Collection problems :(

[Elandra White]

I own a morgan gelding that used to be shown in country english pleasure as you may have guessed he hols his head highh and not very collected. I don't believe in forcing a hores head out of its natural head set but I would like some tips on high collectons. I just cant seem to get his head tucked in right.
please help :(

[Catherine]

A good excercise to try with your horse would be to start working him long and low and get him stretching over his back. Once he feels he is working into your hands, pick him up slowly until he is in a nice headset, not behind the verticle or to low or high in the poll. If his head comes up too much ask him to stretch again and repeat the excercise until he learns to work in a frame. Hope this helps!

[Bernd]

Hi,
Cathrine is right. That's the way. I would suggest that you also do lunging sessions where you get him into a long and low position. You may use different aides there.
The important part is to be patient. It requires a change of the horses muscles, bulding up the right physics for this.
Collection is a question of balance and physical strength with the right gymnastics.
In the beginning the lessons to ask for long streching of the horse should not exceed 10 minutes. After that the horse needs some rest before it can do it again.
Its no point in forcing it too early as it will not help the horses muscles nor its balance and make any progress harder.
The key is patience and consistency. 10-30 minutes per day. Expect 6 months to gain satisfactory results.
Any shorter progress, forced by mechanical helps (reins) can damage the horses muscle build-up and hence create unnecessary but difficult problems.
Good luck
Bernd

[Queenrider]

High collection is something you achieve after years of work. The beginning of collection is called "on the bit" and a skilled rider can achieve this after months of remedial work on a horse who has incorrect habits. The beginning of collection often goes unnoticed by the unskilled rider and will only last moments. If you don't reward the horse for this you will get nowhere fast. Collection will be achieved by sitting correctly. Dressage is not about head set but Reiner Klimke said it best, collection is about neck control. You need a skilled coach to help you.

[Kinni P]

Shoulder-fore

[slc2]

The phrases about head set and tucking in the horse's nose made me worry that you might not quite understand what 'collection' in dressage is or quite what we're going for. First of all, collection is for a later phase of training. There are many things that have to be established first, and the horse carrying his head in a 'dressagey' way doesn't happen at any level because the rider actually tries to get his head into a certain position, but because the rider bends the horse properly around large circles and supples his horse. I think the best thing is to work with a dressage trainer who can help guide you in how to achieve these things in a good way that leads to progress rather than a dead end.

'holds his head high and not very collected'

What does collection mean? Does it mean a head position? No. Collection is about the shape of the horse's stride - it doesn't reach as far forward, instead, the stride reaches slightly up. The horse's hind quarters are just slightly compressed underneath the horse, so that his joints bend a little more. yet It shouldn't look exaggerated or extreme, and at second level dressage, there is still only a slight difference between a working trot and a collected trot, but there does need to be a difference. And from into to second level work(3 levels, 3 years), a horse is mostly in a working trot, not a collected trot. Work on collecting the walk and canter comes somewhat after working on the trot collection.

'natural head set'

I'm not sure what you mean by this - perhaps you mean where your horse carries its neck and head when not being asked to do anything in particular, or when the reins are loose, I'm not sure.

'high collections'

This I think is the phrase I found most concerning. It suggests that collection is just about the position of the head and neck, which it isn't. The position of the head and neck in dressage, is more a result of 'doing the right stuff' in the right way, it isn't that someone tries to create a 'look' or 'pose' in the horse's head and neck.

'get his head tucked in right'

Um...I know this is how many people start out thinking of dressage. And since other riding styles focus a lot on using draw reins, bits, or slight jerks of the reins from side to side to get the horse to drop his head and hold his chin in toward his chest, it often winds up that folks think of dressage in this way too. But we don't actually 'try to get the head into a position'. In fact, I think that's how a lot of folks get confused and get headed down a dead end road in trying to do dressage.

In teaching a horse dressage, the rider first tries to establish a connection with the horse's mouth. To a point, the fact that there is a steady contact is more important than exactly where the horse's head is....but....even if a horse has a relatively high head carriage naturally, there is still some 'forward, down, long' work that is needed. The lowering of the neck helps to lift the back so it can carry the rider well, plus it allows the hind legs to reach forward and work properly.

During this first period of dressage training, one tries to get the horse to relax, stretch and reach for the bit, the rider uses his legs to urge the horse to stretch his neck out.

At no point in good dressage training, do good trainers worry about the 'pose' of the horse, it just happens out of correct work. It's as if a ballerina learned to balance perfectly on her feet, with her weight over her feet, and go up in pointe. You might say, gosh, how can I get up on pointe, maybe I can find some way to make my feet do that. But it's really all the balance and strength the ballerina has, and getting up on pointe happens because all that is there.

I don't know if I am really saying this in a useful way - the best idea is to get lessons from a good dressage trainer/instructor who can guide you.