Since you must have more contact with the horse's mouth in horsemanship vs loose reins in western pleasure, I feel I need to find a bit that will be more easily tolerated than the one we're using in WP. My 11-yr old gelding works very well and drops his head in a snaffle, but he is too old for...

Hi all, I just bought a sweet sweet quarter horse mare named Honey that my trainer rescued from a kill pen in colorado. She's perfectly healthy according to the vet just not very well muscled. I've ridden her exactly 2 times, the first time went awesome, second time (today) went... not so...

So I have just purchased a 7 year old TB mare who is quite green, trialled for racing and polo but wasn't suitable for either. Hasn't had much flatwork schooling. She has a lovely uphill canter but her trot needs a lot of work. So currently the way that she drops into the contact is with a very...

Hi, I've been working on my canter these past few lessons and was wondering if I could have some help with my hands. I have very soft and quiet hands at the trot, however I am unsure how to use them when cantering as the movement is obviously quite different. My instructor has told me to move...

My horse does free walk and walking on a loose contact very well. The problem is that when I ask for more connection in the walk (medium walk), she tries to trot. I've done exercises such as halting after picking up the reins and doing lots of pick up the contact, let it back out, repeat. It's...

so about 9 months ago i bought a pony . Hes about 14.1 and a complete and utter jumper, he gets around a meter course with me no bother. Hes 9 and experienced not green. The Thing is he hasnt alot of flat work done. Before we got him he was used just for hunter trails . Ive been looking into...

just wondering if you guys have some techniques or exercises for a very high strung mare. she is super spooky, very very fast and HATES contact with the bit, she fights it like crazy (its a rubber "happy mouth" bit.) she has a thing for throwing her body all over the place (while paying...

I'm having trouble understanding how to get a horse "on the bit." I have heard you are supposed to drive the horse with your legs into you hands, but quite frankly I don't see how that's physically possible. The horse doesn't exactly change length with the addition of leg unless they shove their...

hello group! i'm just getting back to riding my horses (one horse had a lot of weight loss and is still putting it back on so no riding for him yet; the other was being brought back from neglect from the previous owner - lack of weight/muscle and horrible hoof care) and am wondering - where do...

My dad's horse has had a lot of bad experiences. Firstly, my dad is not a very good rider and began having issues with his horse, Arrow, because he was giving him mixed signals and Arrow did not react well to this. At this point, Arrow and I got along great. He was very well trained and a...

I just recently bought a Marcel Toulouse "Dennise" saddle and im really happy with it but: i have now noticed after three months of use that it gets bumps on the seat. Has anyone experienced similar problems with the Toulouse saddle? And if so, how did you treat the problem? Thanks a lot

I've found that my horse is not very relaxed at the walk with contact. He has a lovely swinging walk if i give him his head ( 0 contact, holding the reins at the buckle) yet the moment i start collect those reins, he sort of " bounces " back and forth between the reins and shortens his stride...

My horse has a massive problem with them bit. His teeth are fine and his bit fits. Even with a flash he cannot keep his mouth still. He is constantly playing with the bit, and since he can't open his mouth to play with it he decides to move his head instead. I don't know if you can see it too...

I started this on the thread crest release vs automatic release but when I went to post it said the thread was too old and to start a new one, so here I am. The crest release is the most popular use of the hands for jumping in hunter classes today but it's sort of usurped the position of the...

Hello, I have a problem with my 7 yr old OTTB gelding. While trotting, if I put ANY leg contact on, he'll start hopping (sort of like a half-trot/half-canter). Also, he's always got his head jacked up in the air, which I can't fix unless I can put leg on him. He is also a little speedy, so I...