Heavy on the Forehand!!!?

Question

ok, so my horse is very sweet and i love her, but she has this habit of when we are flatting and she is tired, she leans on my hands, and when we jump, she does the same thing and sticks her head between her legs. not only does this not look prettuy, i think its also kind of dangerous, for the jumping anyway... does anyone have any tips on how to stop her from leaning on me??? another thing is that she is still a little green, so she may not understand everything, so i have to be very clear with my requests. (i've added a website that has a picture of her jumping with her head way down)

https://equineeyephotography.sslpowered.com/equineeyephotography.com/Proofs/LHAJULY2007/Green/HTML/lha_green_150707_1473.htm

Answer 1

To be perfectly honest she doesn't look like a natural jumper. She possibly requires more hill/fitness work to get her strength up and develop more.

When you are schooling her (flatwork) when she starts to feel heavy you should do a downward transition then go forward again. She will learn not to lean by doing this but you have to be consistant with doing this and not let her lean.

Get her really fit and strong and the jumping will get better

Answer 2

I suspect the solution to your problem is fairly simple, but will take consistent work. I suspect you are using more hand than leg (most of us do!) so your horse is able to flatten and get on her forehand. Many horses will do this regularily, and most do get worse when they're tired and lazy.

The key to solving the problem is to increase your hand pressure when she pushs down with her head, but at the same time increase your leg pressure. You will need to push her firm enough with both legs that she will positively feel it, and lift her back properly. When her back lifts, she will be able to swing her shoulder properly, use her back legs properly, and no longer be so top heavy. As you are a young rider you probably will need a spur to achieve this, but try first without spurs to see how it goes.

Teaching your horse how to get off the forehand is done exactly the same way you teach them to headset. You actually should apply steady leg pressure at the same time you increase pressure with the reins. You'll know you're using too much leg if your horse speeds up too much, or scoots forward repeatedly (Don't be surprised if she acts uncomfortable and fast at the very beginning, it takes time for them to learn that steady leg pressure does not necessarily mean to speed up) If she gets too slow or too low or too flat you know you need more leg and perhaps slightly less hand.

Does this make sense?

The key to training anything, including this, is to give your horse prompt relief when she does what you ask. So if your horse is moving flat, you need to apply more hand and more leg, but as soon as she moves properly, then you must slightly relax both the hand and leg pressure. Don't take it off altogether, but there must be some relief as her reward.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to haul your mare to a good trainer a few times, and get them to show you these excercises in person. Lessons cost money, but you can then apply what you learn to every horse you ride. Good luck. You look like a nice pair, and I suspect once you solve this your riding will move up a notch or two quickly.

Answer 3

you need to work more on transitions. Go from walk to trot to walk to canter. Make sure they are short and she doesn't expect it. Try counting to four in your mind ( not out load) and then asking for the transition. Sit deeper in the saddle, make sure you are not putting weight on your hands. Shorten your reins. Lunging her with side reins for about a half hour ( fifteen minutes) each direction should also help. The most important thing to do is use your leg, and make sure you are moving forward. Make her do a faster trot, it forces her to pick her head up.

As for the jumping, that is very dangerous, but maybe the jumps aren't high enough. the higher the jump the more they have to pull their legs up and their heads up!

I'd also work her ( on a lunge line or have someone lunge her while you're riding) over raised caveletti(SP)! That will help also!

Answer 4

Her head doesn't look too far down, however, you can tell by that picture that the horse goes around lazy. Heavy on the forehand can be a bad habit from poor riding/training, or enforced through riding a horse heavy on the forehand, or can be from just plain laziness.



I look at that picture and the horse's head doesn't concern me. However, she is pushing unevenly, and jumping the rail by just using her left hind leg. She doesn't look forward or enthusiastic, and her front legs are just half-heartedly making their way over the jump.



Regardless of the size fence you jump, or even if you don't jump at all, a horse should always be encourage to use its hind end - it will help infulence everything that you do with the horse. And regardless of the start of the reasons for being on their forehand, the end product is a horse that isn't developed enough in the hind end to get off the forehand. So a bad habit soon turns in to physical inability.



Hill work and half halting are great way to get the horse off the forehand. However, my personal favorite is to do a ton of transitions, and since you jump, I would also do a lot of gymnastics with her.



