Teeth clenching? Bitless bridle?

[lauren-rebecca96]

Question For Bit Fanatics- I have a horse who clenches his teeth & snatches the reins, he came to us in a waterford gag, edt recommended a straight hard rubber pelham, but he already had head carriage & his head became much lower than what it should be (overbend) & he still clenched, he's also been retrained & reschooled back to a snaffle still had the same issue, & is now in a D-ring cherry roller snaffle & the clenching & pulling the reins (which unseats me) hasn't stopped or reduced... What's everyones thoughts on a hackamore/different bitless bridle?

 

[Alyth]

Try riding him in an enclosed area in his halter with reins attached to the sides -

 

[touchstone]

I'd try a simple lozenge bit, possibly in a different material such as sweet iron/salox to get him to mouth and soften a bit.
Hard rubber bits tend to be thick and take up a lot of room in the mouth which can make them uncomfortable.
Gum Bits might also be worth a try. http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/supplements/well-being/bit-mouth-products/gumbits

 

[BoppyPea]

Go bitless, but the first time you try it be prepared for a bit of bucking & squealing. Once my girl found she was free of the bit she had a mad 5 minutes then settled down and has never looked back. One day all horses will be ridden bitless and yhe world will be a much happier place.

 

[touchstone]

Go bitless, but the first time you try it be prepared for a bit of bucking & squealing. Once my girl found she was free of the bit she had a mad 5 minutes then settled down and has never looked back. One day all horses will be ridden bitless and yhe world will be a much happier place.

Now you see it is huge generalisations like this that annoy me. My mare hated a bitless when we tried it, so it certainly wouldn't make 'the world a happier place' for all horses to be bitless.

If a horse is happier bitless then fine, but a horse does not need to be bitless in order to be happier; the nose is very sensitive and it can be as damaged by a harsh bitless bridle as a mouth can be with a harsh bit.

 

[BoppyPea]

Touchstone stop being so sanctimonious, I was only answering the question of is it worth trying to go bitless & offering my experience. You cannot pretend that a bit, any bit, is nice. Yes, I do ride my other horse in a bit sometimes because if I want to compete then BD and BE say that certain disciplines require them. My view is that if your horse is under control & happy you should be able to ride it in whatever you want and not be dictated by either the pro bit or the bitless lobby. There are fanatics on both sides. However, when someone asks shall I try it and their horse is clearly exhibiting bit evasion tactics why not? The same applies to the shoeing debate. Why is bitless & barefoot always seen as cranky? If it works for you and your horse go for it.

 

[BoppyPea]

And not all bitless bridles work on the nose!

 

[weebarney]

I think if a bitless is hurting a horse it's either not fitted correctly it not being used correctly .

 

[touchstone]

Touchstone stop being so sanctimonious, I was only answering the question of is it worth trying to go bitless & offering my experience. You cannot pretend that a bit, any bit, is nice. Yes, I do ride my other horse in a bit sometimes because if I want to compete then BD and BE say that certain disciplines require them. My view is that if your horse is under control & happy you should be able to ride it in whatever you want and not be dictated by either the pro bit or the bitless lobby. There are fanatics on both sides. However, when someone asks shall I try it and their horse is clearly exhibiting bit evasion tactics why not? The same applies to the shoeing debate. Why is bitless & barefoot always seen as cranky? If it works for you and your horse go for it.

And I'm the sanctimonious one! It was the statement that if all horses were bitless that the world would be a happier place - really??? Isn't that rather a sanctimonious statement in itself? As I said, if bitless works then fine, but it shouldn't be promoted as the be all and end all for all horses, whioch is how I interpreted your statement.

Where did I say that bitless was cranky? - and I happen to have a barefoot horse. I have used bitless - correctly fitted and used I might add, it certainly wasn't 'hurting' her - and my horse disliked it to the point of becoming unmanageable, and I know plenty of horses who would react the same way. You might think that a bit is not nice, my horse would beg to differ and prefers it to restriction on her head. I prefer to listen to her than be told all horses should be bitless thanks.