dressage alternative to a show pelham? help!

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riverdale

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Just to recap off my last thread:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...please-with-a-strong-young-cob-bitting-advice

I ordered the mullen mouth barrel baucher (hanging cheek) myler with the port. She went beautifully in it the first 2 times i schooled her, i was so pleased. However its clear she is no longer happy in the myler. She keeps evading the bit now by putting her head up when i ask for a contact. Popped her back in the pelham and shes sweet again?!...............i never even have to use the curb rein.
She is due her teeth again end of summer but i don't think this is the issue.......she seems to like the heavier bit.
I am thinking of trying a basic straight forward mullen mouth hanging cheek and see how she goes? i want to do some dressage but can't until we get the bit sorted!
What do you use/tried for those of you with horses who prefer pelhams to snaffles?! or is it a case of continuing with the pelham and using the mullen for dressage days?
Help please
 
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riverdale

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How about a fulmer snaffle? its a bit more weightier than the hanging cheek?
I will be running my own bit bank at this rate!
 
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KSR

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A friend's TB prefers the rubber Pelham..

In the end, they had someone remove the bottom ring of the Pelham, leaving the horse with what's effectively a rubber hanging cheek version with exactly the same mouthpiece as the Pelham..

Horse now has either depending on the job he's doing.. Perhaps that could be a similar option with your horse's bit?

Sorry if I've misunderstood.. I'm having a fibro fog morning and it's early :)
 
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Janette

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I schooled, hacked and did everything in the pelham, and then popped the hanging cheek mullen in for the test.

Cortez. Sadly, in my experience, not all horses go sweetly in a snaffle. Believe me, I tried and tried with my mare. We schooled, had lessons, the works. Her bit of choice was a Sam Marsh pelham :( I finally listened to her, and we had a lovely 18 months before she had to be PTS. Shame I didn't listen earlier.

Our dressage scores improved considerably after I adopted this strategy.
 
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riverdale

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Janette said:
I schooled, hacked and did everything in the pelham, and then popped the hanging cheek mullen in for the test.
Click to expand...

May have to do this..........am going to order a mullen mouth plain hanging cheek and see how we get on. I think its something to do with the weightier bit. Or maybe even the security of the curb despite shes not ridden off it........
Any thoughts on trying a drop? that way she has something in her groove.....
 
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Sussexbythesea

Sussexbythesea

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If she was happy in the Myler for a couple of sessions and then not it seems to me it's not that it's necessarily uncomfortable it's just that she learns to evade it. Why would a bit be comfortable for two sessions and then not? Her mouth shape won't change in that time.

I know cobs are notorious for being strong. In your last post she was leaning on the bit and falling on her forehand in the halt now here you are saying she is putting her head above the bit. You will be using the curb to some extent even if you are not using the curb rein it still has some action even without the curb being deliberately used. You say she is not accepting the bit but this may be because she can evade it in a snaffle but can't in a Pelham not actually because she likes the Pelham.

I really do sympathise as my boy went beautifully in a Pelham in a showing class at the weekend but I struggle with a snaffle bit - he is 18 with a few physical issues and can get strong when he is over-excited. Your horse is only 5 and I think you need to see if everything is ok with her basic schooling before resorting to a Pelham. From having a really good instructor (List 1 Judge who also understands body mechanics and issues of the amateur rider) I found that one reason he went around with his head in the air was that he needed to relax over his back before asking him to be more forward and stepping through and then only asking for a little at a time. This meant some very slow trotting actually the opposite of what a lot of people say about getting them more forward - this just makes a stiffer horse more tense or a young unbalanced horse more unbalanced. This was a epiphany for me and made a lot of difference to my horse.

Hanging cheek snaffle is the only bit that gives a bit of poll pressure that is dressage legal as far as I know and I do use one with a flash.
 
blitznbobs

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I've ridden cobs all my life and I have owned 10 and ridden a lot mo re (I also ride dutchwarmbloods) and I have never met a horse that wouldn't go well in a snaffle. If it's strong itk needs to learn some manners and if it leans you need to tach it not to. A horse can evade any bit it's just a case of not allowing it. The reason dressage demands a snaffle is so that the horses have to be trained to the same standard.

I have ridden and competed for over 30 years now (Ouch) and I am truely of the belief that the idea that any horse that can tolerate a bit in their mouth can go sweetly in a snaffle..
 
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riverdale

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blitznbobs said:
I've ridden cobs all my life and I have owned 10 and ridden a lot mo re (I also ride dutchwarmbloods) and I have never met a horse that wouldn't go well in a snaffle. If it's strong itk needs to learn some manners and if it leans you need to tach it not to. A horse can evade any bit it's just a case of not allowing it. The reason dressage demands a snaffle is so that the horses have to be trained to the same standard.

I have ridden and competed for over 30 years now (Ouch) and I am truely of the belief that the idea that any horse that can tolerate a bit in their mouth can go sweetly in a snaffle..
Click to expand...


I really don't think its a schooling/training issue, more of a comfort one...............saying that though i schooled her today in the myler and tried a flash, after a really good warming up she softened up and we had a good 10 mins lovely fluent work out of her. I don't want to be "masking" the problem though by sticking a flash on.......would rather still find something she is comfortable in without added extras
 
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