My horse is coming along nicely, not a youngster. But she sets her jaw. She is in a nice med/thin loose ring snaffle, no nosebands. She’s quite ‘dead’ in her mouth. Any tips on getting her to relax and chew a bit? TIA
The horse that is softening its jaw is a horse that is moving from behind into a light steady contact.
I would suggest that you examine your ability to maintain that light soft flexible contact while riding the horse from your seat and legs, through bends turns and transitions,
This is one of those things that are simple to do, most times, once your skills are at that level.
You may need some help and oversight from a knowledgeable instructor.
Kit I have a jaw locker too 
I find these exercises really helpful- they are poll suppling exercises, but they supple the jaw too.
But with a jaw locker it’s really easy to fall into a trap of focusing on that and losing the connection. You have to keep reminding yourself not to focus on what his head is doing!
http://www.barnmice.com/profiles/blogs/1773158:BlogPost:48238
I find jaw-setting comes from tension or anxiety in young horses and horses in training. If the rider has bad hands, or a heavy seat, i’ve noticed the horse will clench its jaw… as you would too.
Not suggesting the op is doing any of these things, but OP have you tried riding her up a bit more into the bridle with softer contact, outside rein supporting and fixed to a degree, inside rein playing/squeezing, you can feel the jaw soften and you must “give” with your hands immediately, don’t throw the reins away, just soften your fingers.
As soon as she offers that softness, you need to instantly reward with your hands, just soften the contact, relax your hands a little, and gently bring it back.
What kind of work are you doing with her? I have found that circle work of various sizes, serpentines, changes of direction and gait help to keep the horse concentrating and focused helps with the horse wanting to set their jaw and steam roll on, if you know what I mean.
[QUOTE=spaghetti legs;4085392]
What kind of work are you doing with her? I have found that circle work of various sizes, serpentines, changes of direction and gait help to keep the horse concentrating and focused helps with the horse wanting to set their jaw and steam roll on, if you know what I mean.[/QUOTE]
To add to that, I would work on hard on spiral circles, not only does it push the horse off your leg, but it pushes the horse off your leg into the outside rein which with consequently allow the horses mouth to relax.
Also those sprenger KK bits would encourage some suppleness in the horses mouth…I know it’s not the solve all solution but it is a pretty usefull “encourager”. The lozenge one seems to work the best for me - I used it/preferred it on all of the horses I rode.
ah yes! spiral circles are great
look up Thomas Ritter
artisticdressage.com
he has a great article on Supple the horse with flexions
its an article that i read in my first magazine that i got from my new subscription dressage today. i think it was about a year ago. he has pictures in the magazine. he gives all kinds of exercises on the ground and in the saddle to improve jaw flexibility. i was working on them yesterday and i my horse was moving much better. he tends to get stiff in the poll at times. (other times he is very soft and flexible) i realized that he is quite stiff in his right bend and the articles really explain what is happening.
i really like Thomas Ritter based on his articles. he is the one person in dressage i would think about taking a clinic from, but he says you have to ride in a dressage saddle and i dont own one!
mine was a jaw locker for about 4 years until i had lessons from a good dressage trainer. Now looking back i think the cause was divided between
- my horse knew how to get out of working properly and it made me try far too hard and get tense and ride horribly
- my seat was not light and soft enough-i had been reading about ‘deep’ seats and interpreted it as a heavy seat
- my hands were not giving my horse a steady enough reliable feel
they were all interlinked and i needed help on the ground from a good instructor 1 hours lesson a week for a good 6 months for us both to get out of our vicious circle.
lateral work was the main key to getting us on track and now it’s just amazing the difference in feel, energy, suppleness etc.
i’m still working very hard on having a sympathetic seat, that has i think been major contribution to solving our problem.
hope that’s of some help:)
***choose the bit that has something inside that she can play with, it’s not a show legal bit, but it’s good one for training: Herm Sprenger Lisa Wilcox WH Ultra Loose Ring Snaffle Horse Bit http://www.doversaddlery.com/product.asp?splid=0509RRT&pn=X1-01894&tid=froogle&CATALOG_CODE=1X814&EID=X1814001&zmam=1460880&zmas=1&zmac=49&zmap=X1-01894&bhcd2=1242066142
*** give her lots of treats during the lesson to teach her to chew and to salivate.
*** make sure that flash and noseband is loose enough for her to open her mouth and actually chew.
*** invite her to change her head/neck position often: stretch down and pick her up on the circle. Bend her and counter bend her on the circle. Teach her to follow your hand.
