Ask The Trainer

QUESTION:

I have a 9 year old 16.2 palomino gelding who has a super fast lope. I have had him since he was 5 but he has been out in pasture the past 4 years doing nothing. (I have been away at college and had only enough money for one horse so unfortunately he was the one to stay) When I bought him he was just green broke and used for light ranch work like checking fences and checking on cattle. He seems to have enough training on him when it comes to walking and trotting, but when it comes to the lope, wow; he just sticks his nose out and goes for it. I am sure you cant even imagine the level of rate he!   He is not necessarily hard to turn, but he sure doesn't turn sharp. And there is absolutely no bend in his neck when he is turning, he is just too fast. Also, he has no problems with stopping; he is actually almost too good at it. When I do ask of a lope, he gets really fast with his trot, really fast, then when he finally lopes its the speed of the super fast trot with a little extra just because he is loping. I really want to use him as an all around horse. Start out with open barrel races to get him around the arena and other horses, then eventually start going to open shows, reigning, hunter under saddle, trail, that kind of stuff. Lately I've just screwed down my seat and sat it out and he eventually gets slower. But it's been a couple of weeks and I have to do it every day, and the process last about 20 minutes before he really gets slower, and its not really improving. I have lounged him but id just rather get on his back and fix the problem that way. I barely have enough time to get that done before the sun goes down or it gets hot outside, or even for me to really enjoy the ride. I have been riding for about 13 years so I have too much pride to take him to a trainer and don't always like the results of a different rider either, no offence to trainers!! Are there any suggestions or techniques you could offer before I take him to a trainer?

I have one more question to ask. I have always ridden my mare in a mechanical hackamore or a little hackamore, when I read about them on line and even in books people always have bad things to say about them, but my mare just loves them. She was a great all around horse, but when it came time to show in classes that required a bit, she just did not want a bit in her mouth. I barrel raced, pole bended, went on trail rides, and just rode for fun in it. She never had any problems. I would like to do the same with my palomino but he has never been in one before. (I would use it only in everyday riding and speed events) when would be a good time to start it? Should I even consider it until his speed is under control? I personally think it could make him quiet down a little and relax to slow the lope down. Or, I guess it could make things a lot worse!   I really don't know what to do. Is this even a good idea? I have always has such good results with it ....I thank you so much for reading my horse problems and helping me out

ANSWER:

Before I say anything about training, make sure that his teeth are okay (no sharp hooks or wolf-teeth) and make sure that his saddle fits correctly. If you are sure he does not have any health or tack-fitting problems, then you may assume it is a training problem.

First of all let me say, what you are experiencing with the lope is one of the single most common problems people experience with young, or inexperienced, or out of shape horses. This is very common!

Unfortunately, there will not be any quick or easy solutions to this, because the fact is, a slow, controlled lope is extremely difficult, both mentally and physically, for a horse to perform.

A general explanation of the mechanics behind this problem might be helpful.

A horse needs to be able to balance itself and it's rider in an optimum way and maintain this optimum balance, staying physically organized and controlled, to perform a nice lope departure and to maintain a nice, controlled, slow lope.

A horse's center of balance is, in general, directly over their withers, or just a smidge behind the withers. When a horse needs to perform a balanced collected gait such as a slow lope, the horse must elevate the withers
(shoulders), round the back, bring the haunches more under itself which brings the hocks more under itself and allows the rear end of the horse to support the weight of the horse and rider, lightening the shoulders and front end. This allows the horse to feel light and maneuverable.

As a horse picks up speed, this point moves forwards. This is why race jockeys move so far up the horse's neck, and why a rider closes the hip angle when asking for more speed, so that the rider stays in balance with the horse's center of balance

When a horse loses it's balance, however, it will lose it "towards the front" and they fall on the forehand, in effect, making the forehand lower and heavier than the haunches. A horse will lose it's balance at the canter, be unable to perform an organized and balanced lope depart, be unable to turn correctly, ect, because it, quite literally, does not have the strength to support itself--pick it's own weight up, let alone support the rider, too.

The horse is also unbalanced and on the forehand at the walk and trot, but because of the slower speed and the way the horse's legs work together at the walk and the trot, it is not as noticeable, particularly from the saddle because they have not yet created so much forward momentum.

