Overbending Solutions

[vicm2509]

This is about my friends new horse. When she got him a few weeks ago he was quite hard to ride into a contact. Now all of a sudden he is very overbent. He is ridden on a normal eggbutt snaffle with plain cavesson noseband. He is quite a forward horse and works nicely from behind. She used draw reins on him for a few days before the overbending issue but she does not use them to force his head in, however he is now overbending with and without the draw reins.

Is the overbending another way of him evading the contact, rather than sticking his nose out like he was before?

I have advised for her to higher her hands and lighten the contact but wondered if anyone else has any suggestions as I have not actually worked with an overbent horse before.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Yes it is deffinately annother way of evading the bit.

Have his teeth been checked? Often when they actively avoid working nicely they have something wrong in their mouths
If everything is ok in the teeth area, lift your hands slightly and take a lighter contact, keep pushing forwards and encouraging him stretch down

This is what i was told to do with my boy in a similar situation and within the month i had him working from behind in nice outline and in self carriage.