I'm not even sure how to explain this...

I can get my horse on the bit, but after a few steps he puts his head up. He's not being naughty, he just gets distracted and starts looking around and other horses and things. I get him back on the bit and he's very responsive and cooperative about it, but then he again puts his head up.
I've been working on it, and I can keep him on the bit for a couple circles now, but I have to constantly see-saw gently, squeeze with my legs, etc. or else he puts his head up.
The thing is I get tired after about two laps and my arms start shaking from the effort. (I have Fibromyalgia, and i'm not in very good shape.)

I thought if I kept at him he would learn to stay on the bit but he's just not getting it. My trainer is working with him, too, but she is muuch stronger than me and can keep at him. Not sure if this was a very good explanation, but do you have any exercises that may help me? (We lunge him with side reins but we keep them pretty loose)

Thanks everyone :)

you only seesaw [gentle of course :)] to get him on the bit at the start then stop and hold it and every time it goes up you ask again seesaw then hold, seesaw then hold

sesawing stops the effect of holding if your doing it every second

i also suggest you tighten the side reins up while loungeing if he has his head down in them so he learns what hold means
of course you also dont want him to hang on you so dont hold tightly just so you have a good amount of contact

its going to be slow but the more holding you do this and the less see-sawing you have to do the better

you shouldn't hold the horse in any position.

you pick up one rein, close your fingers and use the other rein to support only. this is the proper way to use a snaffle bit. not see sawing (that's an old traditional way that really needs to be forgotten about)

and TIME

you get tired after 2 laps...well....that's another piece of the problem. your lack of patience. pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com

your horse needs TIME to learn where he can carry his head and you are bugging him with the bit ..... where is the "happy" spot .... he can't find it if you are impatient and constantly dragging on his mouth (if you hold him in place).

you must give a release when he puts his head where you want. when he raises it....you pick up again on the one rein....open and close your fingers..massaging the tongue.

it's a process. it can take a horse ONE YEAR of riding 5 times a week, 1 hour a day to finally get it....and leave his head in one place.

It might seem like such a small thing to you, but to the horse, you're basically asking him to stay relaxed all the time and that's not normal for horses to do. they are prey animals. he doesn't trust you yet 100% or he'd stay relaxed 100% and keep his head low.

A horse needs his head to be high to see danger coming. if he doesn't trust the rider 100% that head will keep creeping up.

so, you see...it's not such a simple thing for your horse to "just do it" pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com

So, if you keep your cool and just do the work.....give him TIME to get it....he'll get it.

There's no magic pill, no magic move. It's just constant repetitions.

**using a short cut like side reins is a great way to make a horse stiff and heavy and to give him back problems. you're not going to learn real horsemanship if you just want to take the short cuts...think of your horse,....

side reins = the horse learns to lean on the bit. I speak from experience. I've seen the damage that side reins do. but hey! people use them in competition to LOOK good....they just don't give a crap about how their horse really feels about it. It's pathetic, but yeah, it's true.
there's LOADS of misconceptions out there.

I just got a $949.95 Dell laptop (17 inch) for $137.32 and if you think that's an awesome deal, my neighbor just got a 42 inch HDTV for $76.25 that's being delivered tomorrow to his house. It feels great not to pay high retail like the rest of the people. I am even selling some of the stuff at retail to my co-workers making 10 times my money back. Check out the site we found, go to GoWinBids.com