@Tenturo; I'd try and be really steady with your body and 'hold' her with your core. Sort of like a half halt. Usually, if your persistent, a horse will match how 'quick/much' your body is moving, so in the trot for example, if you rise slower and smaller, she should slow her steps down to match. Often checking them with the bridle isn't effective in these cases, as they tend to hollow out and resist it anyway, like you said. As for turning, give her heaps of warning, shift your weight to the way to want to turn and try turn her from your thighs. My instructor always tells me to imagine a channel which runs in-between your thighs and that channel is where the horse must stay. Helps you stay more aware if they are swiggling out as well, so hopefully you can correct before it gets to full on drifting and refusing to turn lol If she gets a little uptight undersaddle, try your best to not let that feeling rub off on you. Stay nice and relaxed and she should calm down too. Sometimes breathing really loudly and slowly will remind your horse to breathe too. Gives them something to concentrate on lol
@Hime; Urg I am still holding out for my animal classes! Got another semester before I get to take those lol Least your classes sound like they should be fun! Riding the young horses is so much fun! Just wait another 6 months and I bet you won't even recognize Ty, they progress so quickly. Like just imagine when he gets some really strength and power to put into his stride
And fair enough re-clipping. It can be an awful pain with rugging and such, just causes extra work in that department, so if he's not in full work there's not much benefit. Heta's clip looks very cute <3
It sounds like you've tried pretty much everything I would with her bit issues and since none of it really worked, it might just be an evasion tactic for her
Which is such a pain! Wouldn't it be nice if everything was an easy fix?
Only other thing I could think of trying would be laterals to try loosen her up a bit and lots of changes within the gait and riding different lines/circles/directions so she doesn't get the opportunity to get 'stuck' but I'm not sure how effective that would be
Maybe worth a try? Sounds like a tricky one to fix...
@Whippet; Oh I'm so happy to hear she did well at the show!
Successful outings definitely help to build confidence!
@Tracer_Trash; You've gotten some great advice already but I wanted to add that sometimes shortening your stirrups while you're learning to rise to the trot can help keep you a bit more secure
And also you don't need to throw yourself out of the saddle or push off from your feet, just let the motion of the horse carry you up, which is harder than it sounds! Practice and time in the saddle is key
@Bitanic; If you're in that much pain, I wouldn't be riding. Its not going to do you or Alice any good and if something is hurt, if you happened to come off again you could do some serious damage. If you need to, get checked out by a doctor or physio. As for feeling discouraged, I'm not going to say don't feel that way, because it is human nature to do so, but there is no real reason you should feel that way. One of the risks of riding is falling and its gonna happen on occasion
Plus, Alice is only young (if I remember correctly) so you've got all the time in the world to get things done. There is no need or reason to rush things. Take your time, enjoy the journey and all the ups and downs that come with it
@Mickey d's; Hello! I don't remember you, but I have been popping in and out of this thread irregularly because of course work lol If Jim is fine with a halter and only seems to react when the bit is brought into the equation, could you undo the bit from the bridle on one side, put the headstall part of the bridle on and then slip the bit into his mouth and do the cheek piece up? Does that make sense? It just might help to break it down for him so he doesn't get so overwhelmed by the whole process. Or figure out someway to attach a bit to his halter and practice with that. Does his bridle have blinkers on it? You mentioned he was driven, so could the blinkers be causing an issue (if he has them on his bridle that is). Also, keeping his head bent towards you will give you a little more control and prevent him from really throwing his head around, just be mindful his poll would be closer to your face if he did happen to play up.
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Reggle is going good
I really want to get some more video of him cause he's progressing rather nicely if I do say so myself. My instructor has done bit of a 180 on her opinion of him, so we must be doing something right lol Main goal at the moment is to help him find his balance in the canter and to continue building up his strength. He picks up on stuff really quickly, but V doesn't want to rush him before he's physically ready (which I agree with) so most stuff is just gaining strength. I've noticed a difference in him over the last few weeks, his gait has changed a decent amount; he has a lot more cadence compared to the start of the year, so I guess it must be working. Also, a slight disclaimer, all of this was written at 3:20am so I apologize for any typos, grammar errors or otherwise rambling sentences which do not make a whole lot of sense