Pony with sensitive mouth

[Linsbaz]

Hi, I am new so a big hello!!

I recently bought my daughter a lovely welsh b who came with a Wilkie snaffle. He lunges and handles really well but the minute my daughter is on him and even touches the reins, he gets really prancy and goes faster. It’s knocking my daughters confidence as she’s still learning however I’m wondering if he’s overly sensitive on the mouth and what bit others would recommend I try? My daughter can be quite heavy with her hands, despite my efforts to show her otherwise. He’s not a plod and is quite forward although appears to listen and come back when asked. Any advice welcome.

 

[redapple]

Hello! Welcome to the forum.

You will get more response in the tack room forum but the first thing you need to do is check teeth. No bit swapping etc. is going to help if he's got pain in his mouth. If the dentists says all ok then there's three routes imo to take depending on what you / instructor think.

1) get someone more experience (or yourself if you are small enough) to jump on and see how pony goes.
2) Leading on from one if that goes ok then daughter needs to learn to soften her hands. If shes gripping because of balance try some lunge lessons without the reins (but with neck strap!) to try help. Markers on the reins so she doesnt ride too short. Get some good lessons. You cant blame the pony for not wanting and objecting to get pulled in the mouth. (Daughter should obviously be working on this anyway but it may not be the cause of the problem).
3) If dentist says everything is ok but horse doesnt respond differently to a good rider then ask dentist to give you some advice about the layout of ponies mouth - big tonge? Amount of space that kind of thing. You can then ring the bit bank and see if they have any suggestions and see if a bit would help.

Hope thats some help!

 

[redapple]

also worth adding do you lunge with the saddle on? I'm presuming daughter weighs very little so I jumped to the bit but it could be the saddle too. Rushing forwards can often be a restrictive saddle. If you've bought pony with tack unfortunatly you can't presume that it fits.

Obviously worth getting the saddle fitter out but a quick check would be lunge pony without the saddle for 5 mins, with the saddle for 5 mins and then with daughter without her holding the reins for 5 mins. If it's not the saddle/back then pony should move the same (same rhythm, stride length etc) in all three instances. It doesnt rule out that the saddle doesnt fit but it should show you if the saddle is a big problem.