hard in the mouth-help!

[el_Snowflakes]

Hi all,

just looking for some advice. My horse is very hard in the mouth. I currently ride her in a nue schule elavator bit as it keeps her off the forehand. My RI suggested i ride her in a french link but i just have no control over speed/brakes with it. I can give all the HALT signals with my seat, head, legs but nothing! then i pull the reigns and its like she doesnt even feel me pulling. I recken she has been ridden in a few harsh bits in the past (eg. waterford gag)but i just want to be able to ride her in a snaffle without havig my arms pulled out their sockets!

help!

 

[flyingfeet]

You probably need to laterally remouth your horse, and use a full cheek to start with

Basically when they don't halt, slow down or respond you bend the head to your foot to bring them round and they then re-learn the stop commands.

However this is not a quick fix and you'll need to put in some training effort

 

[Tickles]

I once heard someone say that to ride a strange horse well you have to ride it a little like it is used to being ridden. I'm not entirely sure it isn't sometimes good to just switch to doing things 'your way' but that advice would mean in your case that would mean riding in a gradually more gentle bit, reducing the harshness of the bit gradually as the horse gets a softer mouth.

If you have no breaks through high-spirits rather than panic/pain then it probably means
- your horse doesn't get as much turn out as would suit
- your horse doesn't get to go for a good blast out hacking as often as would suit
- your horse is getting more high-energy feed than it needs
- your horse generally thinks it is control rather than you
- your horse doesn't trust you to make good decisions yet
Personally I'd prefer to work on as many of the above as apply before using a strong bit. If your RI thinks you could move straight to a French Link then go for it in the school first but keep the other for out hacking. Otherwise perhaps try the more-gentle-by stages approach.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

I once heard someone say that to ride a strange horse well you have to ride it a little like it is used to being ridden. I'm not entirely sure it isn't sometimes good to just switch to doing things 'your way' but that advice would mean in your case that would mean riding in a gradually more gentle bit, reducing the harshness of the bit gradually as the horse gets a softer mouth.

If you have no breaks through high-spirits rather than panic/pain then it probably means
- your horse doesn't get as much turn out as would suit
- your horse doesn't get to go for a good blast out hacking as often as would suit
- your horse is getting more high-energy feed than it needs
- your horse generally thinks it is control rather than you
- your horse doesn't trust you to make good decisions yet
Personally I'd prefer to work on as many of the above as apply before using a strong bit. If your RI thinks you could move straight to a French Link then go for it in the school first but keep the other for out hacking. Otherwise perhaps try the more-gentle-by stages approach.

Thanks for your replies

however, I dont believe any of this is the case Tickles.

-she gets at least 5hr turnout through the week and about 8hrs on weekends...
-we do a variety of activities every week, schooling, jumping, hacking and galloping
-she doesnt get hard feed
-she does trust me and we have an excellent bond-(follows me about etc)

ps. She is very headstrong. She had both her back and teeth done last month and her overall health and condition is excellent

 

[LiveryList]

In my experience many people have trouble stopping or having general control in French links!

Sounds to me like the horse is quite hard mouthed but this can become a catch 22 situation whereby you have to pull harder for the horse to feel it but in that you are hardening their mouth further. I would definately put in some basic stop start and transition schooling with minimal contact in a basic bit and teach the horse to respect more the commands from the seat, voice and legs before looking to change bit.

However- if you did want to change bit in the long or short term- in my experience i have always found a Waterford snaffle good for soetening mouths as there is nothing for them to pull or lean against but it needs to be used correctly otherwise is a fairly strong bit- i always use it for the mouthpiece, not for the strength of the bit overall!

 

[JanetGeorge]

ps. She is very headstrong. She had both her back and teeth done last month and her overall health and condition is excellent

But she is uneducated and/or has had her mouth abused! This is an education problem and - frankly - the bit at one end of the reins is FAR less important than the hands at the other!

Do you lunge her?? And does she understand voice aids??

If the answer to either is no, I would get her on the lunge and teach her voice aids - particularly 'whoa'! When backing horses, we never get on until horse is pretty much word perfect on voice aids. We also NEVER ride youngsters without a neck strap so when we need to stop, the aid is the voice and a pull on the neck strap. Gradually the seat and rein aids are added to the mix - but the voice and neck strap aids are the PRIMARY aids for at LEAST the first 3 months.

Your horse's mouth is almost certainly 'hard' because whoever did her early schooling, 'taught' her to stop by pulling on the mouth! (Horses DON'T pull - riders pull!!)