# Video of my mare and I o/f hunter



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

Kittenkittenkitten said:


> She is in the middle of a reprogram of sorts to get her crazy under control so we can be happy hunters. There are two obvious things in this video I can point out...any critiqueof us is appreciated! Ps she is 11 and a TB.
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBwbkqmd5Fs&feature=youtube_gdata


Anyone, bump?


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

well, a couple of times you landed on the wrong lead. 
But, I am interested to hear what the jumpers say. I am not one of them, so I can only speculate about anything jumping related. I wonder if you sat down more in the saddle , instead of being in two point all the time, between the jumps, if she would slow down and come back to you better, with less tossing of her head. it appears you are riding her mouth a bit, but like I said, I haven't "been there done that".


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

tinyliny said:


> it appears you are riding her mouth a bit.


This is what I noticed.

Now, I'm not about to claim that I know a ton about hunters, but to me, your hands seem really high at times, especially a few strides after landing, and like you're balancing on her mouth as she canters, instead of using your core. Your leg is swinging back with each of her strides and it looks like it's making your position at the canter unstable, so you're popping her in the mouth, which is making her toss her head. It also looks like that as you're trying to rate her speed between jumps, instead of using your seat (which you can't because it looks like you're almost hovering over the saddle...not quite two-point, but not quite in the saddle, either), you're pulling back and up (your hands are moving toward your chest), which is slowing her down for the instant that you have a lot of contact on her mouth, but she speeds right back up again when your hands drop. 

This are just my observations. Take them as you will.


----------



## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I agree with others. Something's not right with the hands. On the landing side of the very first fence, you take back on the reins and lock your elbows. She answers by tossing her head. Attempting to half halt using just the reins is ineffective at best, but locking your elbows is a no-no and is only going to produce an unhappy horse. I would much prefer to see you rate her speed and balance through proper half halts, sitting tall and bringer her back to you with your seat instead of trying to shut the door with your reins. I also have no clue about hunters, but I would have to think your horse will quickly develop a nice, steady rolling canter once she's happier about the contact up front.


----------



## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

What type of bit does she have in her mouth?
Have her teeth been floated recently?
There is something going on with her mouth/head. It definitely looks like a pain thing. I would heavily recommend a good vet, and if you have a harsh bit, backing off a little. You are riding her mouth pretty hard, but others have already mentioned it.


----------



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback. The seat position for hunters, or at least what I was going for, was a half seat, which is less than a two point but up from a full seat. Really it depends on the judge for ath they want to see, or so I'm told. 

Head tossing is more of an attitude thing right now, like I said she is being reprogrammed and sometimes the attitude comes out when things aren't perfect. We used to rock out jumpers, she was fast and cleared all fences, but almost to thr point of being out of control and dangerous. This day we were riding at a good pace I thought but she wanted to go faster and I was half halting. Teeth were floated 9 months ago and we have a saddle fitter come out every few months to check her back with thr port Lewis system.

The biggest thing we've been working on is slowing the pace, leads (flying lead changes used to make her come completely unglued) and my hands. Which everyone for the most part picked up on. I thought out pace was good though there was no rushing the jumps.


----------



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

xJumperx said:


> What type of bit does she have in her mouth?
> Have her teeth been floated recently?
> There is something going on with her mouth/head. It definitely looks like a pain thing. I would heavily recommend a good vet, and if you have a harsh bit, backing off a little. You are riding her mouth pretty hard, but others have already mentioned it.


Forgot about this...super mild bit, just a sweet d-ring snaffle :lol:


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Well then , the two obvious things you wanted to point out?


----------



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

tinyliny said:


> Well then , the two obvious things you wanted to point out?


The two biggest things in the video from my standpoint were leads and head tossing. I wanted to see if anyone had more critique/positive feedback.


----------



## finn113 (Aug 21, 2012)

Move your hands WITH the horse's head and she won't toss her head. If you lock your elbows and don't give any flexibility she will toss her head because she feels she is being pulled back and can't move out. Also, I'd work on a little bit more leg work, as your leg tends to swing a lot while cantering. No stirrups for a while should do the trick! 
Hope I helped!


----------



## horseTraining (Jun 22, 2014)

Kittenkittenkitten said:


> Forgot about this...super mild bit, just a sweet d-ring snaffle :lol:


Just because the bit was a snaffle does not make it mild. Snaffles are commonly known to stab the horse's palate if not sized correctly. There could also be bone spurs developing where the bit sits that could be causing the horse pain. It could also be nerve pain since the bit sits directly on the trigeminal nerve.

Everyone so far has picked up on the head tossing as some sign of pain, and I would agree in this sense. It could be caused from any or all of the above. I have even seen a horse develop head tossing as a response to arthritis pain.

I have yet to experience a horse that suffered from head tossing that was not caused by an underlying problem. So far I have always experienced this behavioural issue as a pain response.


----------



## horseTraining (Jun 22, 2014)

Here is some screen shots I took from the video of you riding. These aren't during head tossing as you will see your horses head is down, but take look at the expression on this horse's face. This is what is happening in between the head shaking.


----------



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

@horsetraining - thank you for the feedback but can you please remove the screenshots.


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Kittenkittenkitten said:


> @horsetraining - thank you for the feedback but can you please remove the screenshots.


You'll have to see if a mod can edit the post for you. After five (I think...it's either five or ten) minutes, you can't edit a post, even if it was your post.


----------



## 74017 (Sep 2, 2013)

Thanks Drafy, I already sent a message. I love positive feedback but I am uncomfortable with others posting pictures from my video. From all of the feedback it's clear that not much good is being seen from our riding but if you would have known this horse six months ago you would be amazed at the progress. I feel like we are very even paced throughout our course, and there is some head tossing but again this isn't something that happens all the time it just so happened on that day. I don't have any other videos of us but just wanted a few that day so I could see how we looked. Yes it's not perfect. But again I wish I had a before video.


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

temporarily closed for review


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

The OP has elected to privatize that YouTube video. 

At this point, Moderation feels that still shots taken from a video posted for critique are permissible, as long as the manner that they are posted is for constructive criticism , and not ridicule, and as long as it is understood that a photo is only a split second in time and can often tell only part of a story, and thus be as inaccurate as they can be detailed. That is why the best critiques are made of from the moving footage itself.


----------