The jaw closes to protect against pain or because of loss of balance. However, try starting all over in hand. Stand in front of the horse and lift the bit (like its hanging on your thumbs) toward the ears lightly/repeatedly. The horse will chew. Then in hand (or mounted) lightly flex the horse (and inch or so w/o pulling backwards) near the poll. Let the horse chew fdo. The question is why it is locking in the first place (lack of balance/too lowered with too much flexion/lateral flexibility/lack of timing of the aids/hh not going through to fold the hindlegs and keep the horse up and open/etc/etc??).
Or for something completely different… pick up a copy of Racinet’s “Racinet Explains Baucher.”
While I agree a horse has to be forward from behind, until the jaw and poll are supple, relaxed and loose, he cannot be truly through.
I also use treats for a ‘mechanical’ fix. Horse reaches around to my toe, gets a sugar cube or bit of apple (according to some, carrots are drying) and ~voila~ has done one of the flexions ala Baucher. It can break a bad ‘cycle’ or downward spiral in a ride, can relieve tension especially of the rock-hard-stallion-brained kind. (i.e. his poll and jaw are pickled in testosterone a few days of the year. 
)
For a very simple Baucherist flexion, search for John Lyon’s “baby give”. It’s an extremely gentle, useful, self-correcting/releasing start. <flame suit zipped–but John himself says "I didn’t make this up, some old dead guy named Booooh-shay did… >
an osteopathic check-up would pick up a TMJ or other joint issue. Teeth ok?
And jL’s flexions have nothing to do with mobilizations of the jaw.
I have this same problem with one of my horses! She seems really hard in the jaw and has a really stiff neck. I try and warm up long and low and bring her back up after a while but she still gets very stuck going one direction. I have tried a bunch of spiral exercises and flexing in an out and still have no luck. Any ideas? Should I continue to warm up long an low and flex her? One trainer I took a lesson with told me just to hold my reins tight and push her into the contact.
Any feedback?
L&L without a mobile jaw does nothing to develop lightness. PUtting the horse to the bit and allowing the horse to chew the reins more forward/down/out does.
Good answers! Let me elaborate a little. I have been doing most of your suggestions. I have had a new instructor for a few months now. I have a lesson once a fortnight. We are coming along in leaps and bounds. Horse is much more snappy, forward, moving from behind, controllable by seat (both to move on and to come back and halt). We have been working on all this. We do circles, serpentines, spirals, flexing both in and out on the circle or around the arena. She is a very balanced horse anyway but used to get very strong with me and try to take over all the time. Now the control is much more in my court. I can ride the long sides now without her taking over. However, she has always set her jaw. She was never mouthed properly in my opinion. If you pick up the reins her mouth feels dead. I am teaching her to soften when I pick up the reins and use my legs/seat. She does not chew. Well sometimes when we’re not moving. She does however salivate heaps but I think she sort of sucks her tongue? We have taken her nosebands off so she can chew if she wants and my instructor wants her to chew. She clenches her jaw. She has always turned her head around to me when we stop after a series of movements and I give her a break for a pat, so maybe I should give her some apple? We are coming along nicely but my instructor thinks if we can just get that jaw to relax, we will be away. She is quite a relaxed type of horse anyway - but sort of holds her emotions in. Very obliging but very tough. So thank you for your comments and articles. Off to do some googling!
Sorry IY, I’ll disagree… the baby-give is EXACTLY a flexion of the jaw. You hold the rein, with the hand fixed on something (pommel, neck, thigh) until the horse gives very slightly, chews and swallows. The release is automatic since the hand is fixed. We all have a hard time being quick enough with the release… You’re asking for mere millimeters, but looking for the chew/swallow.
Other flexions he does, not so much. But what he calls the baby-give IS one of Baucher’s first flexions–without the elevation of the head or the extreme bend.
Now that I know Ideayoda is on this thread, I may suggest manually flexing the jaw. I was taught by an equine physiotherapist and it helped my horse. However, dressage is not my forte and with all this knowledge on here, I’d prefer someone else took this on.
Called oiling the rusty hinge.
Oh and yes, all checked out with teeth and chiro etc
If a rider holds a fixed position until the horse gives likely the horse will not (longitudinally) flex at the atlas/poll area, they will likely flex behind it. IF that happens the horse will give to the hand rather than mobilizing and going into the hand. The horse will yield the jaw rather than chew and swallow.
Also, if one starts with longitudinal flexion rather than lifting the bit and just educating the mouth, or without light degrees of lateral flexibility the longitudinal flexion will not be the horse carrying itself into the connection but the bit back to the horse (whether in motion a la german or french standing).
Lateral flexability is done through (repeatedly) lifting the inside (in hand) while maintaining a connection with the inside. (It is not at the base of the neck (wither area), but close to the jaw.
