Head shaking

[rup93]

Hi
My TB green 7 year old mare tosses and shakes her head around and leans on bit. (been seen by vet and is not head shake syndrome, has had teeth checked) She is currently in Tom Thumb bit ,have also tried a eggbutt snaffle which was no better if not worse. Not sure if she is just being bad mannered as has had a bad experience with previous owner letting her get away with it. If so what do you think i should do to deter her from doing this? Any recommendation on bits, training aids or techniques that will help.
Thanks

 

[LouiseG]

Have you had her back and saddle checked?

The times my boy throws his head about is either due to his neck being sore if he's been ridden fairly hard in a lesson and he is needing to stretch out, or out of protest when being asked to work properly. When it's the latter I ride with a loose contact and push him forwards and he stops. He mainly does it when he is throwing his toys out of the pram but I would make sure she is comfy in her back and saddle before assuming its anything else.

Have you tried a loose ring with a lozenge? Worked well for my horse as he used to lean on the bit and was really on the forehand.

 

[DuckToller]

Try experimenting with some other bits - our new mare objected to most but settled nicely in a straight bar happy mouth - the sort you would use on a baby! I think she doesn't like metal, whereas when we tried that on another horse it objected most strongly and preferred a metal bit with lozenge. So much depends on the shape of their mouth etc.