2 reschooling questions

Question
QUESTION: Hi there. I have a couple of questions you may be able to help with regarding reschooling a couple horses, okay, 1 pony, 1 horse. Leo-15h 9yo Paint(solid Chestnut, 4 socks and a blaze) built to jump, moves like a dressage horse. Really neat personality...lot's of potential. BUT sometimes i find myself at a loss with where to begin with him under saddle. He's broke, but I would say pretty inconsistently, from what I know he was home raised by a teenager. I don't know too much about his background.He has the kind of Sensitive, curious kind of high maintenance personality I have often noticed in horses I have owned that are very talented, much like a prima ballerina. When he came he was overweight and hadn't been ridden in about a year. He had previously been ridden in a grazing bit and I am trying to figure out the best way to transition him to a snaffle. he hated the full cheek and could not quit messing with it long enough for us to accomplish anything, switched him to a copper mouth eggbut which he has chewed to pieces...any thoughts? I know this is a lot of info, but I grew up riding and working in barns and now live in the middle of nowhere and its just me, so the isolation from other horse people gets to me after a while, not to mention my husband's(not a horse person, but learning) insistence that i move faster and " get something done" with the horses. Progress is not always fast or measurable to a non horse person. Let me know what you think.. I guess I will leave the pony question for later unless you're ready for it now... Thanks in advance for your help....Elizabeth

ANSWER: Hello Elizabeth,

I was strongly tempted to send the reply that I can't answer this question because this situation is definitely one that needs a qualified instructor on the But you really need to take your horse to a qualified trainer or have one come to your place at least once a month to help you get started and give you homework assignments...things to work on in the correct sequence.  You see, it is a very difficult thing you are attempting to do alone, with little formal training. Many people who have been around horses and have ridden all their lives do not know how to train for a specific discipline. You have to develop yourself before you can develop the horse.

First you need to decide what you want to do with the horse. Jump? Dressage? Trail? Combined training?  And here I cannot help because I can't see the horse move or work.  You have to make the choice, then get several books by the masters on whichever discipline you choose.  A good book for beginning is "The Complete Training of Horse and Rider" by Alois Podhasky.  Read it from cover to cover before you begin.  And if you follow the instructions religiously, not forcing or trying to make training fast, you can succeed to a point.

I don't know what your husband means by "progress" but with horses, it does not come fast.  Podhasky's motto is "Make Haste Slowly."

I have never heard of a Grazing bit.  Make sure the full cheek snaffle is set in his mouth correctly or it will drive him crazy. That sounds like what is happening.  When the bit is set in his mouth a snaffle should show two small wrinkles at the corners of his mouth.  If there are none, or only one, the bit is too low.  If there are three...bit is too high.

I wish you the best of luck.

Happy riding,
Dorothy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Dorothy, and thank you for the well thought out answer. I actually do have 2 of Mr. Podhajsky's wonderful books, as well as some good ones by Bertelan DeNemethy, La Gueriniere and other old Master's, and more modern ones, Reiner Klimke,George Morris etc...even John Lyons. I guess I have been frustrated that the books tend to focus on developing the young horse and not much dedicated to reschooling. Granted, Leo seems to have some major gaps in his education, so starting from scratch is not a bad idea. I rode him today with much success. He did mess with the bit for a while( it is fitted properly, I forgot to mention that yesterday) Wanted to let you know that a Grazing bit is the standard long shank, low port, solid mouthpiece western bit that generally comes on a cheap nylon western bridle---Hate them. I guess I should have given you a little more background on myself before posing the question. For all you know I could be a 14 year old barrel racer right? I am 34 years old, around horses my whole life, riding since age 5, predominantly hunter/jumper with very solid foundation from an old cavalry instructor. Schooled /reschooled hunter ponies for kiddos in my youth since I'm only 5 foot tall, moved up to jumpers, retrained off the track thoroughbreds for a while, learned barrel racing, played polocrosse for a while and did some very basic eventing, taught beginner and intermediate lessons english and western. I think my frustration comes from isolation. I am used to being in a position of training/reschooling horses in a stable setting where there are eyes on the ground, measurable progress and different points of view. I think Leo would make an excellent hunter. I would have to take him somewhere to assess his potential for dressage. PHEW...that was a couple mouth fulls huh? Well....should i fire the pony question at you now?

Answer
Hello Elizabeth,

It is easy to speak Greek to a person who knows Greek!  LOLOL

I knew you were not 14 because of the husband, but did not have the full background.  Now we can talk turkey.

Yep, you have to begin at the beginning.  It is absolutely necessary to know that each and every stage in training has been mastered before going to the next.  Otherwise, you will be building on an unsound foundation.  It is sometimes easier to train a young horse than retrain an older one.  But, there you are.....

At this stage, get Charles de Kunffy's "The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse".  It is full of good stuff for ground work. I treasure DeNemethy for jumping. And for the gymnastics for dressage.

In the training scale you will work first for Steady Rhythm, then Suppleness, then Connection-Balance-Throughness, then Impulsion and these will bring Lightness.  Lots of devoted work.  But you can do it alone if you are strict with yourself and do not skip one single item on the scale.   It will help if you have a jump crew for the grids and gymnastics.

I am in the same situation right now. My daughter, whom I always worked with, is in WA and I am here.  We are both struggling with no ground man or jump crew.  I am trying to leave So Cal to go to WA to be close to her so we can work together again.

So go ahead and throw the pony question at me.

Dorothy