Teeth Grinding - using bar of saddle soap..?

[Fanatical]

My horse grinds his teeth. Pretty much always has done and not just when ridden - it's habit more than anything. We seem to get marked quite harshly by some judges for it in our dressage. I recently had a lesson of a well known trainer who advised using a bar of saddle soap on his teeth just before our tests - he will still grind but you wouldn't be able to hear it apparently.

I haven't tried this out yet as...
a. I'm a bit worried about poisoning the poor pony and
b. how on earth do you get the saddle soap in the mouth far enough and get it properly on the teeth
c. Wondering if it's harmful to the teeth.

Has anyone ever done this? Opinions good or bad appreciated as I don't know whether to try it or not.

 

[flyingfeet]

Well technically if its glycerine soap, you won't poison the horse, but on the other hand cannot imagine it tastes too good! The only alternative is getting some thick veggie fat to use, but cannot offhand think of where you can get that from.

Also to get to the back teeth without a gadget to hold the mouth open could be hairy indeed!

Have you gone through the rigmarole of trying every bit and nose band known to man?

 

[tinkerbell88]

We tried the glycerine soap thing once but choppped up a few pieces of the bar and while he had his bit in shoved it in the corner of his mouth up behind the bit. It seemed to work but after putting the first chunk in he wised up and wouldn't let me near his mouth to get any more in later on.
Apart from that unfortunately I have no more suggestions.

Dressage judges don't like it because it is seen as a sign of tension, although not all horses that grind theire teeth do it for that reason.

 

[Fanatical]

Thanks for the reply - I just seems quite a difficult thing to do.

Have you gone through the rigmarole of trying every bit and nose band known to man?

No, I haven't tried any different bits/ nosebands to specifically stop the grinding as he (and I) are quite happy with what we have. It's just annoying that some judges dislike it more than others.

 

[Fanatical]

We tried the glycerine soap thing once but choppped up a few pieces of the bar and while he had his bit in shoved it in the corner of his mouth up behind the bit. It seemed to work but after putting the first chunk in he wised up and wouldn't let me near his mouth to get any more in later on.
Apart from that unfortunately I have no more suggestions.

Dressage judges don't like it because it is seen as a sign of tension, although not all horses that grind theire teeth do it for that reason.

Haha, that's the problem isn't it!! They soon wise up. And also, it must be quite stressful to be trying to get saddle soap into the horses mouth right before a test - just when you both want to be nice and calm and relaxed.

Yeah I understand that it can be a sign of tension, but I just think it should be the overall impression. If the horse is also maybe swishing it's tail or looks hollow and stiff etc then fair enough combined with grinding, there is likely to be tension. However, when you do what appears to be a nice, relaxed test that looks a nice picture (with the sound off! lol) I don't think it should be so harshly marked. For some reason, some judges mark us down quite harshly and others don't bother at all.

 

[TableDancer]

A pro friend of mine had a 4* horse which did it; he used to get someone to give it a whole packet of polos just before he went in for his test, seemed to stop the grinding, and horse had loads of lovely white foam round his mouth Sticky, though

 

[ihatework]

I once had a stress head, blown brains type horse who would grind teeth.
Judges see it as a tension type habit and do tend to mark down.

Yes, I had a couple of respectable people suggest the bar of soap thing to me. I however never considered doing it primarily because the last thing I thought my naturally stressy/tense horse needed was a gob full of disgusting tasting substance - I couldn't see how on earth that would improve things.

I did however use vaseline on a few occassions with limited effect.

 

[Fanatical]

A pro friend of mine had a 4* horse which did it; he used to get someone to give it a whole packet of polos just before he went in for his test, seemed to stop the grinding, and horse had loads of lovely white foam round his mouth Sticky, though

Haha, brilliant - now that I will just HAVE to try! Thanks!

 

[Fanatical]

Yes, I had a couple of respectable people suggest the bar of soap thing to me. I however never considered doing it primarily because the last thing I thought my naturally stressy/tense horse needed was a gob full of disgusting tasting substance - I couldn't see how on earth that would improve things.QUOTE]


Quite!!! My thoughts exactly!

 

[teddyt]

Yes, I had a couple of respectable people suggest the bar of soap thing to me. I however never considered doing it primarily because the last thing I thought my naturally stressy/tense horse needed was a gob full of disgusting tasting substance - I couldn't see how on earth that would improve things.

Ditto! All it does is hide the symptom, not treat the cause.

Teeth grinding is due to stress so you will have to work through everything to see what is causing it. One of mine used to do it when i first bought him. He is obviously happier now though because he doesnt do it . He did it more with one particular rider, so not that im having a go at you but could it be you?

 

[Carrshill]

I've had a couple of horses who would grind their teeth and two options spring to mind: 1. Put the glycerine soap on the bit not the teeth and/or 2. have the mouthpiece of the bit covered in leather. Neither treats the cause, but both may have an effect on the harmonious silence during your test....

 

[R2R]

OMG I cannot believe what I am reading!!

I am actually shocked that people would do this, and suggest they go and chew on a bar of saddle soap before they compete.

Surely eating soap would cause more stress and more tension to the horse?
I like the polo idea

 

[Matafleur]

I believe you can get minty flavoured little wax balls that you just feed to your horse for this purpose. I think they are available in the States but not sure how easy they would be to get hold of here?