At 13:58:30 on 23.08.10, odgy89 wrote:
hi firstly im new to this site and wanted to say hi! also i just purchased a horse about 3 months ago but havent done much as its winter and too wet and windy to ride on my days off. i have a couple of problems that i have noticed. 1) my horse Vaydar falls in when doing circle work and i cannot think how to fix this. 2) he also become disunited in the canter after about 5 strides when doing circle work. i mainly do large circles but this doesnt help. 3) he will go on the bit but not work from behind and i have tried to get him working but i think he is being lazy. PLEASE HELP i want to start competing (just small events) and i want to work on these issues

At 14:08:33 on 24.08.10, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
Falling in and being unbalanced to me suggests his muscles are not developped for the job you are asking him. I would scrap canter for now apart from in short bursts in straight lines and work in trot to sort out his outline problems and his muscle. With circles try not to bend him too much but let him find himself before you ride circles, you can do this with lungeing 10mins on each rein walk and trot. Don't use no side reins or anything just let him get himself round the circle without falling in. Next mount up but since he is on the forehand slightly don't take up much of a contact but keep him circling half the school pushing him on with your calves until he rounds up engaging his hindquarters, don't give up keep at him no matter how long it takes! Now do the same in trot on the other rein and once he is working nicely take him off the circle as a reward but keep squeezing him so he knows to stay in an outline. Hope this helps :) good luck

At 15:41:35 on 24.08.10, kibby wrote:
lots of inside leg.. until your calves are burning.. you know if you are using enough if you it is tiring (i know i am using enough if i want to kill my coach when he says more inside leg.. lol) Next time you ride him, test whether he is worse for it in one direction or the other and let me know.. good luck.. You'd be surprised how common this problem is.. I know i do..

At 12:57:48 on 31.08.10, LadyJennivieve wrote:
Kibby, I know exactly what you mean. It seems that I ride at my best when I'm wanting to kill my instructor because my leg musles are burning or my core muscles are tired. It's when I stop fighting myself that I improve and I find the easiest way to do it.

At 14:33:26 on 31.08.10, kibby wrote:
I have once been in tears in a lesson.. My first lesson on my mare.. core muscles felt worse then anything i ever felt before.. lol..