Stop Your Horse From Curling Behind the Vertical and Leaning on You!

For non-horse people, and even beginner riders, a horse that is curling behind the vertical often looks ‘beautiful’ because their neck is so beautifully arched. But this is NOT a beautiful way of going at all! This is bit evasion and hind end evasion at its finest. The horse that curls under is avoiding proper contact with the bit. And when he leans on your hands and hauls off with you, he is not wanting to use his hind end the proper way.

There are two types of head curlers:

Some horses just curl their head behind the vertical so their nose comes closer to their chest. This causes a slack in the reins, and therefore, no contact with the rider’s hand. The rider thinks this feels good because the horse feels very light. However, the horse has manipulated the situation to where there is no contact with the riders hands. In a future post I will discuss this type of curler.

The second type is where the horse curls behind the vertical and leans on the riders hands and hauls off with them! Below we will investigate and trouble shoot this type. There are also horses who lean but don’t curl, which will also be discussed in a future post.

Curling Behind the Vertical and Leaning

In this situation, the horse keeps a contact, although not a proper contact, and it is often quite HEAVY on the rider’s hands. Then the horse plows off, while learning on the bit. From up in the saddle, the rider sees that the horse’s neck is curled, and the horse is also going fast, so the rider might think that the horse is going along beautifully. In reality, the horse is actually pulling the rider along with his front legs, letting all his weight fall forward while the rider carries it, and ultimately trying to avoid using his hind end to PUSH himself up into a light, proper contact with the rider’s hands. This is not so fun for the rider. Why should we have to carry the horse? He should certainly carry himself!

Why Does the Horse Do This?

There are so many reasons why this could be happening. But horses often learn to do this because they have been ridden with poor contact. When you engage in a battle of tug-o-war, the horse will most often take up that challenge-and win! The horse will start curling behind the vertical and leaning on the rider’s hands, and this is him winning!

When the rider’s hands are always heavy, and never giving back, the horse doesn’t learn what a proper contact is. The art of good contact is a continuous taking and giving from the rider at the right moments. It is the “give” part that teaches the horse. When the rider “gives” they are basically saying to the horse, “There….That was it! That was right!” And so the horse learns in those moments of released pressure. And he learns to accept the contact because it is always giving.

So when the horse always has pressure on his mouth with no release, it’s as if he succumbs to it and leans against it even more. Another way the horse could escape this is by going way above the bit. More about that in a future post.

So now that the horse is leaning forward on the rider’s hands, all of his weight is basically shooting forward like an arrow being shot straight into the ground. The horse learns that this is a pretty nice place to be! After all, the rider is carrying him and he doesn’t have to use his hind end at all! So he gets to pull himself along with his front legs as the rider carries his big head and neck around! So the rider is doing all the work and he is not having to work hard at all.

How to Start Correcting This

This problem will not go away overnight. If the horse has been doing this for a very long time, it will be hard to change his ways. He’s going to have to learn to carry his own head and neck, and push from his hind legs. This is hard work for a horse who has been carried by the rider for a long time!

Step 1 – Drop Him!

To start the process of fixing this, you need to make a conscious choice not to carry your horse anymore. So when you are trotting around and he starts curling behind the vertical and leaning on you, JUST DROP HIM! (Don’t drop the reins, just drop the contact. And don’t lengthen your reins either.) Quickly put both of your hands, or arms, forward to make a big loop in the contact. Not gradually, but spontaneously and quickly.

What happens? In the split second that you drop him, his head will probably quickly fall a few inches, but then his head will pop back up. He had to lift his own head up and carry it because you dropped it. Imagine if you wresting in a chair at a table and you put your elbow up on the table and rested your chin in your hand, leaning on you elbow. If somebody suddenly jerked your elbow out from under you, your head would start to fall, but then you would quickly bounce your head back up. You wouldn’t just let your head go bashing onto the table! Same thing for the horse. He’s not going to let his head drop to the ground. He has no choice but to carry it, finally!

When you first drop him, I bet he will be a little surprised. He’ll be thinking, “Whoa…Why did you do that?!” or “Oh no, where did you go?” You can reassure him buy gently taking back the contact. But the second he starts leaning again, drop him. When you first start this, you may need to push your arms out to drop him. But as you fine tune yourself into catching him the split second he starts to lean, you will be able to just put your hands forward an inch or two.

Really try to become familiar with the feeling you get the moment he starts to lean. Then you can start to ride more proactively by catching him before he gets too heavy on your hands. Drop him when ever he leans, and he will eventually learn that you are not going to carry him anymore!

Step Two – Kick him UP!

With just step one above, you’ll be making a huge improvement in preventing your horse from curling behind the vertical and leaning. But to really improve your horse’s overall way of going, you need to take it a step further. You need to get all the weight off of the horse’s front end and get the horse to work from behind to get him up into the contact properly. Only then will your horse true be able to be on the bit, or on the vertical.

After you drop your horse a few times and have it fine-tuned to where you only need to put you hands forward about an inch, you can then begin to “kick him up” into a better contact. Essentially, you are just doing a half halt, except that the half halt starts with a bump from your legs. Learn how to ride a good half halt here. Depending on how sensitive our horse is, you’ll need to take both legs off and give a little “thump” with both legs together. Think of it as “bumping him up” into the half halt.

If nothing happens, you’ll need to bump harder. Some horses need a really good bump. You are essentially saying to the horse, “Hello! GET UP!” They’ve been going around on the forehand for so long, that they may need a wake up call!

If your “bump up” is successful, the horse will momentarily surge forward and up. Catch him with a good half halt. Then continue on until the need for another “bump up.” Think you yourself, keep him up, keep him up! And remember, this all needs to happen fairly quickly. Drop him, bump him up, catch him.

In Conclusion

The most important part about this, and almost all other issues that we encounter in our riding, is recognition. If you don’t know something bad is happening, you cannot begin to fix it. So when you are riding, really start to pay attention to what it feels like when your horse starts curling behind the vertical and leaning on you. Then compare that to what it feels like after you bump him out of it. Know the difference. First become an expert at catching this behavior. Then you can fine-tune your way of fixing it.

Keep Riding. Keep Refining.