Droping her head and loping on cue??????? HELP

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Permalink Reply by Ciera Marie on August 3, 2008 at 5:36pm

when we train our horses to lope, we drop our outside hip, pick up the inside rain, and kick (tap. depends on the horse) usually we also teach them a voice command too

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Permalink Reply by Danielle on August 3, 2008 at 6:50pm

When I was training the one mare when she was still at the barn she was at for a few weeks, my trainer told me to pick up the inside rein (or outside, I guess it depends on which way you want to turn) and continue to pick it up and lightly tap your opposite foot on her - like Ceira said. When she drops her head, IMMEDIATELY reward her by dropping the reins and equal the length on the reins. If she speeds up, do the same thing, but if she raises her head, pick up both reins to the point where she'll drop her head, and squeeze with your reins, and remember to reward her by immediately dropping the reins back down. :)

I don't know if that'll help, it's just how my trainer taught me how to ride some of the horses at the barn. :) Good luck and keep us posted!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ciera Marie on August 7, 2008 at 10:28pm

yes we also pick up the inside rein. also if she isn't picking up the right leads or just doesn't seem to be getting it, you can put a pole on the ground with tires on each end (to keep from running off of the end) and when you have 1-2strides before the pole pick up the rein for which ever lead you want.

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Permalink Reply by Becka Grace Bennett on August 20, 2008 at 5:21pm

Ok thanks everyone ill try it and let you know soon

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Permalink Reply by Morgan on September 30, 2008 at 7:02pm

ok, i know i will sound like a spokes person when i say this, but if you are having head set problems, i would try a mikmar bit. That is only, ONLY if a snaffle or broken curb bit and a martingale dont work first.
Use a few months between the two. (sanffle and broken curb) with a martingale and you should see huge results. If not, get a mikmar western pleasure conbination bit. It works like a charm. Even helps if you have a front heavy horse like my mare. Try www.mikmar.com. oh, and introduce spurs or a bat. I think that is your bet in getting the lopin right on cue (for the cue challenged horse)
any more questions, just ask!

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Permalink Reply by Becka Grace Bennett on December 22, 2008 at 7:51pm

I am thinking about getting a mikmar training bit do you think that is the best one to choose and can i show it that bit?

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Permalink Reply by KBBadmiral on January 23, 2009 at 11:45pm

All your stuff you are talking about just takes working at it and practicing. first off. I would starting by doing lateral flexion..in which you as the head to bend around to your foot. but you don't want to pull the head around. just hold and wait until the horse gives. this will get her nice and supple and soft and flexible through her neck. lateral flexion is the KEY to vertical flexion. anywho and then I would get her to be able to turn on the forehand and hindquarters with your leg. so that she understand what you are asking of her and she knows to move off of your legs etc. if she already knows all this stuff then your good. anyway when asking a horse to lope off...when they are COLLECTED. the inside hind foot is the first step of the lope. and lots of horses are off-balanced and take the first step on the front foot causing them to be heavy on the forehand/frontend resulting in them going fast. so anywho. I first start teaching the horse to just let the shoulder drift. in which we call it the 'drunken horse exercise' so this is where you bend your horse with your inside rein. but open your outside rein to drift the shoulder. but maintain the bend to the inside. and eventually you want to be able to release your horse and have them keep drifting on their own which would mean they understand the concept and are not relying on you to hold them. and once you have the shoulder out you take you outside leg and push the hip in. which encourages the horse to take that first lead step on the inside hind. and by drifting the should to the outside..it gets the shoulder out of the way to set the horse up for sucess to take the first step on the inside hind. i know I probably sound like a CRAZY person. and that's A LOT to throw at you. hahah but yeah if you have questions on that just let me know!

I can not stress enough it is NOT about the head set. when your horse is balanced and collect it comes basically naturally. many people want theyre horses in frame but forget that the horse's 'engine' comes from the HIND end and the horse needs to be ridden from front to back. lots of people forget about the hind end entirely cause when your up there all you see is the front of the horse, but the hind end crucial for the head set. first off if you back your horse does she back in frame like tuck her head? if not start on working on backing up and continue backing until she backs with softness and is in frame and then immediate release. then try and get that same softness at a stand still. and then when you go into your gait you need to push your horse into the bridle. this is a crazy way of explaining it but ill try: so its like your riding your horse along and you are using your legs to push the horse up into the bridle. so its like your reeving up the engine of their hindquarters from behind but your reins tell them not to go faster. so you have to maintain some contact. and this will cause the horse to lift her back and extend the reach with her back legs. therefore giving you collection..and the headset will just come with collection as the horse CANNOT not be in frame when they are this balanced and collected. its not about the head! and I don't want to get in any arguements or anything on here so this is not meant to be offensive or anything like that but as everyone is entitled to their own opinion...i do not recommend a martingale. this causes the horse to be forced into frame. and the horse is often framed solely based on imitation. and often they are breaking at the number 2 vertebrae rather then the poll.. where for showing you want a level head and a nice flex at the poll. not a arched neck in which martingales often create. and you can't generally show western in a martingale and I don't know what type of riding/showing you do but at bigger stuff you can't ride with one..so often the horse just braces and leans on the martigale..so when you take it off..there is nothing holding the horse into frame so they just go back to holding theyre head up and it can be even harder to teach them a correct headset after you put that brace in their neck. but this is just my personal opinion. do lots and lots of circles which the horse has to be balanced and the headset comes along with being balanced..going straight at this point won't help you. it will also help with slowing down my horses canter used to be a downright gallop when i first bought him and i did tons of circles and he slowed down lots. aside from this i constantly worked on extension..which builds up muscles that makes going slower a heck of a lot easier for her when you ask for it. i think your best results is a snaffle bit and just working through it. please feel free to ask any questions you have and I'll see if I can explain something better...etc. I'm sorry if it's too complex way confusing but yeah...hope this helps in some way.

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