Tips to help wind down. Young horse?

marley123

Looking for tips to help a young horse be " less wound up" when riding - at moment takes about 20 mins before she starts to settle - I am well aware its because of her age but maybe someone here has some tips... Plenty of Circles seems to settle her but wondering if anyone can suggest further exercises?

Angelmangle

Cut right back on the hard feed and make sure she has plenty of turnout so that she can practise her "airs above the ground" without you on her back!

Thats young horses though I'm afraid :rolleyes:

Also beware of over lunging her at this stage as you will just increase her fitness and that could cause more problems if she is already fizzy.

Esroh

Marley
+ 1 on what Angle says.

If you have an arena/small paddock let her out for a while prior to riding her.
We let the fizzy ones out while we mucking out just to let off a bit of steam. It will surprise you how quickly she will learn that the timeout is for her to blow off the cobwebs.

Angelmangle

If you are looking for exercises to do under saddle than anything to get her concentrating i.e. lots of transitions, trotting poles, poles placed randomly around the arena to trot or canter over.

Get her working properly so that her mind is on that and not on the next possible thing she could spook at. Same goes for when you are hacking, make her work and listen to you, move away from your leg etc, bending correctly - that kinda stuff will all help.

Valentina

I'd echo Angelmangle and also recommend lots of flatwork exercises like serpentines, lots of change of rein, 20m circle spiralling to 10m and then back out again. Figure 8s are a good one too. You can vary the size and introduce transitions to help keep her focused and bending smoothly. Try make her work through her paces too - collected trot, extended trot and so on as well as halt to trot, halt to canter. If you know any dressage moves you could try teach her those too to vary things for her and really get her thinking.

silverfox88

Agree with all of the above!! Also Ive found with my guy that because he's young and green and unbalanced AS WELL as being very forward going that I have been holding him up too much and keeping too strong a contact in expectation of him flying around the place. However, today I took him for a walk down the road to warm up and then back into the arena. I deliberately lightened my rein contact and when he started to rush let him rush on for a few strides and then really gently gathered him back up again, being really encouraging with voice and leg aids. By the time we got to canter, which is normally diabolical, he was lighter in my hand and working off his hindquarters and feeling much nicer and steadier, and a lot more relaxed. It seems like it was staring me in the face for the last couple of weeks which have been awful with me battling him and him getting tense and stronger and faster as a result!

marley123

Your guy sounds similar to my mare ,thanks for the advice:) need to get her her hacking soon to chill her out before exercising her

silverfox88 wrote: »

Agree with all of the above!! Also Ive found with my guy that because he's young and green and unbalanced AS WELL as being very forward going that I have been holding him up too much and keeping too strong a contact in expectation of him flying around the place. However, today I took him for a walk down the road to warm up and then back into the arena. I deliberately lightened my rein contact and when he started to rush let him rush on for a few strides and then really gently gathered him back up again, being really encouraging with voice and leg aids. By the time we got to canter, which is normally diabolical, he was lighter in my hand and working off his hindquarters and feeling much nicer and steadier, and a lot more relaxed. It seems like it was staring me in the face for the last couple of weeks which have been awful with me battling him and him getting tense and stronger and faster as a result!

marley123

We have this problem 100 percent sorted! 15 mins of free schooling, unbelievable something so simple could make such a difference! Have never seen my mare so quiet and focused before:)

marley123 wrote: »

Your guy sounds similar to my mare ,thanks for the advice:) need to get her her hacking soon to chill her out before exercising her

silverfox88 wrote: »

Agree with all of the above!! Also Ive found with my guy that because he's young and green and unbalanced AS WELL as being very forward going that I have been holding him up too much and keeping too strong a contact in expectation of him flying around the place. However, today I took him for a walk down the road to warm up and then back into the arena. I deliberately lightened my rein contact and when he started to rush let him rush on for a few strides and then really gently gathered him back up again, being really encouraging with voice and leg aids. By the time we got to canter, which is normally diabolical, he was lighter in my hand and working off his hindquarters and feeling much nicer and steadier, and a lot more relaxed. It seems like it was staring me in the face for the last couple of weeks which have been awful with me battling him and him getting tense and stronger and faster as a result!