When traveling at faster than a walk or gentle trot, though, and they lose their balance, their forward momentum will get away from them, they will not be able to control it, and they will have a tendency to speed up, trying to get back "under" their center of balance. This swiftly attains the infamous "snowball" effect of the horse going faster and trying to "scoop under" it's center of balance (remember, the forehand is too low), thus losing it's balance more, and the effect of this is that the horse is out of control at that gait and cannot turn or even stop very well. To turn, they end up pivoting on the front end, and to stop, the rider often feels like they are personally dragging a train to a stop or else feels like they are going to fly over the horse's head as it stops.

This sort of situation is far different, and the horse travels differently and feels differently to the rider, than the horse galloping at speed WITHIN balance. A horse that is sufficiently trained and physically fit can be quite balanced at a gallop, but even still, sharp turns, high jumps, and other acts requiring extreme balance cannot be accomplished very well at high speeds.

Raising the withers/shoulders and bringing the haunches/hocks in more under the belly of the horse allows the horse to maintain a very high degree of balance and control of its own body and its rider's weight, which in turn is what allows it to keep that slow and rhythmic lope.

The only way to fix this problem is to take as much time as needed to develop the horse's topline muscles and abdomen muscles so that they have the necessary strength to do what you are asking. As the musculature gets more strength and is able to support the horse and rider properly, the horse will become more mentally calm and less anxious about performing a slow lope.   Muscle takes longer to get in shape than it does to lose strength, and your horse has been inactive for several years!  Like any athlete in training, it often takes months of consistent work to get to the point you are looking for.

At this point, it sounds like your horse is truly doing the best he can, the best he is CAPABLE of.  If you feel awkward riding this, you can imagine how awkward he is feeling while trying to go fast and support both himself and you, too. This awkwardness will make him very anxious and worried, and each time you ask him to do something he feels is going to make him fall, he will get more anxious and worried, which will in turn aggravate the problem by causing tension and stiffness. Your sitting down more puts you a bit behind his center of balance and encourages him to activate his hindquarters and allows him to lighten his forehand. This has the tendency to help him eventually find some semblance of balance as he "coasts" slower and slower. But as you've realized, it can only do so much.

When you say that he is "almost too good at stopping," I have the feeling what you mean is it feels like he is slamming to a sudden stop. When a horse is off-balance and they stop like this, they are stopping by jamming their front legs into the ground because their front end is already lower and heavier than their back end. This may get them stopped quickly, but it creates the same effect as if a bike rider who was coasting down a slope suddenly slammed on only the bike's FRONT brakes.

As you can see, there is plainly a "right" way and a "wrong" way to stop!

The running up into the canter by trotting faster and faster is also because of not having the strength or the experience to be able to pick up his front end's weight plus your weight by pushing strongly with the hindquarters up into the transition to make a nice transition, and so he "gets a running start" for it.

So, as you can see, all of this stems from a lack of muscle and experience on your horse's part. Even a very well trained horse, if it is very out -of-shape, will not be able to perform a collected lope or other balanced maneuver for more than a few steps.

Longeing with side reins at the walk and trot (please read my article on longeing to make sure that your horse is WORKING on the longeline!), longeing over cavelleties, slow and deliberate work up and down hills, working over uneven ground (trail riding), and lots of walk/trot/halt (and any combination thereof) transitions. At this point, I would focus on loping on the longeline and getting nice, balanced, organized transitions.  Work on developing a "lope cue" that your horse can recognize and understand what you want when you ask for it. I would suggest NOT asking for a lope under saddle on flat ground for a while.

While you are working on strengthening his muscles for loping on the flat, you CAN do some loping up hills every once in a while. Asking for a SLOW lope on an incline will automatically and naturally set and maintain both yours and your horse's balance by elevating the front end of the horse and forcing the horse to flex it's hocks more in order to move them forward as they go uphill as well as setting the weight back onto the haunches and forcing the horse to push more strongly with the haunches. You don't want to do this constantly, since you don't want the horse to become dependant on this "help," but done occasionally and along with the work mentioned in the above paragraph, it can greatly increase your horse's confidence in his ability to give you what you are asking for, allow you and him to practice the verbal "lope cue" as well as the leg cue while under saddle, and thus mentally prepare him for when he is physically capable of loping quietly, slowly and in a balanced manner on the flat.

Lastly, I would also suggest working on lateral flexion during the halt, walk and trot under saddle so as to increase his ability to give to the bit (which reduces tension) and increase his balance and agility.

As to your question about the hackamore, I would hesitate to use it much during schooling. I do not believe that one can work as efficiently as a bit for lateral flexion work and of course, you cannot use one with sidereins. However, if you want to play around with it some, I would imagine that would be fine.

Laura Martlock - 2004 (c)

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