RC: BITS: to Tracy

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Barb Peck bpeck@together.net
Barb Peck
bpeck@together.net

Tracey:

Did you have all 4 molars pulled? I assume because he was
taking ahold of the bit with his teeth?

You said he has a shallow palet.  If this is coupled with a
fat tongue:   when you use a loose ring broken (snaffle) mouth
piece with a dropped nose band it's going to jab his palet
when you pull on the reins (if his head is where you want it to be.)

A horse learns that if his head is raised, broken at the poll, with
parallel to the ground, nose up.. "star gazing" 
exactly the opposite of what you want)
there's less jab on his palet.


If, as you describe "it's like pulling on concrete", then I bet
his neck is rigid and you can't turn him left or right either.

Well... depending on how long he's been going like this
(years or months?) will probably determined whether you
can "train" him out of it.

He already knows how to evade quite nicely, and it's hard to know whether
to go to a more severe bit or not.  You need to know your horse
here.... a restricted head + more mouth pain sometimes = being
bucked off or flipped over. So before I tied his mouth shut, or
and or/restrict his head, I'd try a Mullen-mouthed straight bar
bit, or Dr. Bristol, or french link snaffle.. 

If those don't work  then I'd try a hackamore.
Not one of those 9" shanked bike chain nose band jobbies 
you can break their nose with, but
maybe a 6"-7" shank, with a flat linked chain curb strap, wide leather
noseband.

Good luck.
Barb