Jingleballs
Well-Known Member
Im looking for some suggestions as to which of these would best suit my horse based on the different actions of the bit rings and the way that I school my horse.
After a lesson from my regular instructor (whos been a bit busy recently) Ive got my head back on straight regarding what I need to do to help my horse to work correctly.
This effectively involves making sure hes off the leg and using very small, subtle bends and movements of the rein to encourage softness and suppleness through his neck.
The way she describes it is to pretend Im playing the piano whenever hes tense or trying to fix or poke his nose I make sure hes in front of the leg and then when Im sure he is I move my fingers (not my hands) and squeeze/buzz the rein to encourage him to relax.
Having tried the opening and closing of the hand to encourage bend and finding this just made him more tense I think we are both much happier with this approach.
I have been riding him in a loose ring revolver for a couple of years hes fine with it Id switched him to this because he can lean on the rein and the thinking was that as the bit ring is less fixed he wont be able to lean as much although he does tend to tilt his head slightly with this bit.
I popped him back in his old hanging cheek French link the other night to see how he goes and he felt fine it was clearer to me when he was trying to lean and although I had to be quite quick with my fingers to loosen him off it did work. I also felt that it made my contact more stable.
My thinking behind the switch was that if Im using this technique to ask him to soften, could the action of the loose ring almost be too much in term of movement i.e. whatever message I am trying to send is being mixed up by the movement of the bit ring whereas with the hanging cheek, the bit ring is fixed so yes its easier for him to lean but at the same time I have more control over how active the bit is in his mouth if that makes sense?
Maybe Im totally over thinking it but it was just something I was pondering and though it would be good to get some thoughts!
After a lesson from my regular instructor (whos been a bit busy recently) Ive got my head back on straight regarding what I need to do to help my horse to work correctly.
This effectively involves making sure hes off the leg and using very small, subtle bends and movements of the rein to encourage softness and suppleness through his neck.
The way she describes it is to pretend Im playing the piano whenever hes tense or trying to fix or poke his nose I make sure hes in front of the leg and then when Im sure he is I move my fingers (not my hands) and squeeze/buzz the rein to encourage him to relax.
Having tried the opening and closing of the hand to encourage bend and finding this just made him more tense I think we are both much happier with this approach.
I have been riding him in a loose ring revolver for a couple of years hes fine with it Id switched him to this because he can lean on the rein and the thinking was that as the bit ring is less fixed he wont be able to lean as much although he does tend to tilt his head slightly with this bit.
I popped him back in his old hanging cheek French link the other night to see how he goes and he felt fine it was clearer to me when he was trying to lean and although I had to be quite quick with my fingers to loosen him off it did work. I also felt that it made my contact more stable.
My thinking behind the switch was that if Im using this technique to ask him to soften, could the action of the loose ring almost be too much in term of movement i.e. whatever message I am trying to send is being mixed up by the movement of the bit ring whereas with the hanging cheek, the bit ring is fixed so yes its easier for him to lean but at the same time I have more control over how active the bit is in his mouth if that makes sense?
Maybe Im totally over thinking it but it was just something I was pondering and though it would be good to get some thoughts!
