Something stronger than a Pelham for a tank

[Marydoll]

First of all, instead of filling your horse's mouth with a load of ironmongery you need to accept that this is a schooling issue.

I have spent most of my teaching life trying to make people understand that NO human is strong enough to force half a hundredweight of muscle and bone to stop by hauling on its mouth. All horses are strong but what people mostly mean when they say a horse is strong is that it's manners need attending to.

If you put a bit in his mouth that gets the reaction you describe it will NOT solve the issue it will MAKE IT WORSE. If his mouth hurts he will run away faster.

You and the horse need lessons with an instructor who understands that he needs to be taught that you are in charge and that you need to learn how to stop a horse with your whole body and not just your arms. This is not a quick fix. It will take time as he is going to have to unlearn a bad habit. Until he is safe galloping you should not be doing X-country or anything which gives him the opportunity to tank off with you.

If you are still having problems after you have gone down the aforementioned track and before you do anything as silly as using a driving bit I would suggest you learn to ride him side saddle. Because your seat is more secure that astride you have more chance of a) staying on and b)stopping a runaway horse. I can promise you that he will only do it a couple of times and when he finds out that it does him no good he will stop tanking. And before you have hysterics about the common misconceptions about SS ypu need to remember that it was commonplace for the old horsemen (including my grandfather) to school difficult horses in side saddle because they could give their full attention to the horse and not to trying to stay on.

If you do a lot of X-country (after you have attended to the tanking issue) and you have "good" hands (ie you don't hang on his mouth) you may find an American gag helps as a light hand on this type of bit is often kinder than heavy hands on a Pelham.

Nice first post. Hope you put your tin hat on, or you could just step back under the bridge

 

[Dovorian]

I would feel a bit nervous side saddle on a horse known to rear..

 

[Marydoll]

If using a Cheltenham gag remember that it is designed to be used with two reins - one on the snaffle ring for normal use and one on the gag ring to back up the snaffle if the snaffle rein alone doesn't do the business and you need to follow up with a bit more umph.

Yes, I know, you rarely see it used correctly these days but that shouldn't stop you using it correctly.

Really !! I think if you read my post thats how i used mine, and advised the op to use 2 reins with it

 

[Enfys]

First of all, instead of filling your horse's mouth with a load of ironmongery you need to accept that this is a schooling issue.

I have spent most of my teaching life trying to make people understand that NO human is strong enough to force half a hundredweight of muscle and bone to stop by hauling on its mouth. All horses are strong but what people mostly mean when they say a horse is strong is that it's manners need attending to.

If you put a bit in his mouth that gets the reaction you describe it will NOT solve the issue it will MAKE IT WORSE. If his mouth hurts he will run away faster.

You and the horse need lessons with an instructor who understands that he needs to be taught that you are in charge and that you need to learn how to stop a horse with your whole body and not just your arms. This is not a quick fix. It will take time as he is going to have to unlearn a bad habit. Until he is safe galloping you should not be doing X-country or anything which gives him the opportunity to tank off with you.

If you are still having problems after you have gone down the aforementioned track and before you do anything as silly as using a driving bit I would suggest you learn to ride him side saddle. Because your seat is more secure that astride you have more chance of a) staying on and b)stopping a runaway horse. I can promise you that he will only do it a couple of times and when he finds out that it does him no good he will stop tanking. And before you have hysterics about the common misconceptions about SS ypu need to remember that it was commonplace for the old horsemen (including my grandfather) to school difficult horses in side saddle because they could give their full attention to the horse and not to trying to stay on.

If you do a lot of X-country (after you have attended to the tanking issue) and you have "good" hands (ie you don't hang on his mouth) you may find an American gag helps as a light hand on this type of bit is often kinder than heavy hands on a Pelham.

Sound advice , I think though, that you may find that many people, myself included, were answering the specific question as it was phrased, which was "Something stronger than a Pelham"