Proper way to use dressage whip to sharpen up response to leg cues?

The beauty of a dressage whip is that you can use it behind your leg without having to remove your hands from the reins.

Like the short whip, you do need to change hands as you change reins, except if you are trying to deal with something like, say napping towards the gate and then you would use it on the "gate" side, to back up your "gate side" leg.

To change the whip over from say left hand to right hand put your reins into your left hand (with the whip) push the whip up a bit so you have something to grasp, turn your right hand palm facing ears to the left hand side of your left wrist, grasp the whip with your right hand and flip it over so that you now have the whip in your right hand. Easier to do than to explain in writing! Practise a few time while in halt.

Your horse's tail swishing could be down to sensitivity or pain, perhaps in the back and you might do well to get her saddle checked, since as she gets fitter or fatter she will change shape, but her saddle will not, and what fitted well 6 months ago might not fit so well now. It can be adjusted possibly by adding, moving or removing stuffing to make a more comfortable fit, and should not cost too much.

You might benefit from a few lunge lessons to help you ride more with your seat and back in conjunction with your legs which is more correct than legs alone, and makes the horse more responsive. And using your seat and back it is quite possible to slow and stop a strong horse. A useful trick to learn especially as you are getting older! You say that you cannot use your calves so well, well, that would suggest that your toes are pointing out, and a few lunge lessons will help you use your legs more correctly without having to force your toes forward and heals down.

I don't think you would need lessons, but it never hurts, right?

The whip is fairly easy to use once you get comfortable with it in your hands. I usually keep it in my outside hand when I use one.

To get the horse to move forward, I cue with my legs. If I don't get a response, I cue again followed by a firm but quick hit with the whip on the haunches. It has to sting alittle so he associates the cue with the whip. After a few times, he'll react to the cue and you won't need the whip.

Same with lateral training, except I use the whip just behind my leg (opposite side of the direction you want him to go) just avoid hitting the flanks (as I'm sure you know)

Changing rein, you just switch the whip to the other hand or even use 2 whips if you are doing a lot of lateral work in both directions

I doubt you would need lessons, because the dressage whip is pretty easy to use.

I have a green mare, too! What I do is if she is having one of those slow-to-respond days, and she isn't responding to my legs or clicks at all, then I give her a warning tap. If she continues to misbehave, I reach back and "spank" her with it. Now, you don't need to go beating the crap out of her, of course, a firm spank should make her uncomfortable enough that she will move forward and respond better to your leg cues..

Anyway, what I do is hold both of my reins like I usually do, but on my outside hand I hold the whip. It's kind of hard to explain like this, but you don't have to change anything, really, just hold the whip in your hand as you ride. It's not that difficult, and I find it to be pretty easy to get used to. :)

Good luck!

If your horse does not respond immediately to leg pressure, use your whip behind your leg once quickly.

Make sure you hold it so that the whip sits over your thigh.

Lessons will always help, but I think you can do this on your own!