4 year old mare - Best way to encourage bit acceptance?

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Mardy_Mare

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Hi All,

About a month ago I bought a 15hh 4yo warmblood mare. She was sold as "backed" and is now quite happy to walk trot canter away in the school and hacks alone no bother. The only area I'm having a little trouble with is getting her to accept the bit. I recently put her in a sweet iron loose ring snaffle with a lozenge, but I'm wondering if just a plain rubber baby snaffle might be better? I have been advised different things by different people, some have said lunge her in side reins but I'm not keen on forcing her into anything, so I thought perhaps a loose bungee rein would be more suitable to encourage her to understand contact and settle her head without MAKING her do it... At the moment, whenever I take a slight contact (ie during transitions) she sort of pulls back against me and sticks her nose out as if to say "mum, don't do that!" this usually settles when she realises that I'm actually very soft on her mouth and now she responds to my seat more than my hands anyway, however she is still fighting against the bit while in trot and canter, even when I have very little/ practically no contact. And when we're out hacking she gets fed up with it too, and starts pulling against me. She had her teeth done the other week so no issue there, and she's just in your regular run of the mill gp bridle with no flash or any other gadgets, which is how I would like to keep her in the long run. She is my first youngster and I love her to bits- just want to do right by her! Any advice would be very much appreciated. :)
 
Hi Casey, thanks for your reply :)

As far as I'm aware her teeth are in good shape, I had the dentist out who sorted some issues further back that way, and also removed two baby teeth that were trapping some incoming adult incisors! That said she is still not keen on rider taking a contact. Dentist said she would've been in discomfort prior to his visit, which was about 4 weeks ago. Maybe she is still getting expecting it to be painful but I wouldn't have thought so after all this time?
 
Have you noticed a resistance more on any particular side? My mare resists too but it's on the left side which speaks to her ETR and needing her teeth done
 
Hi Nato, not really no, it tends to happen more when she's been working for ten minutes or so, or towards the end of a long hack where I have little to no contact anyway, which makes me think its probably more of a mental thing? As in, "I'm fed up of this bit now!" Haha. Her teeth were done pretty thoroughly a month ago , she stood really well so dentist got a good look and good bit of work done too.
 
If anyone has any good ideas to this, I would also be very interested. My 4yo tb has had a big issue with rearing... I've had everything checked!!! She has a back x-ray which has all come back clear. I took her to Gary Witheford who has been working to solve this problem, she was there for about 5 days before they decided the issue was with the contact (she was broken in by a 'professional' who basically ruined her with draw reins and spurs). Gary has made me take her home and hack her out lots with no contact at all so she learns to enjoy herself. Next week she is going back to his yard and they're going to work on introducing that to her, so hopefully that will prove to be helpful!!
 
If this seems to start when she gets mentally tired then try and end your sessions before you get to that stage on a good note.

She is only young and new to being worked and some horses are just not born with a work ethic. So to prevent this becoming an evasion to work just end on a positive note before she starts trying to take the reins.

She will only be up to 10-15mins of good work in an arena at this stage and out on a hack get off and give her breaks or walk that last bit home.

Don't let it get to the point where she has to tell you she has had enough!

When you do school make sure you have a plan. Pick one thing to work on which is achievable in a short session and make sure you ride nice and forward into a soft contact at all times. Vary the length of the rein as well, ask for a few strides in a shorter contact and then reward with a longer contact but always ride forward forward forward!

Don't worry about where her head is at the moment, this will come with strength, confidence and consistent riding.

Increase the length of your sessions by a minute per week or so to increase concentration. If she struggles when you Increase the length of workout go back down for a week then try again.
 
Firstly don't think about outline, that will come with age, correct work and patience.
I would put her in a mullen bit that encourages her to seek down into it.
The mullen keeps still and quiet in the mouth and does not have the movement that you get with a loose ring link bit which can cause fidgeting and lack of acceptance in some young horses.
I would lunge or long rein gently in this bit, over poles to further facilitate that stretching and seeking down without gadgets/force.
 
She's a baby! They all take different lengths of time to reach the next step, to get over any 'nasty' happening (tooth pain is nasty and 4 weeks would be no time at all to rebuild confidence there would be no pain.) She doesn't yet trust the bit and until she learns to trust, working on contact is a waste of time and could easily be counter-productive. It may benefit her to stop schooling for now - hack, hack, hack. You can quietly sneak in a bit of schooling on a hack.
 
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