Left side of his mouth is dead...?!

H

Hollyhorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 January 2007
Messages
367
Location
Gloucestershire
Visit site
I've owned my new horse for just over 2 weeks now (4, rising 5 yr old). The problem is he's got a really hard left side of his mouth - it feels like he's always leaning on your left hand, it's really heavy. Then the right side of his mouth is super soft, as soon as you touch it he turns his head so you have to go round with a loose right rein, as soon as you touch it he turns so if I tried to keep a contact I would end up going round in circles to the right! I've had his teeth done, back checked, saddle checked, he passed a vetting when I bought him - so shouldn't have any probs. His bridle fits and I'm having a bit made for him because he's 5 1/4 ", am riding him in a 5 1/2 at the mo. Am using a loose-ring french-link fulmer snaffle to ride. Any thoughts on why he's doing this? Any tips on what I can do? I'm at a bit of a loss!
 
Just sounds like his age at the moment. Mine was exactly the same last year. Don't forget we are all one sided as well and will ride stronger on one rein than the other. My tip that was given to me by my instructor, was to ride with a strong outside rein, no inside rein and instead of riding circles, ride squares or diamond shapes. This will help him strenthen and sit in your outside hand, it will obviously take some time, but stick with it you will get results in the end. I also lunge mine regularly as this helps him build and strengthen without my weight wobbling about on top !!!!!
crazy.gif
 
Quite a normal phase for a horse to go through.

What you currently have on the left rein is a stiff neck and back, so therefore you need to flex the left rein to the inside whilst working from your left leg to your outside rein. Exercises to help with this are shoulder fore (not quite shoulder in), riding a smaller circle and push from the inside leg to the outside rein whilst flexing the neck to the left and release it once he's 'given', be sure not to hang onto the left rein, he must be off your inside leg, also try some leg yeilding from your left leg and push him over but ensure he goes forward at the same time don't make it too steep.

What you have on the right rein is a false flexion so don't be fooled by it, you will need to ride quite straight on this rein and again do the same exercises but without the inside flexion from the rein, he must learn to accept the inside contact.

Hope that helps but let me know if you want me to explain anything..
 
Its not his mouth, its the fact he is stiffer one side than the other. Do loads and loads of walk an trot work asking for a small amount of bend, loads of big circles, and teach him to go from your inside leg to outside hand, so softening the inside contact, keep the sessions short but slow, so loads of walk/trot/transitions being correct in the bend, and he will soon muscle up correctly and become even. Thats why it is SO important not to rush babies, as too much can damage muscles/ligaments etc as they won't work evenly. MAke sure you do lots of stretching and warming up and down properly to keep muscles warm and supple too. Hope that helps!!
 
My young horse was exactly the same...nearly pulled you out of the saddle on the left rein, really heavy, using me as a fifth leg! I know it sounds mad but you have to completly let go of the left rein and get him to take some weight in the right rein. I had regularly lessons and we had to take everything back to simple commands slow down his paces and do lots of transitions etc, using the right rein... he never actually crashed into the side of the school but there were plenty of times when I thought he would! It has taken a long time well over 6 months to finally get an even weight in both reins... keep going its worth it!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top