lrequine
Member
Hi folks. So my last thread was about nasal discharge and bad behaviour and mouth cuts etc. Now that the whole nasal discharge has cleared up on my horse, I'd like to focus on bitting if anyone has any helpful knowledge.
Again I'm sure this is talked about a thousand times over, but to be specific to my horse, these mouth cuts really are a pain in the arse. I treat it with salt and vaseline, leave it for a while, the cuts clear up, the usual 'lather-rinse-repeat' situation. My boy STILL gets mouth cuts over and over. He is in an eggbutt double-jointed snaffle as basic as it comes, and the cuts only happen on one side - the left, and therefore he leans a lot to the one side. One helpful source from the last thread said that the cause is that the bit/bridle combination is not good for him, which gives me the motive to change the bit. However it's a question of what.
Please don't tell me it's all in the hands as I've heard this before. My hands aren't particularly harsh at all, except for when there's a lot of resistance between me and him because that's just his behaviour given the state of his mouth. I always try to take the approach of 'contact over pressure,' but it seems that as soon as I pick up proper contact he fights it all the time - this seems to be both the cause and effect of the mouth cuts, and my notion is this: there must be something softer and dressage-legal (so no bitless bridles!) that I can put on him to prevent the mouth cuts, and therefore make him more comfortable in the future.
Many thanks!
Again I'm sure this is talked about a thousand times over, but to be specific to my horse, these mouth cuts really are a pain in the arse. I treat it with salt and vaseline, leave it for a while, the cuts clear up, the usual 'lather-rinse-repeat' situation. My boy STILL gets mouth cuts over and over. He is in an eggbutt double-jointed snaffle as basic as it comes, and the cuts only happen on one side - the left, and therefore he leans a lot to the one side. One helpful source from the last thread said that the cause is that the bit/bridle combination is not good for him, which gives me the motive to change the bit. However it's a question of what.
Please don't tell me it's all in the hands as I've heard this before. My hands aren't particularly harsh at all, except for when there's a lot of resistance between me and him because that's just his behaviour given the state of his mouth. I always try to take the approach of 'contact over pressure,' but it seems that as soon as I pick up proper contact he fights it all the time - this seems to be both the cause and effect of the mouth cuts, and my notion is this: there must be something softer and dressage-legal (so no bitless bridles!) that I can put on him to prevent the mouth cuts, and therefore make him more comfortable in the future.
Many thanks!