Bitting Advice for Young but Strong TB

[emilykerr747]

Hi everyone!

Looking for some bitting advice before I go down the route of paying for a bitting expert.

I have a young TB who I have been bringing on to event over the last few months. He’s been working really well and loves jumping however can get very enthusiastic in the cross country between jumps or cantering when out hacking etc.

He has a tendency when he wants canter to lower his head and root down on the bit and run with his mouth open. I know at his age it’s more likely a training issue and will come with more training. At the moment usually break it by circling him then asking for a nice canter again but if we’re out on a tight track or going cross country I usually have to fight him for sometime before I can get him back and listening. I don’t think it’s good for him to have someone hauling on his mouth in a snaffle.

At the moment I’m trying to work on preventing it happening in the first place but there are some times where it happens before I can catch it, and once he’s doing it, it’s hard to stop!

The difficultly is I’ve spent a long time working on his roundness and accepting the contact so I’m conscious about putting him in a bit which will stop him from wanting to seek the contact at the same time.

I’ve got a sponsored ride coming up in a week so ideally I’d like to put him in something to give me a bit more control so I don’t get my arms pulled out for 2 hours! My plan is to train him out of it and back into a normal snaffle once I can establish some more control.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Also open to training suggestions too!

So far we have tried the Myler Hanging Cheek, Neue Schule eggbutt snaffle.

To add his mouth confirmation is that he has a ‘short smile’ and a bit size of 4.75 inches. I was recommend by Neue schule to go for something with a slimmer mouth piece at TB’s tend to have low palate.

Thank you!

 

[Squeak]

What noseband have you got? I found the fairfax drop noseband made a big difference with mine and made it so that I could more easily teach him how I wanted him to canter xc. Others will be more knowledgeable than me but for mine he actually needed to be taught what I was expecting from him in a xc canter. He'd learnt from racing to do exactly as your describing and tip on to his forehand, he was just doing what he'd been taught and done all his life and it was something I had to consciously reschool. I used canter stretches out hacking to teach him as well as general schooling to improve his canter.

 

[TPO]

I’ve got a sponsored ride coming up in a week so ideally I’d like to put him in something to give me a bit more control so I don’t get my arms pulled out for 2 hours! My plan is to train him out of it and back into a normal snaffle once I can establish some more control

I'd cancel the sponsored ride. Why put yourself, and the horse, in the position to have negative experiences?

Easier to train from scratch than undo mistakes.

 

[sbloom]

A good bitting expert will look at any other contributory factors that may be causing him to be so strong and putting his head down, posture and way of going, compensatory patterns are highly likely to be involved. Roundness is an interesting one, it's not really something that we ask for, we put the horse in better balance, get the spine and ribcage under control, get the horse able to start to lift the base of the neck etc and then "roundness" comes over time. I'm sure I'm teaching granny to suck eggs but sometimes we hear the words but don't connect what it really means. Asking for roundness in front can often mean we're ignoring both the balance issue, and the fact that it's a compensation (lifting the head and neck to stop falling forwards) that the horse is using to deal with it. We end up with horses with their heads too deep and then coming behind the contact, and still strong in faster work. I have certainly had it happen to me back when I had my own.

 

[Bobthecob15]

Have you contacted Expert Bits? They have a free online consultation service, they were great with us https://expertbits.co.uk/bitting-advice/

One of their Universal bits might suit?

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I have to confess that having watched bitting consultants come and go at various livery yards over the years and seeing them usually recommend the latest fad bit to each horse they ve seen I’ve been very “so, so” about buying in their advice and have stuck to keep it as simple as possible principle. BUT at the weekend I had a bitting consultant visit daughters young newbie. She was ridden in the simple snaffle with lozenge we d selected and then his suggestions and wow the difference was almost instant and I’m a convert. Bearing in mind this is a 3year old and isn’t doing anything much her demeanour went from tense and short strides to relaxed, longer strides and beautifully forward moving. So I guess I’m saying..get a good bitting consultant !

 

[Lucky Snowball]

Lots of good ideas above. I’d be schooling out hacking mostly alone then in company, sticking with snaffles and maybe different nose bands. Short canters only to try to avoid the pulling and break the habit. Probably wouldn’t go on the group ride at this stage.

 

[BallyJ]

I had expert bits out to my mare a couple of months ago and really recommend them.

 

[MereChristmas]

I bought an expert bits universal late last year after a bit and bridle fitting. Although the bit has worked well I am not hugely impressed with it’s quality after nearly a years use.

 

[McGrools]

Grackle noseband. Its the go to for racehorses.

 

[Maesfen]

I always like a mullen mouth snaffle so they have nothing to fight against; a lot of TBs like them rather than a nutcracker action along with a drop noseband. If he's too strong then there's a mullen pelham, with or without roundings that will give you a bit more control; use either a leather or rubber curb chain and don't forget the lipstrap.

 

[HelenBack]

I'd recommend a bitting consultant too. I know it's a bit of an extra outlay but I think it's worth it to get to try lots of bits all at once, and even if you don't end up with one of the ones you try, the consultant can still tell you about your horse's mouth confirmation which will help you decide what type of bits to try in the future. I had one recently and definitely found it helpful, I got to try the two bits that NS had recommended to me and my horse hated them both!

In the meantime, if your horse got on with the hanging cheek or eggbutt that you've tried, maybe you could try the same mouthpiece but with cheeks that give you a bit more control. NS do a lot of their mouthpieces with universal or jumper cheeks so could be worth a go. I'd say just try it in the school before heading off out into the open in case the horse decides they feel over bitted in it. At least in the school you can jump off and change it quickly!

 

[planete]

An ex race horse I rode wore a Kineton noseband with a snaffle and seemed to really like it. He was soft and easily controllable in it even in company.

 

[ycbm]

I’ve got a sponsored ride coming up in a week

I would find a solution before putting him in that situation, your current situation is asking for this to be a very difficult and possibly dangerous ride.