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Question # 45: We rescued an Arab mix pony last year. She is nervous and a bit high strung/quick in all her gaits. She is one of the most unbalanced horses I've ever ridden, leaning heavily on her shoulders and not engaged behind.

publication date: Oct 26, 2011
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I don't know her history but think she may have been a cart horse. She is 12 years old and 14.2h. She has a naturally high headset and is always very above the bit, and quick through her shoulders.  For the last year, I've worked on suppleness, straightness, and tempo. She finally seems to have a more consistently slower tempo but is still quick to get tense, unbalanced, and erratic. She has learned to move off the leg laterally, which I use to try balancing her on circles and keep her straighter on lines. But most of the time she bulges through half the circle, then leans the other half. She is crooked on straight lines and raises her head very high above the bit anytime we change direction or do a transition. I agree with your comments that draw reins are not a good solution, but I am starting to despair of making progress for her as long as she is so above the bit. I am considering using them if just to build her muscle memory and way of going in a less inverted frame. I don't believe she is relaxed enough to learn with her head high and back tense.

I've changed her bit to a happy mouth double joint. I've had the dentist out 3 times in the last year.  She is on 24/7 turnout now, on light feed, Quiessence and Moody Mare supplements. And we lunge often in stretching side reins which she now seems to reach into more. But even at the lunge she is terribly unbalanced and bulges/leans each half of the circle, jumps into upward transitions and pulls through her shoulder into downward ones. Please let me know if you have any experience with this sort of problem and if there are exercises you recommend. Also, do you recommend carrying hands low and quiet or follow the horses head with a higher hand when their head is high? I mostly keep my hands low and quiet, but I don't think it is working. (Lisa)


Hi Lisa!

Wow, she sounds like quite a project! And it sounds like you have really tried to cover all of your bases. Is she excessively flighty on the ground as well? Has a vet given her a clean bill of health and soundness? What about saddle fit? If you are sure that she is sound and pain free, and that her saddle fits her, I would honestly say that you may just have to be prepared to give her lots of time.

It sounds like you are on the right path with the lunging in side reins, but you will need to address the bulging and leaning issues before she will be able to find her balance and rhythm. When I have a horse that is erratic on the lunge....(Click on Question Title above (in blue) to read full answer)


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