Bitting advice pleaase?!!

[EquestrianFairy]

Hmmm ok so here it is...

The current horse i ride is on loan with a view to buy (im going to buy him but his loan doesnt finish until April 09)

Anyways.. hes brilliant in most ways apart from when hacking towards home, excitable or jumping where he gets really quite strong.

He wears a martingale as when hes evading he chucks his head up, he wears a grackle for some addtional support and is in a myler low port comfort full cheek.

We were doing some walk to halt transistions today and althouh majority of the time he was listening, when heading home he deicded he didnt want to listen and tried to canter off where i had zero control so turned him into a bush.
(He didnt bolt, there was no danger involved he just ignored me)

I hate the thought of putting some harsh bit in his normally butter soft mouth but..

A) Im unsure what to do
B) Unsure what Bit to change to if its the correct thing to do
and
C) needing help!

 

[Silverspring]

The low port is a level 2 mouth if I remember correctly so it puts more pressure on the bars of the mouth and less on the tongue. The tongue pressure is what will stop a horse so you could consider moving him to a level 1 mouth piece to see if the extra pressure made the difference. It's not that it's more severe it's just that it's clearer for the horse to know when pressure is on it which is why it's recommend for young or unschooled horse.

Other suggestion would be to try a hanging cheek as you'll get the same stearing as the full cheek (or close) with a little pole pressue but it's not anywhere near putting a gag in.

 

[OneInAMillion]

try a hanging cheek snaffle

you can get them with a lihnk to make them softer or not
but they are gentle but a small bit of poll pressure just makesthem listen a bit more