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The reason I knew it was going wrong was when this quiet, sensible horse
started doing exactly what yours is doing - lifting nose to the wind on a
distinct cue to rate to the horse in front, or to slow down, at any gait
while behind another horse.
It turns out the trainer had been really jerking on his mouth in an attempt
to get a sliding stop. What I've done to correct this has now taken 3
months, and we're only halfway done.
Essentially, your horse is trying to remove the pressure of the bit when
he's being told to do something he doesn't want to do. Tiedowns work on
the symptom but don't fix the problem, as you noted. A stronger bit will
pull his head down but still not fix the problem.
The problem is, the horse is not giving to pressure. With my horse, I went
all the way back to ground zero. I spent a weekend at a colt restarting
clinic and then spent a week continuing that groundwork. At the end of
that week, my horse was a changed horse. I started riding him in the rope
halter we were training in, using a mecate for reins and lead.
Since he now knew what pressure on his nose meant, he rode trails in the
rope halter as easily as could be. He will now rate most of the time and
allow separation. I say he's halfway there because once in a while I still
have to use more pressure than I should (a pound or two instead of a couple
onces), AND, most importantly, the lesson I was trying to teach him was to
give to the bit.
What I've found is that the rope halter training "sets up" the bit
training. Now when I ride this guy in a snaffle, I can use FAR less
pressure, and he is no longer raising his nose to escape the pressure. I
do all of the snaffle training in the arena (or track), until I am certain
he has it down cold. Reason? If he blows up on the trail and I have to
jerk on his mouth then I've ruined the whole thing and have to start over.
He remembers the bad experience for quite a while.
So, in the arena, I work on "soft gives", which are done in the saddle
while the horse is standing, take both reins, and apply light pressure to
both reins. When he "gives" to that pressure by dropping his head, then
immediately release, and it has to be instantaneous. Repeat it a dozen
times. Now do it at a walk. Never increase the pressure. If he walks
through it, fine. Go back to standing soft gives. Keep going from there.
It all builds on that foundation. Eventually, he will have forgotten that
bits piss him off. Work the soft gives at a trot and eventually at a
lope. This could take a few months, but you're only going to do maybe 10
minutes at a time.
This stuff is standard natural horse type training, I haven't made any of
it up myself, I'm not a great rider, nor do I train horses for a living.
What I do well, I think, is listen to what the horse is telling me. I'm
getting more adept at telling when he is unhappy with a piece of gear.
And I do want to clarify - I have nothing against curb bits. My experience
and intuition tell me that they are unnecessary when the rider has the time
to re-tune the horse to a softer way of going. And when the rider
understands how powerful they are, then the chance of overuse is minimized.
My strong opinions on curbs in general come from seeing average or novice
riders who are still afraid of losing control use them to keep their own
fear under control.
Mike Sofen
Seattle, WA
----------
From: Jerry & Susan Milam <jdmilam@fwb.gulf.net>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: 4yo and His Tom Thumb
Date: Monday, August 11, 1997 6:37 AM
Happy Monday Everyone!
Hope y'all had a great trailing weekend.
Our family recently got a new addition to our household. He's a very
bright 4yo gelding with lots of personality and has to be right on your
shoulder if you're doing anything in his stall.
When we got him, he'd had some professional training and some trail
riding. He was used to a Tom Thumb bit.
I'm working with him very slowly because he can only handle about 30-45
minutes of arena work before he gets an attitude...he'll just stand
there and won't move. We've been working on giving to the bit, bending,
on lunge at walk and trot, under saddle we do mostly walk to trot
transitions now because he can't walk straight in the open arena. Out on
trail, he's bold and likes to be in the lead. He's very nice to ride,
but I'm having difficulty with him in canter. When I try to rate his
speed with the usual half-halt and deeper seat, sometimes when he really
doesn't want to slow he'll start throwing his head up and to the sides
getting us off balance. Yesterday, one time when we were last in our
group and he just had to be on the next horse's butt, (he loves to be
right up next to the horse in front of him) I wouldn't let him close the
distance and he started resisting my control. He flipped his head so
hard that the shanks on the tom thumb flipped upside down and I just
about freaked. I was able to flip them back around and get control with
my voice and bit.
This kind of situation is bad because it gets us out of balance when we
are in a high rate of speed. It places both of us in danger. I hesitate
to use a tiedown on him because I know that doesn't really fix the
problem.
He has been getting better about the flinging. It is at it's worst when
we are behind the group. If he is in front or even in the middle, he
will listen to my aids and respond without avoiding the bit and throwing
his little fit. With the weekend's heated discussion about vosals and
bits, I'm sure I'll get some flames here. I'm willing to take the heat
to get my baby out of danger and on the right road. Much of his
behavior is psychologically driven,, he doesn't want to get left behind.
I use a full cheek snaffle in the arena and he likes to go right through
it half-halt to halt. I would never get his attention on trail with it.
Should I go to some other type bit like a broken mouth kimberwick so he
couldn't flip the shanks?
Any suggestions, help, insight would be appreciated. (All degrading
criticism will be trashed)
Happy Tails
Susan, Sabian and the new guy Fly Bye
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