" in a dressage test it is possible to score high for gaits but still do the whole test hollow!!!! Good gaits and working from behind dont necessarily go hand in hand when scoring a test!!!!"
First, 'working from behind' and being 'hollow' are not exactly synonymous. 'Working from behind' means the hind legs are pushing and swinging freely (or it means to some people, working forward into the bridle). 'Hollow' refers to the topline - the muscles of the back and neck. When a horse is 'hollow' the back is dropped down away from the rider, and the neck is lifted overly high, with the underneck muscles tightened up. This in turn has an effect on the hind leg motion (how much depends on many things) because it puts the hind quarters and hind legs in a difficult position.
But the quote is not true. Our dressage judges do not judge horses' gaits in the above way.
A horse does not move as well when the topline is 'inverted' (neck tensed, up, back dropped down and hollowed out) - this pushes the hind quarters and hind legs out behind the horse, and results in a lower score.
A horse may win a class moving in that way, but only if the errors the other horse/riders are making cause them to score even lower. As a trainer once said, 'Sometimes the one that wins is the one that stays in the ring'. Don't confuse a blue ribbon with 'the judge loved it'. If everyone else is worse, he has no choice. Doesn't mean he approves of or recommends everything the horse/rider are doing.
'bungee cords'
Please do not use the arrangement described. This is extremely dangerous. I hope the poster who recommended it will stop using it herself, but even more, stop recommending it.
'his head is not where it should be'
Be sure you know where his head should be :). Many people have an exaggeratedly too low position they want their horse in - quite often, those expectations don't lead to progress or good training.
'don't put the horse behind the vertical'.
Despite what the basic principles of dressage are, with a horse with the habit of carrying his head very high and his nose poked out, back dropped, neck hollowed, if the rider were able to round and supple his horse, and as a result he came a little behind the vertical, well, Rome wasn't built in a day. One can only fix one thing at a time. If the inverting and dropped back can be helped, the position behind the vertical can be addressed a little later. One thing at a time, not good to expect everything to be perfect at once - a good trainer can advise as to what and how much of one fault to accept while fixing another, and keep a horse and rider from getting overwhelmed. We must not overwhelm and discourage horse or rider by expecting too much all at once.
Normally, a rider tries to spend much of his training time with the horse's nose slightly in front of the vertical. When he half halts, the horse's nose will be closer,, or even in some situations, slightly behind the vertical during the half halt. He will endeavor to go back to a traditional position, and all that usually requires is simply doing what we want to be doing all the time, stretching the horse to the hand, which is done by urging with the rider's legs, just like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube, the rider's legs squeezes the horse's neck forward to the bit. It's the rider's leg and seat that 'connects' the horse to the bit. This doesn't mean the horse is always 'stretched' with his neck out long and his head and neck down. This means that whether the horse is going in a more collected, advanced posture with his head and neck relatively higher, or as a young horse, with his head and neck lower, that he is always 'stretching to the bit', whether that stretch is 1/8 of an inch for a Grand Prix horse just being connected while he is piaffing, or if it's for a young horse in a working trot, simply being 'sent to the bit'.
When a rider is starting out, he can't connect the horse to the bit that way. As a result, a horse will often not stretch out to the bit. He will often be behind the vertical because the rider's legs aren't strong and he isn't sure about how to use his reins. Each thing develops when it's possible for it to develop. The student will some day be able to control this and encourage his horse to reach to the bit, no matter what position he is in. To expect it to always look perfect when learning is unrealistic. But this is why we go to certified, experienced instructors, because they understand what to accept for the moment, and what needs to be worked on right now.
In fact, many trainers will school a horse slightly behind the vertical, and that's different from 'behind the bit'. It can benefit very stiff horses - it's all in knowing how much, and not getting them actually behind the bit, which means there's no contact with the horse's mouth, and the rider can't ask the horse to be in any other position, he just remains 'stuck' in the one position, without contacting the bit. Behind the vertical is different from behind the bit - behind the bit is a very negative situation, behind the vertical can be used by a careful trainer with a horse that has become stiff and needs some 'physical therapy'. The critical thing is can the rider bring his horse into a normal position always continuing to have a connection from his hand where he can feel the horse's mouth in his hand, not just air, not just a headless horse, or is he not under control of what sort of position his horse is in and that is a problem.
The original poster said the horse's head was 'not where it is supposed to be' in canter, but didn't say if the horse was getting its head too high, too low, etc.
