like with the legs also i suggest a hackamore (sp?)

[Alwaysridin09]

my best advice is for u to start at a walk. practice walking over tort poles, walk serpentines, figures 8's, everything. she has to learn that speed isnt everything. then when she is comfortable at a walk, trot a couple strides, than walk, than trot a few more strides than walk....and so on. the hole head throwing thing, it could be the bit. what kind of bit do u use, maybe its too harsh on her mouth.

[zansgoodnews]

I'm using a d-ring snaffle....there is NO way its too harsh....i have started sitting back a lot with her and pushing my seat deep into the saddle and she did better last time i rode her....keeping a tight rein on her def does NOT help....i can get her to slow down like that, but there just has to be a better way....and yes, even with the martingale she tosses her head....

[Barrelbabe_23]

I agree with sliver!!!