Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Advice for Horse with Hard Mouth

I have possibly two suggestions. I had the same problem. A running
martingale worked for me. I was able to get my horse's nose out of my face
and she is now very responsive to me. My daughter's new horse was the same
way the first day we rode him. I thought we had made a terrible mistake. He
had no brakes and he bolted like crazy. Next day I put the martingale on him
and discovered yes, indeed, he WAS trained! My experience with a martingale
is that you don't have to use it forever and it doesn't have to be too
short, just enough to keep their noses out of the air.

My second possible suggestion is I have a friend who has Mustang who has
been very ill-tempered in any kind of bit, snaffle or otherwise and my
friend has just about given up on her until she discovered the bitless
bridle at www.bitlessbridle.com She was skeptical about it but she decided
to spend the big bucks and buy one. She's been riding in it for three weeks
and she says the difference in her horse is unbelievable. She's only had one
temper tantrum since she started using it and she said just got after her
mare a little bit and that was the absolute last time she has had a problem.
We'll have to see how it works in the long run. She says she has plenty of
control which is what I've been worried about switching to something
bitless.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tamara Murray" <tam319@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 12:41 PM
Subject: [RC] Advice for Horse with Hard Mouth


> Hello!
>
> I need some advice regarding a 5 year old unregistered Arab gelding we
picked
> up in May for $500 (don't worry - he's not a jalopy. All of the horse
prices
> here are unbelievably low due to drought). He is super sweet, quiet and
well
> built. We couldn't be happier with his temperment (in general) and health.
He
> has great bone and beautiful big feet.
>
> The problem is that he has the hardest mouth. He braces his jaw against
the bit
> and steering him is a nightmare. Attempting to pick up contact just makes
him
> go faster. I suspect he was trained rather harshly with a terribly severe
bit.
> All the 'cowboys' in our area say to bit him with an even MORE SEVER bit
to
> work this through, but I tend to think the opposite. I would like to
retrain
> him to soften to a mild snaffle and get him accepting the bit rather than
> freezing against it.
>
> Any tips for techniques or bits I should try? Has anyone successfully
> rehabilitated a hard mouthed horse before? My 'unofficial game plan'
includes
> lots of lunging with sidereins and surcingle work in a mild bit to start
> working towards acceptance. Then I would graduate to lots of arena work to
be
> sure his steering was ok before heading out on the trail. I suppose
another
> approach would be using a bitless bridle or hackmore. Any tips on this
approach?
>
> I would love to use this guy for endurance and dressage as he has the mind
and
> conformation for it.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Tamara
>
> P.S. BTW, his teeth are not the problem. Just thought I should mention
that was
> the first thing I checked.
>
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 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

 If you are an AERC member - PLEASE VOTE in the upcoming By-Laws 
 Election!!!! (it takes 2/3rds to tango!!)

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