Horse with incredibly fussy mouth

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1alex1moose

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Hi all,
My horse is really fussy in the mouth and as soon as you put his bridle on he starts opening his mouth and stretching out his neck and as soon as you pick up a contact he goes overbent. But two seconds later once he is working forward he can get quite strong... nightmare. He has had his teeth checked and nothing wrong there - have also tried flashes and grackles but he's actually stretched his flash by trying to open his mouth so much!!
I've tried him in a hackamore but once he's a bit whizzy (ie jumping or out and about on tracks) he can get quite strong and just chooses to totally ignore it.. but for the most part it works brilliantly all be it with slightly ropey steering.
bit wise we've tried every snaffle in the land and he hates them all. gah.
what i'm wondering is do i use both with a double head piece - but i really feel this is overkill as he's only a 4 year old (rising 5). if not what alternatives do i have??
help?!?!
 
Whats his mouth conformation like? i.e how fat is his tongue, how much room in roof of mouth, etc. This has a massive bearing on bit choice. Could he have wolf teeth coming though? they may not be visible yet?

i have found a waterford successful on many fussy mouthed horses, particularly if they havnt got much room in their mouths
 
He has a short, reasonaly narrow and fleshy mouth. His tongue is not overly large but he has very fleshy cheeks on the inside. He has no wolf teeth coming through - we've already had some of those out!
He seems to prefer a straight bar to a double jointed bit at the moment but he still faffs with it.
 
If he prefers a straight bar to a jointed but maybe look at the new Hilary Vernon range from Abbey Bits - they are unjointed dressage legal bits but curved to give some tongue room, my boy has a fleshy mouth so I bought one to try on him - they are not cheap though!

PM me if you want me to take a pic of mine for you
 
my rising 4yro is fussy in her mouth but because i had the same problems with her sister i knew what to expect!

she is in a myler bit with a port- no real joints as such but each bit ring can move independently.

i do lots of long reining and also have found lunging with really elastic leg straps instead of side reins to be very beneficial as it allows her to work out that resisting causes a bit more weight in the rein and yielding in nicer. they are so elastic though she has nothing to fight with.

i would also not do things like jumping and fast hacks if they make him silly for now- nor would i use a flash/grackle/drop or any other device so keep his mouth shut at this age- the problem needs to be solved not covered up.
 
I would second the Myler comfort snaffle, worked for my fussy mouthed girl, it is not a quick fix, but works better than any other bit I have tried. I also use only cavesson noseband, but if you need a bit more control I would go for mexican grackle rather than flash.
 
Try a myler combo. Takes the emphasis away from the mouth. It works initially like a hackamore then engages the mouth if needed, but with the pressure distributed. Steering is like with a bit. Either an 02 or an 04 mouthpiece and many places hire them. Great bits for fussy Horses like you describe.
 
my conni has been really fussy , he hates anything on his tounge and we work him in a half moon french link at home and for the ring we have a waterford pelham on him , which seems to have solved the probs
 
Do you really trust the person who has checked his teeth? was it a vet or an EDT?
I had the same problem with my horse when I first got him, the vet did his teeth twice in the space of 5 months , bit of an improvement but not enormous... ended up getting a qualified EDT to look at him and he told me his teeth looked as if they had not been done properly for years.... made a huge improvement.... might not be the case with yours, but worth to mention.

Plus... even after the teeth were done properly my horse hated a flash or grakle...was a bit better in a very loose cavesson, but was still not that happy... I have ended up trying him in a drop noseband.. thinking behind trying it was that it looked like he hated having something round his molars... the difference is quite remarkable so far, he is much less fussy in the mouth and much more willing to take the contact forward and move with a longer outline.
 
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