Bitting advice please

[Learntobounce]

Hi everyone,

I have a 10 year old Welsh Section C that i have had about a year now. When i got her she was very green and had no confidence jumping. She was in my opinion overbitted in a 3ring gag. In the last 12 months i have been reschooling her on the flat and over fences and she has made huge improvements. Originally she was very strong as she used to hold the bit for balance especially in Canter. I changed her into a double joined snaffle with lozenge and she seemed to go quite well in it on the flat and really well jumping to begin with. On the flat she would snatch and although her consistancy has improved she was hard work and very heavy on the hand in Canter. As she has gained confidence jumping she has got faster and more difficult to control between fences, nothing terrible but i hate having to pull and upset the rhythm. I have tried a vulcanite pelham on her to see what would happen and OMG, on the flat she is a different pony, consistant, light, bending beautifully, not strong in canter, more balanced and generally a pleasure to ride (shes very strong willed and boulchy in nature so i think she respects the pelham more) However jumping is a different matter, she prefers to lift her head before the fence and struggles in the pelham. Its not the right jumping bit for her. What would people suggest i jump her in???? I am thinking of trying a hanging cheek snaffle but im not sure its going to be strong enough, and the 3 ring gag she was in before will only lift her head more, any tips or suggestions please. (she has seen an equine physio/chiro and dentist recently, she was tight in the poll which was worked on and her teeth are all good.)
Thankyou in advance.

 

[old hand]

If she is raising her head into a fence and not changing her rythmn she is just trying to put her head where her eyes can see the fence you should not try to correct that as she won't be able to see it properly. Horses' eyes are on the side of their head and don't work like ours. Have a watch of the Global Champions tour on Horse and Country if you have it, you will see that the horses all go in an outline on the flat, before and after their rounds but are allowed to carry their head where they want into the fences. There is a blind spot in front of the fence depending upon where each individual horse's eyes are on its head , the farther apart they are the larger it is so those horses will need to see their stride sooner and often chuck their heads up if the rider is holding onto them. If you can see all of both eyes from the front it hardly affects them at all so they tend to have a steadier head carriage into a fence and jump cleaner. Make sure your hands are soft all the way in and , yes, a pelham will lower the head so could be causing her problems. I personally don't like three ring gags either as they give the rider an indirect contact which tends to go on and off. How about a neue schule verbindend, it lifts the shoulder and helps prevent leaning but are sharp in the wrong hands, If you have good hands you should find a real improvement and better brakes, they also do hanging snaffle versions and a cheltenham gag version which I would prefer for a truly strong horse. I would not suggest that as the first option though! Good luck and if you ask around your area maybe you could borrow one to try?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hi everyone,

I have a 10 year old Welsh Section C that i have had about a year now. When i got her she was very green and had no confidence jumping. She was in my opinion overbitted in a 3ring gag. In the last 12 months i have been reschooling her on the flat and over fences and she has made huge improvements. Originally she was very strong as she used to hold the bit for balance especially in Canter. I changed her into a double joined snaffle with lozenge and she seemed to go quite well in it on the flat and really well jumping to begin with. On the flat she would snatch and although her consistancy has improved she was hard work and very heavy on the hand in Canter. As she has gained confidence jumping she has got faster and more difficult to control between fences, nothing terrible but i hate having to pull and upset the rhythm. I have tried a vulcanite pelham on her to see what would happen and OMG, on the flat she is a different pony, consistant, light, bending beautifully, not strong in canter, more balanced and generally a pleasure to ride (shes very strong willed and boulchy in nature so i think she respects the pelham more) However jumping is a different matter, she prefers to lift her head before the fence and struggles in the pelham. Its not the right jumping bit for her. What would people suggest i jump her in???? I am thinking of trying a hanging cheek snaffle but im not sure its going to be strong enough, and the 3 ring gag she was in before will only lift her head more, any tips or suggestions please. (she has seen an equine physio/chiro and dentist recently, she was tight in the poll which was worked on and her teeth are all good.)
Thankyou in advance.

I would contact the bit bank for a better answer as you will hear so many different advise here and the Bit Bank let you try them out
http://www.horsebitbank.com/