Getting horse to stop leaning on the bit and putting head way down

Question
Hello,
I lease a very quiet 16.3 Warmblood mare who just turned 5. She has been under saddle for 1.5 years and is fit as she is ridden 5 or 6 days a week. I have been riding her for 15 months but I have been her only rider for the past 4 months as her owner recently moved out of state.
I am an adult, I previously rode hunter-jumpers for many years and for the past 14 months I have been taking twice a week dressage lessons with a USDF trainer. However, I take my lessons on other horses and not on this 5 year old mare who is kept at a different barn (my trainer does not travel to other barns). I have been told by my trainer that I have a pretty good, independent seat and very quiet hands. I work hard to ride from back to front and to never pull on the reins.
My problem is that this 5 year old mare loves to weight the reins, drop her head down low (sometimes even almost touching her front legs or the ground) and hang on the bit. She does this while in a walk, trot or canter and also during downward transitions. She usually will not immediately respond to a seat aid, voice aid or a light rein aid during downward transitions and instead she hangs on the bit and continues forward in whatever gait she is in for several strides before making the downward transition  I ride her with constant contact but with fairly long reins as I am still not trying to collect her or make her work with her poll as the highest point, due to her age and level of training. When she hangs on the bit I try to drive her forward with my seat and legs but she will continue to be very heavy in my hands. I have been told that it can help to suddenly throw the reins away for a short time (e.g. let the reins out or put your hands forward) so that the horse can no longer lean on the bit and learns to carry themselves. However, when I try this the mare just takes her head even lower, stays on the forehand, finds the bit on a longer rein and then proceeds to still lean on the bit. If I drop the reins to the buckle she will go around with her nose touching her front legs and she is still very heavy on the forehand when she does this and I worry she will trip. In my lessons I ride older horses that are asked to stretch long and low while in balance so I know what this feels like and I can tell you this 5 year old mare does not carry herself well when I suddenly give the reins forward or let the reins out to the buckle. I have read in books on dressage that another way to teach a horse to stop hanging on the bit is to do a sharp, sudden, small upwards movement on the reins (moving suddenly up a few inches with your hands) to correct the horse and then as soon as the horse raises their head and stops hanging on the bit you lower your hands back to the normal position above the withers. When I do this brief but sudden upward correction on the reins, the mare does indeed stop hanging on the bit (temporarily) and she will carry herself for a few strides. After a few strides she will be back to hanging on the bit again and I will have to repeat the correction. This hanging on the bit happens at the walk, trot and canter but it actually is worse at the walk and at the canter.  I do try to ride lots of transitions, changes of direction, circles and serpentines and I trot her over ground poles but the mare still puts her head down and hangs on the bit regularly. This mare has improved greatly in the past year and hangs on the bit less than she previously did so I am not sure if she just needs more time or if I need to do something different to help her. If you have any advice on the best way to correct this problem I would really appreciate it.
The other problem I have is that this mare is generally sluggish and does not move well off a light leg aid. Only after cantering and then going back to the trot does she get less sluggish at the trot. The mare used to be always ridden in spurs and now that I have been the mare's only rider for the past 4 months I have been working without spurs trying to teach this mare to move forward off of light leg aids. I carry a long dressage whip and if the mare does not respond to a light leg aid I immediately follow up with a "slap" of my entire leg against her sides and if this does not work I then give 3 quick taps of the whip behind my leg. I then go back and try to repeat the upward transition again using a light leg aid. Although the mare does start to respond better after a few times of me having to use the whip, she generally seems to resent being asked to go forward initially and will even pin her ears back and "suck back" with her body in response to even the lightest leg aid. Although doing a correction by applying 3 quick taps in a row with the whip (if the mare does not move off a light leg) does help, in general the mare does not even react much to the whip compared to how many horses would react. In other words, the mare never jumps forward even in response to 3 strong taps with the whip and she is much more likely to "suck back" and pin her ears in response to any aid to go forward (whether that be a light squeeze of the calf or the taps with the whip) rather than to surge forward.  I know that moving forward off a light leg is a prerequisite for everything else so I am worried about how unresponsive she is to the leg or even to the whip. However, once she does an upward transition and is trotting or cantering she is then happy to go forward, she frequently snorts happily and I can let my legs just hang down and she will keep moving forward. The difficult part with getting her forward is always the initial upward transition. I work very hard to make sure I give with my hands at the same time I ask for an upward transition. Any suggestions you have would be very appreciated.
