Re: RC: Fat tongue?

[Linda Cowles <lindac@gilroy.com>]

C Eyler wrote:
> 
> But at one point I tried using a mullen-mouth snaffle.  Turns out that he
> hated it.  Started pulling his head away, resisting the bridle.
> 
> Does this mean that he has a fat tongue that couldn't fit comfortably under
> the mullen?

The best way to find out why a horse is reacting to a particular bit is
to bit him up and check it out...

First, get him to relax with your fingers in his mouth. I always have my
hands (clean hands - so they don't taste gross!) in my horses mouths,
and start it with babies. Molasses fingers may help them accept it
initially.

Check his mouth out without a bit, see how his tongue feels, fits in his
mouth, when it's relaxed. Compare his mouth to a horse that accepts a
mullein mouth better. Then bit him up, part his lips, peek in his mouth
and see how the bit sits on the bars; run a finger in and see if the bit
presses on his tongue too much. See what effect rein contact has. Bit
him in his favorite bit and note the differences. If the mullein mouth
piece is too fat, a thinner one may be an answer. Or if he has a fat
tongue, you can check out a higher port. I have a bazzillion different
bits including some very cheap ones I wouldn't ride in, that I pick up
at flea markets and garage sales. I use them to see if the bit will work
on a particular horse. If it fits, I buy a similar good bit.

I buy the wicked bits - bike chain, narrow twisted wire, cable bits, and
cowboy snaffles just to get them off the streets. I usually talk the
price WAY down on them.

Sometimes fitting bits and saddles takes a careful and inquisitive eye
vs an experienced one. When I'm checking out saddle fit, sometimes the
problems are obvious, but we - all of us - are so used to "specialists"
telling us everything that we don't give ourselves permission to figure
it out using common sense. We assume we can't do it. Many times we can.

Linda


-- 

  Linda Cowles         
  Lion Oaks Ranch  
  Gilroy CA 95020



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