Skips Mom, PM's are
good! LOL
Lindsey, I sympathize with your problems with only being able to drive on the road. I do a lot of serpentining up and down our street at a walk just concentrating on softness and bending. It's kind of scary driving them when they're feeling hot like that, at least it is for me, but I've learned that the more I choke up on him the more likely he is to explode. If I just let him work through it I soon find him settling into that steady rhythmic trot we all find so desirable.
Definitely go back to the groundwork until he accepts the whip. Were you driving him in an open bridle today? I'd always thought that a whip would be scarier when they couldn't see it coming, but one school of thought says that the sight of a lash flicking through the air towards their sides can make them jumpy. Sack him out with it, use it in regular groundwork like sidepassing and pivoting, just generally carry it at all times and tap him with it as a matter of course (no fan fare at all) until he understands it's just a piece of equipment that tells him something useful. Then YOU understand that when you're driving him he will still think it's a whole different ballgame at first! LOL.
We have NO BEND. If I ask him to turn left the shoulders and neck come left and the butt falls right, and the opposite happens when turning right. I applied pressure with the whip to the butt which was met with resistance and sometimes a lot of resistance.
Part of your problem here is that you aren't using the whip on the right body part. Think about it, Lindsey: the butt is the power, the front end provides the direction. Is his butt falling to the right, or is his shoulder falling too far to the left and leaving his butt behind?
: I initially used the whip to tap my horse's hindquarters over on a variety of manuevers and had to be set straight by a professional. You don't need to be correcting his rump, you need to pick up that shoulder he's dropping and get him to lift it up again. Whip to inside shoulder. Remember, it's your leg. You control a horse's rump while riding with your legs on his barrel, not on his hip. It IS possible! LOL.
Just take this whole thing slow and easy. Don't make the same mistake I tend to and get so caught up in fighting them on the position of each and every little part of the body that you lose all forward motion and get both of you tangled up and angry. Dressage is motion. Driving is motion. Get the motion first and the rest will follow naturely and without stress. Big swooping curves, then tighter and tighter for more precision as the horse builds muscle. And REWARD! If he softens his jaw and gives for a moment, give back and let him walk out of that turn. Don't throw away your contact, but soften in response and tell him good boy. One little step at a time so he can tell when he's done something right. Remember, he has no idea what you want. As far as he knows you're telling him turn and stay straight, stop and go, look but don't look. You'd be confused too! Make it easy for him to tell what you're asking by breaking it down into little steps. "Soften your jaw." "Soften your jaw and give to the rein, even for just a moment. Good!" "Now soften, give, and reach down a little. Good!" "Follow your nose into that turn, staying soft and supple. Good!" Then it's just a matter of slowly adding more contact and speed (from walk to trot) and reinforcing good habits.
You aren't pulling the horse into a turn by his head, you are simply modifying his path a little with gentle bumps. It's all still about going forward, not going around.
Have I babbled enough yet trying to find the right words?
: :risa_suelos:
Leia
: On a regular basis I drive in an open bridle, with no check, and with breeching. I am against extras unless they are necessary (or required like the check and blinders), so if someone can elaborate on why I need a martingale and how it would help I might look more into it. I just don't see how it can benefit me because even with a martingale he can still turn his head. Thanks everyone for your replies! Lindsey
