solgabrien
Member
Hello, I wondered if anyone can help - I have on trial a TB mare who hasn't been ridden for a year (I was told it was due to her rider going off to uni). On the ground she's a total sweetie - you couldn't meet a kinder horse. I expected it would come as a bit of a shock to her when I got on - having all that time off, but found her reaction to be a bit puzzling. I lunged her firstly with her tack on - the bridle came with her - flash noseband and hollowmouth egbutt snaffle. We didn't put the drop part of the bridle on, wanting to see how she was without it. She didn't react in any way and seemed comfortable. I did notice that when I put the bit in her mouth - there didn't seem an awful lot of room. When I mounted her she was a bit "rocking horse" but didn't otherwise do anything weird - but she had no steering and her mouth felt rock hard. My mother was watching and told me that the horse was sort of curling her top lip - exposing her teeth and holding her tongue to one side. We checked to see if she had gotten her tongue over the bit (unlikely but still we looked) - but she hadn't. I did some research online and discovered that tb's can have low palettes - many people suggested a french link. The second time I rode her I put the french link on and the drop noseband. I am not a heavy handed rider and used very little pressure on the reins. She felt as if she was going to rear, had no steering and ran backwards. Again, she was doing weird things with her mouth. I'm thinking that the bit was maybe a bit strong or that she has a tooth problem? From the ground she looks like she's behaving like a racehorse (she has never raced). I looked in her mouth when she was just in a headcollar - she definitely holds her tonque to one side even without a bit. She eats normally and otherwise shows no signs of discomfort. Any ideas?
