How to get a horse to collect?
Answers:
with a baseball bat
It depends how well schooled the horse is but usually acheived by driving the horse forward onto the bit by applying pressure behind the girth and offering resistance through the reins to shorten the outline.
Think of it as a 'Go, but steady' command
You need to insert an object; collect what? Flies? Other horses? Riders? Kids? Idiotic questions on Yahoo?
it is all about acheiving the correct way of going before you ask the horse to collect. if you ask the horse to collect before the horse can work through from his hocks, with a relaxed swinging back, his weight on his hind quaters which then causes the horse to have correct head carriage (the muscles must be relaxed to acheive this) then you will end up with a horse that is on the forehand & probably behind the bit. Once your horse is working consistently on the bit then it is easy to start asking through collection, this is acheived through maintaining a consistant rein contact & using your weight aid through your seat to ask for collection. If you just pull on the reins to ask for collection your horse will come off the bit or the collection will become forced which defeats the object of the idea. Why don't you invest in some dressage lessons with a proper dressage trainer? You can not beat having someone on the ground as they will be able to see things that you might not be able to feel on top. A book you can buy on Amazon tha I find really useful is 'The Principles of Riding' published by the German National Equestrian Federation (lets face it, the Germans are the best in the world at Dressage!). Another book which may be easier for you to get to grips with if you are new to dressage is called 'Down to Earth Dressage' by Carl Hester
Enjoy training your horse! True collection takes a long time to acheive but feels fantastic when your horse is so soft in your hand with all that power underneath you.
I'd recomend you get some dressage training manuals, and go for some lessons with your horse to a dressage trainer. Nothing will help you learn faster than a trainer!
Learn how to half halt, its an essential movement for changing pace and will also help your horse to stay flexible and on the bit.
Basically you give an aid by tilting your seat, you squeeze the bit on alternate sides and gently push on with your legs. The alternate "squeezing sponges" motion with your hands helps to avoid him getting a hard or rigid mouth, you are driving him on and at the same time holding the energy back.
But he also needs to be well balanced before you start.
I've had the same problem, still sorta do.
Dressage trainer - great idea, but where I live, the majority of the population has no idea that dressage is a word. There are none. So, in that case, I work with my trainer. She's great for beginners - western. no farther. there's no one else that's easily reached. Anyway, I use the slight pressure on the reins, maybe A BIT of sawing. If the horse doesn't collect himself, apply a little more. When they drop their head and are collected, immediately release pressure. If you're like me and have a barely intermediate rider and a horse who is fine until it comes to collecting, you may want to try a martingale, or even better, pulley reins. However, use these with a trainer's supervision first. Martingales sorta worked for me, pulley reins REALLY WORK. I find a great place to order them is www.statelinetack.com. Remember to use them with a trainer's help, and also, as I've learned, some horses really aren't physically designed to be perfectly collected - it just isn't gonna happen. That is the case with me, and I urge you to do the best you can with your horse, but by no means, don't expect perfection when your horse is not made for it.
Well, I've had the same thing with my 4 y/o lately. First, I lunge her in full western tack, withe the reins running through the side rings of the cinch, and I tie them over the top of the saddle. Make them tight enough that the horse is right on the verticle.
Lunge them at walk, trot, and canter. They'll soon realize that the more they pull ,the harder they get pulled on, so they'll learn to give on their forehand.
Once they give on their forehand while lunging, mount up and ride them. If they start to stretch out their neck and ger lazy with their carriage, apply pressure to the bit to tell them to lift their shoulder. Now that the horse is working on the bit well, start asking for more with your legs. The key is to get more movement from the hind end, while keeping the front end rounded and light.
This is more for english and dressage than for western, though it may work with a reining horse. This is the method I started using 4 days ago with my morgan, and for her it works like a charm. Good luck!
I guess everyone has a different way but I had a really lazy cob.. I loved him to peices but I am sure he was alseep or eatting most of the time..
