stimpy
Well-Known Member
My horse has a very busy mouth and when we are schooling he chomps constantly. With him I believe it is a sign of tension rather than out-and-out evasion, when we are out hacking and he gets tense he immediately starts with the chomping.
He's not heavy in the hand, when he gets very chompy he goes too deep and goes under the bit so you feel that there is no contact at all. He's naturally lazy too so trying to bring him back up with leg is hard work!
I normally ride him in a Myler loose ring comfort snaffle and a cavesson or no noseband. I began to think that a loose ring was making the matter worse, it's almost as though the play in the bit exacerbates his busy mouth and so I have recently been riding him in a Myler eggbut with a low port and a normal french link eggbut. I think I am getting a better result with the eggbut bits and today I tried a drop noseband too but he was pretty chompy. He doesn't open his mouth to evade, I am using the drop to keep the bit as still as possible. I've tried him in a couple of Neue Schule bits, a loose ring french link and a hanging cheek french link and his chomping is at its worst in them. I suspect he doesn't like the salox which I why I have mostly stuck with mylers.
He is not a particularly forward thinking horse and he is generally well behaved out hacking but occasionally (say twice a year) we will have some pissing off incident where he just pokes his nose and goes and I feel I have no brakes whatsoever. It doesn't last long but is enough to make me then ride him in a tom thumb for a while. I like him in the tom thumb (which has a lozenge) as it brings him up from the too deep position but feel it is overkill when chances are that I won't need that degree of braking for another six months. He is very chompy in it too.
I have been wondering whether to try a mullen mouthpiece on him on the basis that it will be the stillest mouthpiece for him. However, I have a fear that a mullen mouthpiece will be off little use if he has one of his tank moments.
Any thoughts?
He's not heavy in the hand, when he gets very chompy he goes too deep and goes under the bit so you feel that there is no contact at all. He's naturally lazy too so trying to bring him back up with leg is hard work!
I normally ride him in a Myler loose ring comfort snaffle and a cavesson or no noseband. I began to think that a loose ring was making the matter worse, it's almost as though the play in the bit exacerbates his busy mouth and so I have recently been riding him in a Myler eggbut with a low port and a normal french link eggbut. I think I am getting a better result with the eggbut bits and today I tried a drop noseband too but he was pretty chompy. He doesn't open his mouth to evade, I am using the drop to keep the bit as still as possible. I've tried him in a couple of Neue Schule bits, a loose ring french link and a hanging cheek french link and his chomping is at its worst in them. I suspect he doesn't like the salox which I why I have mostly stuck with mylers.
He is not a particularly forward thinking horse and he is generally well behaved out hacking but occasionally (say twice a year) we will have some pissing off incident where he just pokes his nose and goes and I feel I have no brakes whatsoever. It doesn't last long but is enough to make me then ride him in a tom thumb for a while. I like him in the tom thumb (which has a lozenge) as it brings him up from the too deep position but feel it is overkill when chances are that I won't need that degree of braking for another six months. He is very chompy in it too.
I have been wondering whether to try a mullen mouthpiece on him on the basis that it will be the stillest mouthpiece for him. However, I have a fear that a mullen mouthpiece will be off little use if he has one of his tank moments.
Any thoughts?
Seems I inadvertently stumbled into getting that one just right!