Had a bad day :( advice needed for next time

charliehands

charliehands

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went out on a "cross country ride" organised by the local hunt. After the last time we went out on a fun ride i decided to take her out in a cheltenham gag as the last time she just galloped off with me with her head down so after some of research though a cheltenham would be good because its a head raising action.

Well we set off (hacked to it as it was only next door) everything was fine, got to the meet and she wouldnt stand still, just wanted to scoot backwards the whole time so i walked her around a bit which helped. once we set off that was it, off at full speed, would not stop no matter what I did. managed to stay out for an hour and she was getting worse so decided to go home.

So what would you suggest to try next time? I don't want to give up as I would like to have a proper day hunting with her but woukd rather it was fun for me as well as her!!

thanks for reading, here's a photo of us looking like we know what we're doing before we set off.
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You tried the dutch (3 ring) gag on her? I have always reverted back to it with mine but now have one with a waterford mouthpiece. I find it means I can get his head up without hauling on his mouth and, if i know he's going to be particularly strong (ie if doing x-country) then I will put it down on the 2nd ring. I haven't used the bottom ring for many many years as do not need that at all now but i certainly find the 2nd ring down makes a difference.
 
Oh no, that doesn't sound like much fun!

This just goes to show that using a bigger stronger bit doesn't always work. You don't say what you usually do with your horse, is she used to riding out in company, have you done things like trec or fun rides? If so how many and how successful were they

I would start off with a small group of hacking buddies and try to build it up a little each time you go out, your horse obviously finds it either exceptionally exciting or rather stressful and unless you deal with that you might never find a bit that works.
 
usually we go hacking, schooling, local show jumping. Her old owners took her hunting though. I have taken her out on a fun ride before which was a disaster as well. When we go out hacking we either go on our own or with 1 or 2 others and shes not bothered about being first or last.
 
I am not actually a fan of french links on my horse, they never seemed to work although never tried it with the gag. The waterford he seems to like though and I very rarely have to use the lower rings. I have tried loads of bits over the 17 years I've owned him and to be fair he's very well behaved horse and does dressage in a hanging snaffle. He has just always been heavy on his forehand and when he wants ot go he shoves his head down. Mine has never been uncontrollable though and would never run off BUT I just hate having to pull on a horse's mouth to bring it back to me and would rather a little pressure is applied to regain the control you want.

I am not a believer in there being strong or gentle bits, it's what suits the horse and what they (and the rider) are both happy and comfortable with.
 
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