From: Betty
Dear Jessica, I'm having a lot of trouble with my horse. He is three years old but he is a Quarter Horse so even though I know you advise to not ride horses until they are four or five, I have been riding him for one year because he was completely mature. Quarter Horses are mature when they are two years old, so it is fine to ride them then.
My problem is this. After more than a year of riding I still cannot get him to cooperate with collection. He should be flexing at his poll and engaging his hindquarters. I am a dressage rider, so I have to ride in a snaffle for shows, but I have been riding him in a curb t home to get a better headset. He will arch his neck with the curb, so I know he is just being stubborn when he refuses to do it with a snaffle. He does better when I use spurs but he still refuses to collect. He will collect some at the walk but is too stubborn to collect at the trot and canter. Also, unless I wear my long-shanked spurs with the rowels, he will not move away from my leg for leg yields.
I rode in a clinic last week and the clinician was not very nice about my horse and me. He said that if I used a crank cavesson then my horse would not find it so easy to avoid collecting. My arms are sore from trying to get him to collect, and I am tired of kicking with the spurs, but this clinician didn't offer any useful suggestions at all, just the new cavesson idea. One more problem is that my horse has an upside down frame, the clinician said he was inverted which is the same thing, isn't it? How do I make him go in the right frame and collect up at trot and canter? I am so frustrated. The clinician said we were not ready for a show, but that's why I am training my horse dressage, to go to shows. If we can't show unless he will collect all the time, and he refuses to collect, what can I do? I hope you answer this. Maybe you can tell me what bit and noseband would help me. Thank you for answering this.
Betty
I hope you're sitting down, because I have some news that may surprise you. Your Quarter Horse was not fully mature at two - and now, at three, he's still no more than halfway to maturity. The person who told you that Quarter Horses were mature at two was very badly mistaken. Quarter Horses can be very large and muscular at two, and are generally very sweet and cooperative and tolerant, but they are not anywhere NEAR maturity.
I hope that once you know this, you'll begin to understand why your youngster can't collect. Please note that I say "can't", not "won't". I put quotation marks around the word "won't" in your subject line, because it was the wrong word. "Won't" implies that your horse COULD collect if he wanted to, but is refusing to do so. That's simply not the case. Collection isn't something that we ask of very young horses or horses early in their training. Your horse's first year or two of training should involve slow, carefully-planned work designed to help him stay sound whilst he learns to balance himself under a rider and then perform all three gaits at the rider's request. Collection doesn't come into it.
Your horse isn't being stubborn or uncooperative. He simply can't do what you want him to do.
So, my suggestions.
First, don't look for equipment to solve a problem, unless it's an equipment problem. If your stirrups are bent or your bit is broken, replace them. If your horse's saddle doesn't fit, adjust it or replace it. THOSE are equipment problems. What you have is something else entirely, and you'll need to re-orient your thinking a little. Spurs won't give your horse the ability to collect. A more severe bit may cause him to arch his neck, but he's not becoming collected, he's just trying to get away from the pain in his mouth. That's not training. Trapping your horse between spurs and a severe bit is not training, either, and although it may shorten his frame and his steps, the result will NOT be collection, but inversion and shuffling.
So - think of it this way.
First: You do not have a problem.
Second: Your horse doesn't have an attitude problem, nor is he being disobedient.
Third: Equipment won't change what your horse is doing, or help him develop any more quickly.
Fourth: Force isn't training, nor is it conditioning. Your arms shouldn't be sore, because you shouldn't be pulling your horse's mouth. He feels it much more than you do - if YOU are sore, how do you think HE feels? Stop pulling and kicking your horse, and put away the severe bits and spurs. He doesn't need them and neither do you. What you both need is time and a sensible training plan.
Your horse is inverted - has an "upside down" frame - because he is very young and not very well-muscled. To work comfortably in a more rounded frame, he'll need muscles in the right places, and you can't add those by pulling his head in or using a stronger bit or kicking him harder with - or without - spurs.
The way to build a physique that will let your horse become collected WHEN HE'S READY FOR COLLECTION is simple. It's also virtually equipment-free. Spend a lot of time walking and trotting him on a loose rein, sitting lightly or in a half-seat so that his back can move freely. Teach him to work calmly, with long strides, stretching his back and reaching forward with his head and neck. He needs to work freely and easily, with long strides and no interference from the rider. This will let him start to develop the strong muscles (and tendons and ligaments and bones) that will make it POSSIBLE for him to collect, much later in his training.
Focus on walk and trot, and don't worry about cantering. Until your youngster has developed good balance and muscles, he won't be able to do any work at canter in any case. If he offers a few steps of canter now and then, accept them, but then ask him to trot. Don't try to work him at canter for another year or so.
Before you can begin to think about collection, you need to think about connection - all the parts of the horse's body working together. When you can get him to move forward calmly and energetically, stretching over the topline and reaching forward and down with his head and neck, continue to work him in this long frame whilst you focus on helping him develop his balance and his ability to maintain a steady, clear rhythm at walk and trot. When he's doing that easily, steadily, and consistently, and has the muscles to prove it - and this could take six months or more, even with a good rider/trainer, so don't be impatient - you can begin to ask him, very gently, to start to shorten his frame. If he's very talented and you're a wonderful rider, the process of shortening the frame might take one or two years. If he's anything less than naturally brilliant, or if you're not an extremely well-balanced, knowledgeable, and technically proficient rider, it can take much longer.
I don't know who that clinician was, but I hope you can find a better one. Instea of suggesting a crank cavesson to "collect" a three-year-old, he should have suggested that you get rid of the curb and spurs. I strongly suggest that you look for a good, sensible instructor who knows something about training and a horse's physiology and conditioning. You need help. Stop worrying about where your horse's head is and how arched his neck is - go back to the snaffle, ride your ohrse forward. and help him develop his body, balance, and rhythm. As he learns - and as he matures - he'll be able to begin to learn to shorten his frame, flex more, and generally do the things you'd like him to do. But don't expect or ask those things of him right now - he can't do them.
Two-year-old Quarter Horses can be their own worst enemies - you aren't the only rider who has been fooled by that lovely combination of muscular appearance and sweet, laid-back, "just tell me and I'll try" attitude. But their bodies are completely immature and simply can't handle a hurry-up, get-an-instant-frame-with-hardware style of "training". They may look strong, but they're babies, and if they're too cooperative for their own good, it's up to us, their riders, to look after them and avoid asking for too much, too soon. There is no place in horsemanship for the kind of "training" that makes a horse unhappy in the short run and unsound in the long run. If you want to become a good rider, try bringing your horse along at a speed and in a way that will be pleasant for him and help him last for many years. It's the right thing to do, and it will save you money, too. You won't have as many vet bills - and you won't waste money on bad clinicians or crank cavessons or stronger bits or longer spurs.
Jessica
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