young horse messing with her mouth/head

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georgiegirl2

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hey all,

twig my 4yo is coming along great. However she does fuss a lot in walk, head bobbing, snatching etc - it doesnt happen in trot and canter - in fact she is going stunningly at the moment. she is VERY light and VERY sensitive in her mouth and is currently ridden in a loose ring french link and cavesson noseband.

she has a huge stride and its one of those situations where riding her up into the contact more would only put her out of her natural balance.

A friend has suggested trying her in a straight bar eggbutt as there is less to 'play with' was just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions??

her back, saddle and teeth are all checked regularly!
 
I would try a fairly thin flexible rubber snaffle, preferably full cheek.
Is the bit definitely high enough in her mouth?
 
Probably just tenderness from teeth. Totaly normal and she will grow out of it. If she is hating work because of it, it is better to lay off, or ride in a more relaxed way, demanding a lighter contact than sour her attitude to work.
 
funnily enough my young loan horse usually fiddles with his bit like mad, I rode him in a straightbar pelham yesterday and he tried for about 30 minutes and gave up, he threw his toys out of the pram for a bit then settled into nice shape and stop mucking about with the bit!
 
i personaly think that if she has a very soft mouth then your current bit is a tad strong.

I would be wary of straight bar bits as although great for breaking they are not subtle and tend to be chuncky.
Try a waterford, my mare is very sharp. they mold to the exact shape of each horses mouth. there is also no pressure points as the aid is spread over the whole area. generaly a great bit. you can get loose rings or full cheeks, and if you need some poll action you can get ones with slightly curved cheeck pieces which are ideal for jumping.

to get her to streach down into the contact more try riding 5-10 m circles in trot, very slowly and tons of!! in fact forget straight lines for a bit. a great way of getting him to engage his hind leg and given him something else to think about. this way he has to go onto the contact to make it easier to work. also a great excersise for calming excitable horses.
 
I have a 4yo exracer too who sounds very similar to your mare. I found she went happiest in a rubber loosering straightbar or mullen mouth pelham... the problem is she has a tiny mouth and they were just too big...!

Finally settled on a Myler loose ring comfort snaffle as it has a tiny thin mouthpice that sits over her tongue.. she was instantly much happier...

She is ridden a lot with no noseband, this also seems to help, when she needs to wear a noseband (dressage etc) we use a drop. She doesnt like anything around her back teeth.

Good luck finding something that suits....
 
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