EWE Necked

[sherigraf]

So how do you teach a horse to carry his head lower? Say you have an ex-roping horse that carries his head and neck all wrong and you want to get him to relax and drop the head a tad. Where do you start?

[Tockita]

I ground drove with the long lines thru the stirrups. (strap the stirrups to each other under the belly and you get the added benefit of outside pressure when you pul on the inside rein)

I've also seen "cowboy" trainers teach the horse that when they wiggle the reins (tug alternate sides) to lower their head by releasing all pressure as soon as the horse pulls away from it.

[sassiedogtk]

I've also seen "cowboy" trainers teach the horse that when they wiggle the reins (tug alternate sides) to lower their head by releasing all pressure as soon as the horse pulls away from it. [/quote]

Thats what I have done with one of our geldings. He was a ranch gelding and always had his nose stuck out, so I started with just a little pressure and wiggle the reins back and fourth and when he just gave a little I would release the reins. Also try flexing from side to side and wait till they give, even if it is little. Start small. Now our guy has a nice level head and keeps his nose in. It takes some time but it worked for me.

[countrygirl]

There are a couple of exercises you can do. The first one is to start by using one rein. You pick up a rein, lightly take out the slack, and hold it until the horse drops its head. At first the horse will raise it's head and try whatever he needs to do to get the pressure to go away. Dont let go of the rein or release the pressure. At some point in their attempt to come up with the right answer, the horse will drop its head. At that point you instantly drop the rein and release the pressure. Horses learn from the release of pressure. It won't take long for the horse to learn that whenever it feels pressure on a rein, it needs to drop its head. John Lyons calls this the calm down cue.

Another exercise you can do from the ground is with the leadrope and a rope halter. (You can teach it to the horse from the ground first and then tranfer it to the rein from their back later). From the ground ask the horse to flex its head around and touch its side. Pick up the leadrope about 12 to 18inches from the snap and move your hand to the horses withers and hold it there. Essentially you are taking the slack out of the rope but not pulling the horses head around. The horse will move its head around trying to figure out how to release the pressure. When the horse flexes its head to the side instantly drop the leadrope. Wait about 10 seconds and do it again. The horse learns to flex its head with pressure. Once it learns to flex laterally (flex to the side) , it is very easy to teach it to flex vertically (drop it head). Again the key is the timing of the release of pressure. If you release the second the horse gets the right answer, it will learn that is what you want.

[crum]

Ground driving is an excellent way to start his retraining. Cavaletti work can be used to encourage him to lengthen his frame and balance himself properly. Work on serpentines to help him improve his response to your aids and his balance and suppleness. There are some other more advanced exercises as well but these should be a good start. It can really take time to see improvement as the muscles need to redevelop. Of course PROPERLY performing these exercises is the key to improvement. Most importantly when performing these is to incorporate all of the aids and not to just use the rein aids. What you really want to do is get him moving forward in a soft, rounded frame with impulsion from the rear end.

I'm typing impaired for the next few weeks so perhaps someone else on here can provide all the additional information on how to use these to help.

[crum]

How is the work going?