hunter horse retraining in western. help needed badly

[Spices1andOnly]

ok well the whole story behind this is kinda long but i'll try to sum it up for y'all. my trainer chooses favorites and he ignores me and some other students and concentrates on this one girl. well, i used to ride my horse, Spice, hunter but i've always wanted to do western so I switched her. i can't get help from my trainer and i'm desperate! Spice always has gone too fast and she fights me with her head. now that i've switched to western she goes a normal hunter pace, but that's only if i use 2 hands on the reins. i use draws because that is the only thing that helps me slow her down so she doesn't take off with me. i need to get her neck reining, responding to leg pressure without speeding up, i need an Arabian western pleasure headset, and i need her to slow down. any suggestions?? :confused: i really need help and i hate being dependent on draws. nothing seems to work for more than a week, Spice is extremely smart and she discovers ways to get out of what she is supposed to be doing.

lol i tried to make that short but the whole subject makes me mad and i ramble :rolleyes:

[Rascal]

when i taught my TB to neck rein, i criss crossed the reins under his neck so that when i wanted him to turn right the rein would apply pressure to his neck and he learned that pretty quickly. when we first started my TB into western he was pretty fast too. we took him on an 18 mile ride and ran him for quite a bit of it and ever since then he goes slowly. if he doesnt go slow we just threaten him with another 18 mile ride. i cant help you with the leg pressure except patience. keep us informed on how it goes.

Julia

[Spices1andOnly]

hey thanx! i've done the crossing reins thing before but i forgot about it! yeah that worked pretty well, i'll start doing that again :)

[Casper2002]

Lope small circles with his hip toward the middle of the arena. Do not run him. he will never go slow again! I have also loped long side of the arena walk short side and they tend to anticipate a little and slow down. Good luck. Keep me posted.

[DixieGirl]

for neck reining---- you take one of your reins and very lighty you go in a small circle. then you do the same on the other side. then give a break and do it again. that is what i hade to do with my mare. :)

[horsesxox23]

for my horse im workin on teachin him neck reining too, what i do is simply use english cues w/ my hands but, for ex. if i want him to turn left, i use my left rein like i would any other time, but i bring my right rein just over his withers so he feels the preesure of the rein on his neck, same thing to turn to the right, it may take time but it works wonders, and to get him to slow down and used to pressure, which i would do before i even tryed teaching neck reining, to get him to slow down i would work his mouth, dont just constantly pull, its easier for a horse to pull against u when there is constant pressure, so sorta seasaw on his mouth, not hard, just work ur fingers under the riens, make the horse know what u want, teach them voice commands like whoa when ur under saddle so they have to pay attention with their hearing, not only their mouth, keep the horse at the pace u want even if he tenses up, if u stop to repremand him becuase he wants to run against the bit he will jsut learn that as a reward, keep goin until he relaxes and gets the pace u want, it may take even a half an hour or longer, but there is no quick fix, i have a horse in training now who before i got him was used for gymkhanas, pole bending and barrels and such, he was basically tought that when there is a saddle and a person on his back he is supposed to run, when i got on him the first time he ran bucked reared and everything else, now after i retrained him i can go out and ride him around bareback w/ a halter and lead, i am still getting him used to leg pressure, but a good thing for that is to set up five poles, barrels buckets, anything in a row about a horse apart each, and weave thruogh them using leg pressure, he cant run too far because he has to turn for the next pole so make sure he pays attention, sorry this was soo long i just hope to one day become a pro trainer, and i like giving advice on training issues, so tell me how it works out cause every horse is different, have fun, good luck and have patience :D , horses also like to be talked to, it keeps their attention on u and not the big scary plastic bags blowing in the wind haha :p

[Rascal]

you can also lunge her normally for a while and then flick the lunge line over her neck so it is like she is being neck reined while being lunged. that way she gets used to the pressure

[Spices1andOnly]

thanx for the tips everyone, im gonna try them asap :)

[Spices1andOnly]

hey everybody, well i started taking private lessons again so i can actually get some help from my trainer. i've been riding spice in the round pen without draw reins and she's not doing too bad. she's going fast again but she's getting the neck reining and somewhat the headset. my trainer said we are going to weight her head down by putting weights on the reins. i'll let you guys know how it works out.

[saddleseatsweetie]

ah this is an age old problem i had a saddle seta horse that went way to fast and we have him going slower than half of the western horses i ride with
hes also an arab so i know about head sets
message me becuase i know this will be way too long to explain on here

[tmontz]

Rascal, that's a really neat and interesting way to train a horse to neckrein! I had never heard that before!!!! I think I am going to try that with my mare!!!
Teri

[Spices1andOnly]

hey everyone, i'd thought i'd fill you in on how we're doing. spice is doing sooooooooo much better. she keeps her head down and in the majority of the time and she flexs like she's supposed to. her speed has gotten a little faster but that should be fixed really soon.