Bit for a tricky mare

They were just done about 3 weeks ago!

Never saw a paracord converter either, think its too flexible for that particular use.

I was referring to having two reins on a pelham, and switching the curb rein to the top in - gets their attention and some control, then switch back to “normal” positioning of the two reins

OP I have the same mare as you. Big, strong, thinks going fast is the answer to everything. Cross country resulted in blistered fingers and speed faults. In addition, she has a tiny gap between her gums, so can only fit a 12mm bit in there. Hard to find a wide selection in that size.

I tried a bunch of bits on her and they only made her curl, stop or get upset in her mouth. Honestly, she just needed to learn how to rebalance. I stuck with the very soft lozenge eggbutt and worked really hard on several things:

  1. NEVER letting her build up a head of steam: Being much more aware of when her tempo was speeding up and then doing something immediately. A transition, a circle, flexion, a half halt. But do something before it’s too late.

  2. NOT pulling - if you’re having to pull, it’s already too late. You should have been half halting, or doing a downward transition, several strides ago. Try circling to a halt instead. Rest, regroup, try again.

  3. Keeping the leg on. As counterintuitive as it seems, this really helped my mare collect herself into the bridle, not way past it and off to the races.

As far as lungeing goes, my mare is also a wild child on the lunge, but they don’t get better at it by not doing it. Take some of the edge off and teach her to lunge properly. Your rides will get better as a result.

Good luck!

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This thread is 2 years old, I hope OP fixed their issue!

Though, adding to the general discussion, I had a horse like this where 99% of the problem turned out to be saddle fit :woman_shrugging:t3:

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While I agree saddle fit can contribute to this sort of issue, the Hunters I’ve seen with this issue all suffered from their rider’s case of magic bit-itis. The riders were looking for a bit to fix the issues instead of using the bit that got the horse’s attention to train away the issues.

For example finding a bit the freight train will respond to, and then focus training on adjustability within each gait. This also helps with the strength and balance issues that are likely to be contributing to the freight train. They should be able to move back to a softer bit if they so choose.

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