I used a double snaffel bit with a single set of reins on the bit ring and a lunge rope length strap from the hands though the lower ring round the girth under the frount legs and back to the bit and hands. It lowered his massively thick kneck and helped to promote a better line. Then as told in other posts. Push him forward with your legs and seat and restrain the forward speed with the hands gently.. This will produce more power. Try placing trotting poles on the ground at a good distance to incourage him to lenghten his stride. Transitions from walk to halt. halt to trot and so on will also help to get his back end under him.. Circles seem to be difficult for me as he was not that flexi (Or did not want to be) But I have been told decreasing and increaseing circles in both directions also help.. Hope this helps Good luck.
do you mean collected canter? cos that's dead easy, you just slow the pace right down.
A lot depends on your level of training and that of the horse. Does he know what you are asking of him? I ride primarily western, and those in my barn will collect if I hold slight pressure on the bit, apply mild leg pressure to both sides equally to help lift the belly and to push them into the bit. This helps them to round the back, get the hocks under them and to drive from the back end. Not pull themselves with the front legs. Creates a much prettier picture than being flat-backed and strung out.
Happy trails.
Please dont listen to the other suggestions--find a trainer. I show high level dressage and it kills me to watch all the lovely little western trainers tie their horses heads to the saddles. I swear, it doesnt matter how you word your suggestions, all of them are the same "Tie their head to something solid until they give in". I will soon have my bronze medal for people that understand some dressage terms, and I have never used any of these methods although I have to sit and watch them all over the place. I own an arabian for saddleseat, that was trained in exactly the same ways as above, and he has broken bones and a nose to prove it. True, he did get shown once in western, but they had to drug him. Now, he is an amazing horse that I trained with no devices and I swear, if you dont know how to achieve collection, go to a trainer and ride one of their trained horses. Once you know the feeling you are after, you can transfer it to your horse and know what is right and wrong. I have trained a ton of horses, and my barn is full of an Andalusian that attacked people, a paso fino that couldnt function, a young trakehner, and the arabian, and they have all suffered at the hands of force. If broken bones will achieve your goals of "collection", if the western people can call peanut rolling that, than by all means, ruin your horse. Collection cannot be achieved without first being able to move forward confidently; you cannot just pull their head in and expect them to know how to push into the bridle and round up their neck. When I show at lower level 4H shows it kills me to see all the "collection", which in the western classes merely means going slowly; and actually I just got back from one of these shows. Although I do well, so do some of the people who have no idea whats going on, and I fear this fuels my previous rant.
Why not collect yourself
Collection is simple, and not that hard to acheive with consistency. The other answers are making it way too complicated.
Try this:
Step 1
Teach your horse to give to pressure laterally, meaning side to side. Stand by your horses side, hold on to the saddle with one hand, and the lead with the other. Bring the horses nose around to you, as soon as his feet stop moving and he tips his nose up to relieve the pressure, drop the rope. Do this both sides every day, before you get on. Once he is bringing his nose around to you with lightness, you can do it from the saddle. Same thing, bring his nose to your knee and wait for his feet to stop moving, and for him to tip his nose to relieve the pressure and drop the rein.
Step 2
Now that you have him giving to the bit, and flexing his neck, you need to get the rest of him flexable. Now bend him around like you did in step one, but this time, put your heel on his side and press, (I like to make a kissing noise to hurry things up). Keep him in the bend with your leg on his side, until he steps his hind quarters over. Do this on both sides until you got him crossing over his hind.
Step 3
Now that you have his entire body flexing laterally, you can work on verticle flexion- which leads/aids acheiving collection.
What you need to do now is trot in a small circle, as you are circling, ask for a bend (like you did in step 1) only not all the way. As soon as he tips his nose down and slightly to the side, give him a release of pressure. He may slow up a bit. (this is the mysterious half halt, they talk about in dressage). Keep him moving forward and go the other direction and repeat.
When you got it, it will feel like you raise up an inch or two, and your horse will round out and get smooth and floaty. When you are good at the trot you can do the same thing at a lope.
If the horse gets stiff and leans on the bit, got back to step 2 or even one and start over. The better you get at being consistant the better your horse will give to the bit and collect up for you. If you are western, you can do the same thing on a loose rein with practice.
Always remember, horses learn on a release of pressure, and lateral flexion leads to verticle flexion which leads to collection.
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