Bit suggestions for new horse

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horsegirl

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Hi,

As you lot are always so helpful and knowledgable (
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) I wonder what you can suggest for a very strong horse who alternates between putting her head up really high and charging around or putting it down low and trotting really slowly and bouncy. In canter she flings her head up so high the reins are practically useless. She is in a hanging check snaffle or a dutch gag for jumping.
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Ok then, a martingale to help reduce the head throwing, is she strong or does she just thow her head and also lean?

As you dont want to put a very strong bit in if she is likely to back off it.
 
She doesn't lean, she is just really strong and if I try to take up a contact she just pulls against it and raises her head until I would have to raise my hands to shoulder level to use the reins. My husband rides her in a harbridge to stop her raising her head. I don't really want to go for a severe bit just keep the head down
 
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She doesn't lean, she is just really strong and if I try to take up a contact she just pulls against it and raises her head until I would have to raise my hands to shoulder level to use the reins. My husband rides her in a harbridge to stop her raising her head. I don't really want to go for a severe bit just keep the head down

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But you said she puts her head really low too?
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If she is def not in pain then she needs some schooling.

There is no point in just changing the bit as a horse who flings its head up to take off, and puts it down too, isnt going to be 'fixed' by changing a bit.

If she is aeady in a Dutch Gag that is quite a strong bit, perhaps she doesnt like the poll pressure?

But a you also ride her in a snaffle its not like she is always in the gag, which bit does she go better in?
 
When she puts her head low she tucks her chin into her chest and the reins are loose but she does that in response to being held tight and then doesn't go forward properly.more bounces on the spot She is only in the gag for jumping.
 
A bit wont fix this then because she is evading the contact in every way it seems!

I think the only way you will sort this out is schooling, what do you do with her?
 
We haven't bought her yet. We are getting her on the 1st Jan for my fairly novice husband, we know her and he has been riding her for a few months already.

Any suggestions as to exercises that will help other than transitions/transitions/transitions?
 
She is 10 or 11

My instructor says she is well schooled (?) , she has been to a few local shows and fun rides, she is an OK jumper and sensible mostly which is why we have bought her.
 
This sounds a little confusing . . . sometimes she pulls (same thing as getting strong in my book - out of control is out of control), sometimes she gets behind (quite a common set of issues), and she often goes faster or slower than you want.

From what you're describing the horse has major contact issues, is not happy quite a lot of the time, and is not exactly a novice ride, but you also say she is well schooled . . .

Is it possible she is simply too sensitive for the job you are asking her to do? Evasions don't necessarily show up over night, in fact usually if they do it's an easily fixed situation having to do with discomfort or confusion or misunderstanding. Horses are always changing so if they're not getting better they're getting worse. (I never believed this when I was told it as a kid but it has proven to be true.)

Do more the more novice people who ride her do so in the pelham?

Has she been getting worse or better during the time you have had her? Is the schooling you have been doing, including working on the riding of the people using her, improving things?

Is she effectively a school horse? Do lots of people ride her? Some horses can do this forever, some can never do it, some can do it for awhile before the cracks show. (I used to run a huge riding school and saw this in action a number of times.)

What does your instructor say? Presumably he/she is keen for you to get this horse and finds it suitable so he/she must have a plan to deal with the evasions. How does the horse go for him/her? Do the same issues show up?

Is the plan for your OH to continue to ride her in the Harbridge? To what purpose? (It's a training aid at best, meant to be used temporarily to fix a particular issue not as a standard piece of equipment.)
 
phew so many questions...

The more novice people do not ride her in the pelham, only the hanging cheek snaffle with the harbridge

We do not have her yet so I have only ridden her a handful of times, usually jumping.
My Husband has had a number of lessons on her but is still very much a novice so does not really ask for any contact yet.
My instructor says she is well schooled, she certainly does what she is asked, she is not uncontrollable by any means but if you ask for a contact she fights it by sticking her head up or dropping her head really low.

She is not really ridden very much at all at the moment, I ride her maybe once a week but her owner has more or less given up and has only ridden a coupl of times in the last month.

He only uses the harbridge to stop her from putting her head up until he has more control, may not be the right thing to do but is what the instructor recommended and seems to work.

It might be that I am just used to riding my horse, who is much softer and accepts a contact (most of the time) as soon as I pick up the reins. I don't mean to make her sound like a nasty horse charging around out of control because she isn't she is quite sensible I just end up fighting with her trying to get her head out of my face
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