XC Brakes - Help!!

[katie_and_toto]

My mum's already posted something about this but I'm gonna ask again anyway

Recently I did my first ODE. Toto was in a hanging cheek snaffle with a lozenge and grackle for dressage and was really good. We put his Tom Thumb in for showjumping and cross country but he still got strong(more so for xc). He's fine until you point him at a jump! He just rushes on the last stride and then rushes off when we land. He tends to lean down on my hands or tuck his head in. Also, if he gets excited and rushes, he sometimes lands after a jump and then puts his head right down, drops a shoulder and bucks! He dosn't do this at home. I find it difficult when he's like this because I'm 13 but quite small and he just takes the mick sometimes! I'm gonna try a waterford hanging cheek and see how we get on but any more suggestions or advice? I would love to do some more ODE's and HT but I need some brakes first!

 

[Hattikins]

Good luck with the waterford - hope it does the trick

My 15hher did exactly the same thing as your pony does - sticking his head down between his knees and running off on the XC - the bit that did the trick with him was a cheltenham gag - it worked wonders. He began to get even stronger (it turned out he was in pain and he's now about to start his 2nd year off out of work

) and we tried him in a neue schule jumper bit - that was absolutely fantastic

hope this helps

 

[katie_and_toto]

thanks for the help

well i jumped in his waterford today, seemed ok, but can't really tell if it'll help until we actually go xc. think we will hire a neue schule jumper bit and when we got to a xc rally in september i'll see how he is. but shall we go for a waterford or lozenge mouthpiece? he seems to quite like lozenges, but will a waterford help more?

 

[katie_and_toto]

oops i meant when we go to a xc rally in september

 

[Hattikins]

well for ultimate brakes id go for the waterford jumper bit, but if he's not that strong id go for the lozenge - we have the waterford jumper bit because i needed all the brakes i could get

but if he's happy in a lozenge then stick with that

Tonight we've just changed my youngster out of her tom thumb and into a neue schule lozenged cheltenham gag and she just loves it and it really lifts her head

all you can do is try bits out and see

 

[katie_and_toto]

hmm not really sure which one to go for becuase he goes well at home in both the lozenge and waterford hanging cheek.. might just go to the rally in the waterford hanging cheek and if he's too strong then maybe hire a neue schule and go xc schooling. if he's ok then maybe he just got strong at the ODE because he was enjoying our first time! thanks for your help

 

[katie_and_toto]

sorry to keep bothering you, but you are giving me brill advice!

my mum's just decided to buy a waterford neue schule jumper bit off an ebay shop. Toto's mouth is 5" but it says to get a quarter to half size bigger. Did you go for quarter or half? hope you don't think that we're thick!

 

[KatB]

Dont worry about going bigger with the fixed cheek waterford bits, just the loose ring. Spoke to Heather at Neue Shule about it and she never mentioned going bigger.

 

[katie_and_toto]

ok then, thanks so much for your help

hopefully i'll have more control now

 

[KatB]

No probs, good luck with it!!

 

[Hattikins]

good luck! fingers crossed the neue schule jumper bit works

 

[katie_and_toto]

thanks, really hoping it does now, because yesterday there were 4 other horses in the jumping field, they all finished and left, i thought (stupidly) I'd finish off with a treble towards the gate. Bad choice, he ploughed off for the gate, so turned him round, tried again and he took off again.. so gave him a smack, turned round and took the last jump out. managed to turn him afterwards, put the last one back in and still got a bit strong over the last one, but turned him and stopped. it was my fault, i should have just finished and gone in with the others, he just surprised and frightened me a bit as he's never done that before. think i'll take him back in next week and try again on my own. maybe he just got over excited and hyper with all the other horses and then napped to the gate when they'd gone.

 

[katie_and_toto]

Well now we've been to Bit World and were advised a Cheltenham Gag so we've hired one for 3 weeks, he's going good so far, been over the treble towards the gate twice with no problems, been down to our xc course and been for a gallop in the paddock. Going xc schooling tomorrow at Alyesford and can't wait now I've (hopefully!) got some brakes