FYI: This mare is ridden in a french link snaffle with a loose nose band and no flash. The only time she opens her mouth to evade the bit is occasionally at the halt. She lightly foams at the mouth on both sides when ridden. The mare's owner is a horse veterinarian and my husband (who often watches me ride) is also a horse veterinarian. This mare had her teeth done 2 months ago and she gets regular (monthly) veterinary exams.
Thank you so much in advance for your reply!
Answer
Dear Brettania,
Well, the good thing is- you clearly appear to be a proficient rider and I appreciate the details with which you have provided me. I suppose the biggest question here is- how much time do you want to dedicate to training and schooling someone else's horse? If you are really connected with the mare and you have a great relationship with the horse's owner AND you see yourself continuing to ride this horse in the YEARS (not months) to come- then it all may be worth your efforts. I say this only because I have met with many individuals over the years in every conceivable sort of lease/borrow/share arrangement and sometimes the owner gets their green (or messed up) horse schooled, trained or "fixed" and then the owner terminates the relationship.
Anyway, it sounds as though you may be giving this mare too much credit- as in you are treating her like a more advanced horse by trying to offer her the opportunity to do things like have self-carriage. What you describe indicates that this young mare has probably never really been taught to accept the bit and work in frame and she's certainly old enough to be doing so. It also sounds like she is begnning to develop what could become some big evasion issues.
So- here's what I would do to begin with:
1. Start with a surcingle and side reins (I prefer the ones that have the rubber "donut" as they have some give to them) and a lunge line. For a good three weeks, I would begin every session by working her in side reins for about ten minutes each direction. You can start this at walk- then add trot finally add canter. If she's used to side reins- great if not- begin by having light contact on both reins- until she realizes that there is contact there- then you can slowly add outside reins (support) and a LITTLE inside bend. I would go to a loose ring simple snaffle and tighten your cavesson so it's snug (a loose cavesson does nothing). It doesn't have to be tight- but it should be snug. Use a lunge whip and MAKE her get up.
2. This mare has two issues that are separate but need to be addressed simultaneously. She is dead off your leg in your up transitions- this can be a common issue with many of the warmbloods I have ridden (blame their cold blood ancestors) and she evades contact by hanging in your hands. You are correct that you should be concerned about her lack of responsiveness- and she really needs to learn that the jig is up and her sluggishness in transitions is not going to be tolerated. I'd get yourself a set of spurs (make sure they have a long enough shank)and don't be afraid to use them. Simply put- some horses need spurs and always will. When you get into the high levels of dressage- you must wear them.  (You might even need the whip too until she realizes that you mean business.) Now this may sound rather aggressive- but she's young enough to learn that forward means forward and that means when you tell her- not when she feels like it. It's much better to teach her now that she's going to have a quick, efficient consequence for inaction than for her to have five minutes of side drumming with your heels and tap-taping with the whip. As I'm sure you know- the preciseness of transitions is critical for even lower level dressage.
I understand that you may have been thinking that you didn't want her to become dependent on a spur- but unfortunately- some warmbloods need them and one can actually make them more slab sided by trying to take the spur out of the recipe.
3. Her diving into the bridle is simple (but frustrating) evasion- the key here is taking contact and backing it up with those GO FORWARD aids. She dives into your hands- you use your spurs and actively half halt. You cannot throw away contact or expect any type of self carriage until a horse has learned what correct carriage is. This doesn't mean that you have to have heavy hands- on the contrary what you need are quick, responsive hands and consistent contact. She needs to learn where the correct position is for her to be on the bit- and by her age she should definitely be working on the bit. She dives- she needs a consequence. You might want to use a ten ring martingale- this looks like a neck loop (connect to the girth in the same way as a running martingale) but it has a series of rings at various positions along its length. The nice thing about these is that they are totally passive- she won't even know it's there unless she goes to throw her head up or down. It helps the rider to maintain a direct line between the hand and the mouth.By giving her light (or no) contact when she dives- you are rewarding the aversion.
I know these things issues are much more difficult when you are sitting on the horse than when sitting behind a keyboard. I really do think you have the skills to clean her up- I just think perhaps you may have been a little too kind or perhaps reluctant to ask too much of her and she's taking advantage of that situation. Go and take a look at some of the FEI five year old tests- most of those horses haven't been under saddle any longer than this mare.
Best wishes- I hope this is of some help to you.
Sincerely,
S. Evans

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Thanks for such useful information.

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