how to get my horse to lope?

My tn walker/quarter horse mare will not lope.i try to hold her back but she just keeps galloping.is there any way that I can teach her to lope?also how do I teach her to flex her neck?i know you can do it with carrot strectches but what about with the bit?thnx
-chelsie-

Do you mean flexing laterally (sideways) or vertically?

One way you can teach her to lope, I'm not saying it is the best, but an option. When she goes too fast one rein stop her. She'll get the idea that going faster is counter productive because you will only stop her.

My guess is, if she can't bend enough to flex she probably isn't limber or coordinated enough to do a nice controlled lope. If she is unbalanced and stiff she will be unable to carry herself and a rider and the result will be a fast and awkward canter. I would suggest also going back to square one and work on doing walk/trot work. I wouldn't try to lope her until she can go at an even pace walking/trotting while supporting herself. To me is sounds like she just can't support herself and is compensating by rocketing around.

As for the flexing start by picking up one rein and releasing as soon as she tips her nose in that direction. This will serve two purposes one in teaching her to give to the bit and the other in getting her to flex.

Lateral Flexion
Lateral Flexion part 2
Lateral Softness

The lope will take time as she needs to learn how to balance herself and a rider. As she gains strength and gets better about using her body properly (the lateral flexion will help greatly with that), she'll slow down on her own.

I LOVE those articles!! Teaches me to read more. LoL I really like lateral flexion part 2 it makes it soooo much clearer!

Glad to help. I refer to those article a lot. The information is so basic, but every horse needs to know it. A lot of problems can be fixed by going back to the basics.

Transition work will do wonders! Its important not to lope for long periods of time when trying to teach them to carry themselves correctly. If you lope/gallop forever incorrectly they will continue to do that. Only lope off for a couple of strides and stop them and back them up or go back down to a trot. This will get them thinking more about stopping then going faster. Backing them up will also get their hinds underneath them which will help with collection. Just don't stop them harshly either or they will get tense and nervous when loping. Just mix it up.

Also what Gottaride said lateral flexion and vertical flexion is so important if you ever want your horse to be collected.

Do a lot of bending, that totally worked for me..

I have something that you might try for the lope. I used it for a different problem but it may be a simple fix for your problem as well. I was working with a mare that didn't have an extended lope. She took very short, rocky strides. So a friend suggested to me to start to lope her in a wide circle and slowly make the circle smaller. This would shorten the distance between her legs and she would have to move her legs further out to keep up. Of course this was with a younger mare that was pretty sure footed. I don't know how your horse would handle it, but what I would try if it were me would be to trot a circle pattern-then while keeping in the circle pattern but making it smaller try to kick her up a notch, see if she breaks away into a gallop or starts to figure out a slower pace. Just an idea. But only do what you feel comfortable doing with both you and your horse.

Yea circles are good. You could also try everytime she wants to take off turn them into a small circle then once she slows down let her out. They will probably take off again then repeat it. Try not to do this alot in one session though because it can be hard on their legs. Just try to switch up all the techniques and it will keep things interesting.