Blancing help

[Hey Hey]

My pony is 8 yrs old but is not very experienced. He stickes his nose out when cantering and somethimes trotting. I understand this is because he is unbalanced. How can I help him to become balanced and is this the cause of him sticking his nose out. I need some ideas to help him rebalance him self and stop him sticking his nose out. The latest comment from a show judge was that he was unbalanced in his canter but that is probably due to him being young.

Thanks in advance

[redkitten]

i've been working on a balance issue... i've been doing lots of walk/trot transitions, single poles, walk/canter transitions (when we can) and some longer canters to get him forward and settled (he is sluggish not motorbiking). i've also been doing trotting poles and simple jumps loose without me interfering to get him used to handling himself and to keep it interesting. my warm up/cool down uses lots of loose rein walk and trot to let him find his own way of going and we do lots of circles and serpentines, mostly in .
i'm just learning this stuff so i'm sure there are many better ways, but we have had some success.

[equibest]

The normal schooling routines are fine and lots of time and patients is a big part of it. I would also sugest not overly worrying about direction when trotting and cantering, just let him find his way, get used to the movment with the added wieght on him. You could also do some lunging with added wieght (either sumone to just sit there or a sand bag) to help him find his own way.