Noseband/schooling question

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flirtygerty

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My lad is normally ridden in a flash noseband, because when slowing down his trot (x trotter) he opens his mouth, he needs a new noseband and I was thinking of trying a drop noseband, or better still is there any way I can ride him through the mouth opening thing, I have no arena, so use time out hacking to school, he has never took off, but there's always a first time
 
His teeth have just been done, his saddle and back have been checked in the last couple of months, our fields tend to slope and the only reasonably flatish
bit in the big field has a telegraph pole and is saturated.
I have always assumed it's down to excitement, he came from traveller stock and was driven more than ridden
 
I would work on his schooling [ much can be done on the ground ] to supple him - as an exdriver he has learned to push into pressure - including that of the bit. Its a hard habit to break- my horse was excessively longreined [ or perhaps heavy handed longreined] and its been a long joureny getting him a nice mouth!Nosebands cover the problem , better to tackle the cause!
 
I like a drop noseband, my big horse goes in one. Don't do it up tightly, just enough. The new horse hates it with a passion and I've heard of quite a lot of horses objecting so I'd see if you can borrow one first, or buy the really cheap one from Robinsons (about £12) to try out for a while. The Robinsons one is crap quality but it'll give you an idea of if he likes it. I had one custom made once I knew my horse liked it.
 
IME if they open the mouth when you apply pressure with the bit, its either because you're being too heavy handed or they don't like that particular bit or its the wrong size. I would start by experimenting with different bits, ask around to see what you can borrow, even if its not quite the right size you can get an idea of whether the horse prefers the mouthpiece or not.
 
I have a pacer and she does the same thing, she was in a drop when she first came to me but later was ridden in a loose flash to stop her opening her mouth so wide she could evade the bit and this worked better for her as wasn't so restricting.

I spent a long time trying to school her but this was something deepset in her and although would continue with no noseband when schooling, out hacking the priority was to keep us both safe so we used the flash.

I then tried riding her bitless in just a halter and that actually worked out best for us most of all, she was a much more sensitive ride and listened to me better without her constant battle with the bit.
 
I agree with cornbrodolly, work on schooling. I don't like strapping mouths shut as I feel it just disguises any problem. I'd rather school through as long as the horse has been thoroughly examined for any physical problems. :)
 
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