I had a horse once, a belgian QH cross - he was 15.3 hands, but drafty built, and he had very very large feet. He was clumsy, a little lazy, and he was soooooo heavy on his forehand that he would forge (hit his front heel with his back toes), and even trip himself - he actually fell down one time because he tripped sooooo bad.



Once I found the right trainer to work with me & him, we were encourage to do plenty of transitions - plenty-plenty-plenty. In specific, walk or trot or even canter to a halt to a back to a trot again helped a TON. But twice a week "transition" sessions helped soooo much. Get creative. You can do walk-trot-walk, walk-halt-trot...anything...any combination.



Use in moderation, and have a plan for developing your horse's hind end and ability to lighten up the front end. Do not push the canter gait too much at this beginning stage of working on transitions. Give that a few weeks until the horse gets stronger.



It took my clutzy horse 2 months, and we were able to do halt-canter departs, and in another month, before I even realized it - we could canter nearly in place. It was my first introduction to dressage, and I didn't even know it. I pursued dressage from there and realized how much the training recieved in that discipline affects everything you do with your horse.

Answer 5

My 12 yr. old QH gelding is the same way exactly! He starts out perfect, but by the time we get around to jumping, he is so heavy on the forehand that he will jump a line then bolt and pull on me so hard until I can hardly stop him. It's horrible, but like a week ago when I found out exactly what I was doing wrong!!!! I was so ecstatic when I found out how to fix it (for the most part)! You have to bend your horse a ton. And whenever he started pulling, I pull his head up, and bend with me legs and I pull my inside reign against his neck almost to the other side where it would overlap with the other rein. Have you already tried bending her? Also, if you jump a line, then go straight to the rail without turning and stop like one long line from start to finish. That helps them to stop pulling after you jump a line or equ. turn or w/e. I hope I helped!!!

Answer 6

I've looked at your photo and you are correct she is heavy on your hands so I can expect that when she is being ridden she is heavy also on the reins. Perhaps changing your position of your seat will help correct that and also using half halts aka checks (light bumps with your hands) to help move her off the bit and leaning on the reins. Try sitting just a little deeper in the saddle, moving your shoulders back a touch so that the connection with the bit through your reins is varied a bit. Give this a try and I hope it helps. Keep with it....she is a lovely gal.

Answer 7

Transitions, transitions, transitions. I ride a horse who is alright, not dangerously heavy like yours seems, but he leans on my hands at times. After doing a bunch of walk/trot/walk halt/trot/halt canter/walk canter/halt exercises he is so much better. You won't believe the difference. So do those, halt if she gets too heavy and back her up with her head up, then go forward again. Lift her head constantly, do a lot of half-halting to get her head up. It's going to take time, though with the transitions you can see a pretty quick difference, if only some minor ones.

Answer 8

I have a mare that took me three months to get off her forehand cause she was down on it so bad,but when I did get her off it helped 100%.Try picking her head up,bring you hands up a little higher then usual and keep in mind it WILL NOT look pretty!This will get her off the forehand and allow her to engage her rear end,the key to any type of riding.While your holding her head up,use your leg to get the power you need from her hind legs.Once you feel her soften,give her a release as a reward so she knows what she did was correct.If she falls on the foreheand again,repeat what you just did.A few other things you can try is simple bending from side to side right when you get on,small circles at the walk and trot,and lots and lots of flexing!Roll backs are used in reining,but they do wonders to get a horse off the forehand,you can do these at the walk,trot and canter.When stopping make sure she is collected and not flinging her head,this indicates she is on the forehand.Do a turn to the outside then make her right away pick up the gait you are requesting.The key to engaging the rear end in roll backs is making sure that they are reacting withing seconds of what you ask,not taking their good old time.Stopping and backing often will also help her get off her front and engage her haunches.Best of luck,hope this helped!

Answer 9

You look a little big for her but maybe it's the angle - either way her head doesn't look WAY down, I think the proportion in size just makes it look a little off.

If she's heavy on her forehand you need to rider her seat to hand and bring her back up under herself by riding her uphill - half-halting through the outside to keep her shoulder up and blocking her inside shoulder from falling in.