Kawgirl
Well-Known Member
How do you get a horse to stretch down while doing a free walk in harness? He goes well on a loose rein at the free walk, but doesn't stretch down much.
Stretching down
- Thread starter Kawgirl
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RhineStone
Well-Known Member
Well, if he is already going along in a "stretched" frame (meaning very little collection and bit contact), he is not going to stretch down because there is no reason to. They will stretch if you have contact and then "let it go", whereas then they seek the bit. I would say that most lower-level mini drivers do not have enough contact because their horses train them to "let go" of their mouths by either slowing/stopping, going behind the bit, or tossing their heads. I don't know if that is your case, but that is what I have seen. The contact should be much like an adult holding a toddler's hand crossing the street. You want enough that they "can't get away", but not so much as to crush the kid's hand. It is a guiding hand. Once the horse is used to the guiding hand, he will seek for it when it is not there.
Myrna
Myrna
hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
Myrna is absolutely right. I remember teaching Kody this with the help of my instructor and am getting a refresher course now that I'm introducing Turbo to the idea. Kody was easy- he always dropped his head like a 15lb anchor and his back would naturally stretch and start swinging as he did so whether I'd been driving him very collectedly or not because he always required support to work in any sort of upheaded frame. He wasn't built for it!
Turbo has been driven on solid contact all along but has only had four drives by himself in the cart at this point (another five or so as a pair with Kody) and he's still learning to work to the bit in short bursts of trot. Since he doesn't yet have the muscular strength to work actively "up in my hands" for more than a few minutes I'm still keeping my contact soft and low and asking mostly for rounding and consistency and that he make an effort at stepping up under himself and that effort is good enough right now. That means that I can't really ask for a true "free walk" as he's not yet ready to give it.
What I'm doing is setting the foundations for the work. When he and Kody are going as a pair they feed off each other and get very forward at the trot, working in a much more upheaded frame than either normally does alone. I insist with half-halts that they flex and bend and start working towards the bit and once both have responded we trot along in a good frame for awhile down the road. Just before they'd start getting tired I half-halt again and ask for a walk and then hold the same level of contact as they transition so they keep their energy in my hands instead of dumping it as they come down. We do an extremely energetic, forward walk for a few strides and then (making sure I'm taking deep, slow belly breaths) I start feeding the rein a fraction at a time and encouraging them with "walk on" cues to follow it. They aren't to slow down or string out, just expand their frames and start reaching. If they don't I softly take up stronger contact again (no snatching at their mouths in "punishment") and we resume that collected, forward walk and try again. At the end of our road works I let them settle into a marching walk up the hill towards home and as they get into rhythm with each other and get a really nice pace going I let them ease into a longer and longer frame. The minute someone strings out they get collected again but I just play with it and praise them with rein and voice for any effort to stretch out and reach actively down. Turbo's starting to get it and I think with more time under his belt and a little more strength we'll be able to ease right into proper free walks and as Myrna said he'll be grateful for those stretching breaks to ease his topline after all that collected work. Any rounded work at all is hard for a green horse!
If you're introducing it to a horse who is already fit for driving work but simply doesn't know how to stretch down, start by collecting your horse into a shorter frame in the corners of your arena and letting him out after he's straightened completely onto the rail. He must, repeat, MUST have a forward walk! Driving horses must not be allowed to dwaddle along at the walk. It should be a forward, marching, "going to town" sort of gait and they ought to respond just as promptly to a command to "walk on" from a walk as they would to being asked to "trot on." My dressage instructor absolutely insisted on that and she's right as it's the foundation of everything else. If you horse can't shorten and lengthen at a walk, how do you expect him to do so at a trot?
