Heavy in Hand

[MiniNHF]

I finally did my first driving classes with my stallion over the weekend and had no blow ups.. so we survived. I do have a question if anyone has any ideas. When we are home or warming up he is very light in my hand, but as soon as I got in the ring it felt like I had 300 pounds in my hands and if I tried to do a half halt or anything to get him to soften up he would surge forward. He must not have looked bad because we placed in both classes but it didnt feel good to me.

Its hard to practice something he doesnt do outside of the ring. Any other suggestions of what to do besides half halting or attempting to?

Had to post a picture someone grabbed of him

 

[BSharpRanch]

Sometimes our horses pick up on our feelings and nervousness, even when we do not feel nervous.

 

[MiniNHF]

I was definitely nervous to a point because I had no idea what to expect from him and had never did a driving class before in my life. The second class we did he didnt lighten up on my hand until we did the reverse into the other direction. I guess it will get better with time?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Handsome boy! Congratulations on your first driving class!

btw, are you using a check in the photo?

 

[MiniNHF]

Handsome boy! Congratulations on your first driving class!

btw, are you using a check in the photo?

Thank you

Yes I am using an over check that was as loose at it would go in that instance.

 

[Flying minis]

I know when I get nervous I tend to pull the head into the horse instead of drive the hindquarters into the head - then my horses get heavy because I'm pulling instead of pushing. Could that be part of it?

 

[MiniNHF]

well that is why I was trying to do the half halts, but as soon as he got a release on his head he would surge forward, so I was basically holding him back the entire time. I know it has to be his nerves so I was trying to be as quiet as I could to help him out in the ring without making a huge deal and making it noticeable.

 

[MiniNHF]

Just wanted to give an update to this topic. I put my boy in another driving class this weekend and I actually tried a new bit the day before and I had a completely different horse in my hands. He was relaxed, listening to me and really wasnt pulling or surging; he was a little flighty in the warm up but there were big horses all around him that were not yeilding to us and being ignorant so I couldnt blame him for that.

The bit I was using was a traditional driving snaffle but with a copper mouth and we switch at the last minute to a jointed roller bit and yeah different horse.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

It amazes me how a horse is affected by bits. What made you think of trying something different? Thanks for the update, and I hope you did well in the class!

 

[MiniNHF]

He is a very sensitive horse (i call him my premadonna) and since I started him in a bridle a long time ago he is what I called "mouthy" constantly chomping at the bit to the point I had to put a flash on him to stop doing it whenever, didnt matter if nothing was on his mouth or he was in long lines. Finally he quietted down in the round pen when just working but when his nerves kicked up on the long lines or in the cart you could hear him chomping again but I was able to stop using the flash.

Another thing I was aware of that he was light in my hand at home but as soon as I put even the tiniest pressure on his mouth his head would jerk up like I just jammed him in the mouth and I am very quiet with my hands coming from an eventing side where I learned dressage.

I was talking with his breeder about maybe trying another bit and she had two of the jointed rollers and I had looked into them but never personally used them on any horse in my riding career so I wasnt sure. But we were thinking maybe he had a smaller mouth in the sense that when the snaffle bent in his mouth it was smacking him and causing discomfort and this bit independantly pivots and doesnt bend. So I tried it at the last minute when I was there prepping them for the show and immediately I noticed no chomping even with his side reins on etc and he wasnt fighting the bit as hard as he usually does in the side reins.

So the moment of truth was when we harnessed him up and even then he wasnt sitting there chomping on the bit like he usually does. Then when we got into the ring, he never leaned into my hand, was quiet enough where I could actually work on his headset and strides and not having to just hold him back and get through the class.

Evidentally he must have been so good that the judge came up to me at the end of the class and said she absolutely loved him and the reason she didnt place him at all was because he wouldnt back for me (the grass arena had bad ruts and he hit one backing up and stopped and started to panic but he is green and we will work on that by backing over things like poles etc)but if he would have backed he would have won the entire class.

It was disheartening but my gelding was being driven in the same class (debut class) and won it haha. But I was proud of my boy it was a 100% turn around from what he did at the show prior when he did two classes at that show.