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I have found that horses that are asked to yield their heads from the bit no matter what the discipline almost always don't get the whole concept of communication with the bit. They might understand to tuck their head, turn their head etc, but they don't have the slightest idea that you are communicating with their feet through the bit. All they know is that you're tugging their head and mouth all over the place, but they are so simple minded that they don't get it that this is supposed to mean that they are to also expected to do something with their feet in relation to how you're tugging them around! This is probably the biggest hole in horses training that I find as I work and train horses that come to me. I mostly specialize in fixing horses that have quit on their owners so I see a lot of problem cases in a variety of disciplines.

 

I helped sort out a mule that would bolt, gape her mouth, resist a stop, resist a turn etc. She could be muscled around with a big bit, but communication was not what I would call what was happening with the bit. It was pure and simply an attempt at control. She was mad that she was being tugged all over the place and in her mind she didn't deserve to deal with the pain. I did a variety of things with ground work and ground driving to help her to sort it out and I swear that I could see the light bulb turn on in her head and she might as well have turned to me and said, "Why didn't you tell me that is what you wanted!!" She has been a dream ever since and her teen owner has successfully competed and won in NATRC Region 2 the past several years. She has many 100% Horsemanship awards and the two of them are happy campers. If you look at Region 2 results for 2004, 2005 and 2006 under Novice Juniors, you'll see Sineadh listed and she is the mule.

 

Another thing I often see is a rubbery and overly soft neck as a result of some of the natural horsemanship disciplines. It feels like the steering stops at their head. You can move it all over the place but it seems to have absolutely nothing to do with rest of the body or feet, thus the move of the head but the horse doesn't know to leave the rail. That is what your description sounded like to me. I've seen it happen in some dressage horses with such a break at the poll, that once again the connection from head to tail is broken in two pieces. I've seen it in some western pleasure horses where the horse is artificially broken at the croup and sloped so far under that they are in two pieces as well. It seems that every discipline can force 'softness' someplace in the horses neck and spine, but the most successful thing is to preserve that connection from head to tail without bracing. The goal if so the horse can understand that the bit is communication and they can connect without bracing all the way down their spine and take the message right to their feet. You should be able to feel them in your hands through the bit so you have a line of communication. They need to feel you rather than 'dump' you as soon as they feel something. This works in a snaffle and it also works with a western shank bit.

 

Peggy Cummings was the first one to enlighten me to this concept of Connected Riding and I recommend her books and educational materials. www.peggycummings.com

 

She revolutionized my whole way of thinking on this. I've taken my years of training in natural horsemanship and combined it with her concepts and I'm a happy camper and so are the horses that I train and work with. Try it you might like it!

mnhorsin