Taking up the reins at a walk should not be an invitation to slow down unless you specifically tell him so; he should instead collect his energy into a more rounded frame and take higher, shorter steps until you let him out. This shouldn't be tense or fast, mind you, just powerful and rhythmic. Introduce this in brief, one- or two- step segments until he understands what you're asking and is capable of giving you more without becoming upset. Corners are a great way to build understanding of this as most show horses learn to collect and rebalance in the corners and extend on the straightaways. You're just going to ask for a little more coiling of the spring, and a little more, then let that spring stretch out. As soon as the horse stops stretching you need to take up contact again and resume a marching walk so he learns that he is to stretch until told otherwise lest he be asked to return to work. Remember to keep all this soft; I had a tendency to grab at the rein and try to cram Kody into a shorter frame and that's not what you're looking for. It's more like "Inhale, pull your shoulders back and collect, collect, collect...breathe out and soften rein and let the horse extend." He does need to show you a noticeable difference though- don't let him "sort of" shorten and then slop his neck out when you give rein and think that's lengthening his whole body.
Leia
Turbo has been driven on solid contact all along but has only had four drives by himself in the cart at this point (another five or so as a pair with Kody) and he's still learning to work to the bit in short bursts of trot. Since he doesn't yet have the muscular strength to work actively "up in my hands" for more than a few minutes I'm still keeping my contact soft and low and asking mostly for rounding and consistency and that he make an effort at stepping up under himself and that effort is good enough right now. That means that I can't really ask for a true "free walk" as he's not yet ready to give it.
What I'm doing is setting the foundations for the work. When he and Kody are going as a pair they feed off each other and get very forward at the trot, working in a much more upheaded frame than either normally does alone. I insist with half-halts that they flex and bend and start working towards the bit and once both have responded we trot along in a good frame for awhile down the road. Just before they'd start getting tired I half-halt again and ask for a walk and then hold the same level of contact as they transition so they keep their energy in my hands instead of dumping it as they come down. We do an extremely energetic, forward walk for a few strides and then (making sure I'm taking deep, slow belly breaths) I start feeding the rein a fraction at a time and encouraging them with "walk on" cues to follow it. They aren't to slow down or string out, just expand their frames and start reaching. If they don't I softly take up stronger contact again (no snatching at their mouths in "punishment") and we resume that collected, forward walk and try again. At the end of our road works I let them settle into a marching walk up the hill towards home and as they get into rhythm with each other and get a really nice pace going I let them ease into a longer and longer frame. The minute someone strings out they get collected again but I just play with it and praise them with rein and voice for any effort to stretch out and reach actively down. Turbo's starting to get it and I think with more time under his belt and a little more strength we'll be able to ease right into proper free walks and as Myrna said he'll be grateful for those stretching breaks to ease his topline after all that collected work. Any rounded work at all is hard for a green horse!
If you're introducing it to a horse who is already fit for driving work but simply doesn't know how to stretch down, start by collecting your horse into a shorter frame in the corners of your arena and letting him out after he's straightened completely onto the rail. He must, repeat, MUST have a forward walk! Driving horses must not be allowed to dwaddle along at the walk. It should be a forward, marching, "going to town" sort of gait and they ought to respond just as promptly to a command to "walk on" from a walk as they would to being asked to "trot on." My dressage instructor absolutely insisted on that and she's right as it's the foundation of everything else. If you horse can't shorten and lengthen at a walk, how do you expect him to do so at a trot?
Taking up the reins at a walk should not be an invitation to slow down unless you specifically tell him so; he should instead collect his energy into a more rounded frame and take higher, shorter steps until you let him out. This shouldn't be tense or fast, mind you, just powerful and rhythmic. Introduce this in brief, one- or two- step segments until he understands what you're asking and is capable of giving you more without becoming upset. Corners are a great way to build understanding of this as most show horses learn to collect and rebalance in the corners and extend on the straightaways. You're just going to ask for a little more coiling of the spring, and a little more, then let that spring stretch out. As soon as the horse stops stretching you need to take up contact again and resume a marching walk so he learns that he is to stretch until told otherwise lest he be asked to return to work. Remember to keep all this soft; I had a tendency to grab at the rein and try to cram Kody into a shorter frame and that's not what you're looking for. It's more like "Inhale, pull your shoulders back and collect, collect, collect...breathe out and soften rein and let the horse extend." He does need to show you a noticeable difference though- don't let him "sort of" shorten and then slop his neck out when you give rein and think that's lengthening his whole body.
Leia
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rabbitsfizz
Well-Known Member
Leia, you really should be working on a book.....
Seriously, entire books could and should be written on corners alone!
