Head Down??

11-03-2010, 01:17 PM

Hey stockies,
when riding my mare in her paddock she will go along trotting then she will kinda put her head down,and start moving faster.When riding her in the arena yesterday,she didnt do it at all.

She is an ex pacer,being retrained,can trot properly.
ground in the paddock, is semi hard, arena boggy sand.
hooves are picked out, doesnt wear shoes.

any ideas why she may do this?

lex · 11-03-2010, 01:32 PM

not sure why you'd want to ride her in her paddock? but anyways, all part of the retraining

its perfectly normal for her to do that and she will eventually grow out of it with training , give her alot of rein, let her know its alright to trot and canter. They're trained to run into pressure so she sounds like shes on the forehand and running into your hands, use your seat more and lay off the reins for now

Heifer · 11-03-2010, 01:38 PM

are you getting lessons?

Heifer · 11-03-2010, 03:06 PM

plenty of people will instruct in paddocks, you just ride around in a section of the paddock about the size of an arena (mark it off or just dont go too far).
I think its much easier to learn why the horse is doing something, whether it needs correcting, and how to correct it when someone is actually there on the ground watching and giving immediate feedback.

Head right down and tucked in can be very dangerous in terms of tripping risks, but head down in a relaxed manner and stretching the back etc can be good - so it really depends exactly what she's doing, and who better than an experienced instructor to give you a hand

domingo · 11-03-2010, 03:27 PM

I will be watching this space

My ex-pacer does the same thing. Head right down to the ground (but not tucked in).

Heifer · 11-03-2010, 03:35 PM

could it be back pain/stretching related? maybe just enjoying the lack of bearing rein!!!

tarz · 11-03-2010, 04:10 PM

Kate the bush behind your paddock has quite open areas in it maybe have a look out there for somewhere to ride while the arenas built. The arena ATM is impossible to ride in, far too boggy and No point as can only ride in the one area at the moment, as for putting her head down and leaning/rushing, it sounds like she may be unbalanced? Riding in your paddock isn't really ideal either as there are too many trees/bushs you would need to avoid. The arena will he built soon but maybe in the mean time you could float them to darling downs and use those arenas? But I'd check out the bush area out the back first, there is a gate to it on the property

11-03-2010, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarz

Kate the bush behind your paddock has quite open areas in it maybe have a look out there for somewhere to ride while the arenas built. But I'd check out the bush area out the back first, there is a gate to it on the property

Not anymore

they put a padlock on it.

11-03-2010, 04:27 PM

sorry, accidentally deleted my post from before?? lol

The arena was being rebuilt/extended hence the reason i couldnt ride in there.
I just dont understand as shes never ever done it before, and ive had her amost a year.
Heifer, i am getting lessons with jayne lavender, but havent lately as there is no arena to get lessons in, and she would have to run after me in the paddock, if she wanted to instruct lol, as there are loads of trees.