[miss_aria]

I went to a clinic this weekend and the clinician told me that my horse needed to be more rounded and supple. She said Booker needed to search for the bit more. Are there any tips you could give me for this problem? thanks!

[Just_me]

If you get him more supple the problem might be fixed automatically.
Start with simple bending exercises on a circle.Bend him to the left and to the right in both directions.Then you do the same thing on the rail.
Do spiraling in and out,some serpentines,figure 8,and transitions.
He should be flexible like rubber in the end.
Then drive him forward and let him seek the contact.If you don't get the results you want try some cavalettis.
Put 3 cavalettis or ground poles in a line,3.4-4ft apart.Drive him forward,have a regular rythm and pace.The cavalettis will,hopefully,help him to use the hindend better and get him rounder.

[PoochtheMighty]

Just Me listed very helpful excercises.

I definitely suggest working with a trainer on this; it is so easy to teach a horse to evade contact and it is SO helpful to have a pair of knowledgeable eyes on the ground to tell you "okay here he is counterflexed" or "here he is behind the vertical"

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by miss_aria

I went to a clinic this weekend and the clinician told me that my horse needed to be more rounded and supple. She said Booker needed to search for the bit more.

Did she say anything about his willingness too, or lack of going forward? Without forward, you cannot get round. Without supple you can't get forward OR round. But you also need to get some sort of forward going so you can work on supple. It's a bit of a catch 22, but it works You sort of just have to work on them together.

How easily will he do carrot stretches from the ground? Can you ask him to bring his nose to your knee under saddle? Carrot stretches on the ground should be done with the head remaining vertical at all times for the most benefit. The inability, or unwillingness for the horse to do so is usually a sign that something is out in his neck, or that he has muscle knots, all of which are counterproductive to supple.

[miss_aria]

Originally Posted by JBandRio

Did she say anything about his willingness too, or lack of going forward? Without forward, you cannot get round. Without supple you can't get forward OR round. But you also need to get some sort of forward going so you can work on supple. It's a bit of a catch 22, but it works You sort of just have to work on them together.

How easily will he do carrot stretches from the ground? Can you ask him to bring his nose to your knee under saddle? Carrot stretches on the ground should be done with the head remaining vertical at all times for the most benefit. The inability, or unwillingness for the horse to do so is usually a sign that something is out in his neck, or that he has muscle knots, all of which are counterproductive to supple.

No. If anything he was going alittle too forward. I can get him to bend his neck from boot to boot and he does it fine when we're standing/walking. He looks as if he's using his hindquarters as he is tracking up (attatched are some pictures) but she said he was still hollow.

[PoochtheMighty]

I didn't see the pictures... :?

There is a difference between forward and fast. JB is right- you need forward energy to acheive roundness, as well as suppleness.

Tracking up is good, however, horses who are on the forehand track up, and horses who are extremely collected are not.

So it could be that your horse is 'tracking up', but without a place for that energy to go, she's just plowing around with her weight in her front half, not truly using her back (which would explain the comment that she is hollow) or carrying herself.

[miss_aria]

[JBandRio]

His legs are moving, but he is not forward. He's on his forehand. If you were to ask for a halt or walk right out of that trot, he'd fall on his face, or throw his head up and slam to a halt, or the latter followed by the former. If he goes into the canter from this trot, it will be an unbalanced canter, and on his forehand.

He is bracing underneath, so that's the first thing you have to unlock. He may be a very supple horse underneath all this, but until he softens and listens to your hand instead of resisting it, you won't get anywhere. So, try this - every time he braces like that, do a SOFT 1-rein stop. Practice that at the halt, then at the walk first. When you do this, you do not ever ever let go of the rein until he is giving his head to you. You can pull his head around until he stops, but that's just perpetuating the bracing. If he's giving his head, he's not bracing. Do one side, try trotting again, do the other side if/when he braces. Just sit softly into your seat, breath a long sigh out, stay very soft in your seat and hands, and ask him to bend to a stop. He has to learn what it's like to get the tension out before you can work with anything.

Also, if you're just going 'round and 'round the ring - don't Do any pattern - circle, 2 connected circles to make a "sharp" figure 8, do lazy figure 8's, serpentines both shallow and deep (deep ones are when you make more than 1/2 a circle before changing direction), and keep changing things up. It's hard to stay braced when you're constantly changing direction, so that will sort of force him to react by himself instead of you having to ask all the time.

[miss_aria]

I'll try it. thank you very much!