horse going behind the bit

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nicole1968

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hi i have had my youngster 3 months now and i have been doing lots of schooling to get him out of the habit of going behind the bit he really curls his head in i think he has been put in side reins and pulled in, i have got him really going down and accepting a contact a bit more in the school i know its going to take time, the problem i have is when out hacking i can,t get him to stop curling up and then he marches off as i have no contact dont know how to stop him doing this he is doing so well in the school it is just out hacking, he is 5 in may
 
Legs, legs and more legs ? Make sure you are not riding with too heavy a hand,

As a general rule I focus on getting my youngsters going forward before I worry about where their head it. We tend to have them up and off the bit to start with.
 
This sounds like discomfort - he is possibly over-yielding to pressure in his mouth.

Do you ride him in a snaffle? If so - then he is probably doing this to ty to get away from the nut-cracker action on the roof of his mouth. Tucking his head in negates the action of the bit.

Many prople think a thick chunky bit is kinder - it is, but only if the horse has space in his mouth for it.

Check your bit - a thinner bit may be nicer than a fat bit if he does not have space in his mouth. Mylar comfort snaffles are often best. Check the roof of his mouth for bruises or tender bits from the snaffle. Try it round your wrist to work out the action - you may be surprised just how severe it is.

As for stopping him - all you need to do is to ask him to yield his head whilst disengaging his quarters. That's how you stop a horse kindly! The right side won't go anywhere without the left side! Pulling back will only make this worse.

The answer is in your hands.
 
Teeth check, ride him forward with lots of leg like eggs said but also soft hands like SMID said. Mine does something similar by tensing his neck and holding it there rather than relaxing into it. I've found a good exercise when warming up is in walk to work on a figure of eight and on the half circle ends of the 8 work in an outline and when on the cross over/straight let go of all contact. Literally drop the reins and hold the buckle (obviously if it's safe). That way he is learning to pick up and let go. Also lots of flexing and leg yield (altho we are still working on the LY).

Also i would do some lunging and try and encourage him to stretch out like that. Mine can't be told so has to work everything out for himself so I find sending him off on the lunge helps.
 
im thinking of lunging him a passoa cos if you put side reins on him he just brings his head right in and fixes even if they are on slack its as if he has been taught this from the stat now i have to get him out of it, i agree it doesnt matter were his head is at mo i just need to get him out of this habit its not fun when you havent got any contact cos he has gone so vertical
 
No - a passoa solves nothing. It is not a piece of equipment I would recommend at all for this - this is not something you can fix with a gadget.

Soft hands, check out the bit, forward - as an experiment try riding him on a headcollar in the schook and see if he does the same.
 
i do ride with soft hands and he is ridden in a cupro nickle lozenge loose ring bit that isnt thick in the school ican get him going really long and low but as soon as i try to get a contact he does this he is laid back for a youngster someone has suggested a degogue
 
If this is happening when you try to get a contact - then that is telling you something important that you must listen to. This is a discomfort signal - he is evading pressure - either on his nose or in his mouth..

You can try all sorts of gadgets, but without understanding the underlying problem a gadget may not fix it and may make it much worse. Both degogue and pesoa enccourage head to go down so do you really want to do this at the moment?

If you must use a bit - then have a look at the Myler comfort snaffle. If you can't borrow or buy one try the bitbank (I have 2).

The Myler is a thinner bit, but has not got the nutcracker action of the snaffle - it has independant side action - so basically the sides swivel on a central barrel giving the same kind of signals of a snaffle, but not the nutcracker action of the snaffle

A snaffle does two things - it "folds" and therefore bangs the roof of the mouth, and the second thing is that it squeezez and pinches the lower jaw (look for petechiae on the tongue, bars etc). A losenge is better - but it still has that same basic action.

Just as an experiment (not on a lunge line) just walk around the school with your reins onto the headcollar - no bit or bridle - and just see if he does the same - he may well do if it is now an evasion tactic
 
i bet if you get his teeth done properly it will solve this problem.its often caused when the caudal/rostral movement is blocked(forwards and backwards) hence when you take contact his jaw is supposed to slide back if it cant then he will find it uncomfortable...the causes are often linked to feeding out of hay nets rather from ground level.
 
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