I don't think it really does much good to say 'don't worry about the head'. Where the horse carries his head and neck can't be totally ignored. He might even hit the rider in the face, and he certainly isn't a pleasure to ride when his head is lifted too high. Nor can the rider control his horse, steer, stop, etc, when the horse is in that position. When the horse is really inverting, lifting his head and dropping his back, or fighting the rider and raising his head in resistance, it can't be ignored. Not the least because the animal may be in pain from an abcess or sore in the mouth, or an incorrectly fitted bit or bridle! We have to get to the bottom of it. Nor does it work to just throw the reins away, or just longe in sidereins. At some point, it needs to be addressed. The sooner the better.
The way to NOT fix it, is to pull first one rein and then quickly the other, over and over, until the horse 'drops the bit' and makes no contact with the bit. No matter how popular this method is, and no matter how subtly or cleverly a person does it, it is wrong. And I see so much of it, especially among people trying to work on their own or with poor instruction.
It is wrong. It's always been wrong, whether it's called 'spongeing the reins' or whatever. In dressage, things are different. We want more of a connection between the horse's mouth and the bit, a steady, constant connection, not one that goes away and comes back. That contact needs to be steady, not dropped when the rider works the reins, not even lessened. We may use our reins to bend, we might even have to really bend a horse a lot, but NOT in that ''godawful ying-yangin' thing' as my friend calls it, LOL.
People very often can 'sponge the reins' and get the horse to put its head down and in and the walk, even the trot. Often, people believe that's dressage. But in the canter, it will show like a sore thumb that the connection is not honest. Especially as the horse picks up the canter, it can be seen that the horse raises his head, hollows his back, and the connection is broken.
But the way to address it is not to just get a gadget. First of all, these gadgets, despite their widespread use, are very, very difficult to use correctly, to get a result from, and then be able to go on without them after a week or two (that's the definition of 'correct use of a gadget', NOT living in it and becoming dependent on it - then it becomes a crutch). In many decades of dressage, I have seen only one person use draw reins correctly. Most people get dependent on them, and just wind up using them to pull the horse's head down. This is not what they were intended for. Gadgets were called by the old masters, 'A razor in a monkey's paw' for good reason. They are actually very, very hard to use as a training device.
It'll sound contradictory but I'm not against gadgets...not exactly, not in principle. I'm against their incorrect use, which is 99.99999% universal.
The answer is, I feel, riding lessons. Yup. You need a person there who is more experienced than you and who can guide you. No matter how experienced, skilled, seasoned a person is there is ALWAYS a situation they need help with. No one is immune from needing help now and again.
Please, other than taking the advice of getting instruction, please do not try to get training advice from the internet. People on the internet can't see your horse, and you, and how things are going each day. Too, most are not certified, experienced instructors, and in fact, many giving advice have never even done dressage; even if they have, the solutions they give are for them and their horses and their friends, not necessarily you and your horse. You need someone who is there, and can see how your horse is reacting. 'Use sidereins!' might be a disaster if you try to ride with them, or if the horse has never had them on, he could rear, fall over on you and kill you if they are not introduced in the right way. Don't use any new equipment you aren't familiar with, without the help of a skilled professional there, right there, with you. S/he can see how your horse is reacting and say, 'no, we have to stop, he looks like he's going to have a melt down'. A pro can see that and help you.
For many people, the problem with the canter is not so much a technique or a piece of equipment they need, but tension. They get tense and tight, pull back on the reins, and grip tightly with their legs, often without even realizing it. Too, if cantering is an 'event' or the horse doesn't get to canter often, he may view it as exciting and go fast, pull at the reins and get off balance, making him harder to ride. Many times people don't realize they're tensing up their arms, or balancing off the reins, because their position makes it impossible for them to balance without relying on the reins. Sometimes they don't realize they're loosening the reins up too much when asking for the canter, causing the horse to lose his balance. Other times, they don't realize their reins are too fixed or tight.
Occasionally, if it's appropriate, the rider can indeed, drop the reins, to the buckle, if the horse will canter quietly around and he'll drop his head down and the rider can gradually pick up the reins and learn to follow the motions.
But quite often, if the horse really has a strong habit to raise his neck and drop his back, loose reins just make him do this more, and he can become even more difficult to manage. 'Letting go the reins' and 'forgetting about the head' doesn't always work. Sometimes the rider has to work hard with a trainer just to get the feeling of keeping a connection, and suppling and rounding his horse in the canter, doing just enough to get the horse to loosen up his neck and topline, without restricting him, yet still having some control. That means lessons.
