Bit Help on a Finicky Horse

[countrybrittie]

Hi All! Long-time lurker, and finally decided to make an account to get some opinions on help with a super finicky horse.

I have a four year old OTTB mare that has had some heavy handed training in her past and this is affecting her in moving forward in training for her new career. She is very resistant to any contact. She is a very high-headed horse who when I first started working her, even on a loose rein, had her head up to the sky. This has improved drastically and she will accept contact on occasion and move nice and long and low, however she still has issues sometimes.

She was worked in a regular eggbutt snaffle for the first month. For that month she was a giraffe on a loose rein. For the past two and a half months, I’ve had her going in an Eggbutt Dee French Link and she seems to enjoy it much more and will even go long and low and actually relax with this bit. However, on occasion she will still work with her head extremely high. She will also angle her nose into the center of the arena. She will do this with no contact on the reins. I’ve had her teeth done, so that’s not the issue.

Long story short; I have a horse who has had rough hands in the past who doesn’t like single jointed snaffles and has a small mouth. What bits would you suggest trying out? I want to find one that she is happy working in.

[Come_Shine]

What about trying a Nathe?

[Manahmanah]

Ditto nathe or herm sprenger duo (same thing). It is several mm thinner than a happy mouth and soft, completely flexible rubber. I find a lot of times they will learn to accept contact with one of these and then you can move into a french link if you so desire.

http://www.doversaddlery.com/Herm-Sprenger-Duo-Loose-Ring-Snaffle-Bit/p/X1-011925/eid=X18A00U1006/?utm_source=become&utm_medium=CSE&utm_campaign=MerchantAdv&zmam=1460880&zmas=1&zmac=76&zmap=0011925000050X1-011925

[countrybrittie]

I’m a little worried about trying a Nathe. She has a low palate and a very active mouth. I know that they can be chewed down quite a bit if a horse already chews, but do you think that it could last?

[merrygoround]

Have you any eyes on the ground?

I really like a free ring double jointed with a fat peanut. But the eyes on the ground, a,k.a. teacher, also helps.

[countrybrittie]

I do have a trainer and we’ve tried just about every bit he has in his arsenal. Happy mouths are much too thick and she was on the fence about rollers.

[Manahmanah]

Mine looks like brand new after at least 100 rides. Its fine for the low pallette - it doesn’t bend in half sharply.

[Hawks_Nest]

I feel your pain, while my boy was not quite as bad as your girl sounds, it took me well over a year to finally find a dressage legal bit that he really liked. He was (and still is) very fussy and quite resistant about going to contact (either flinging his head like an idiot or grabbing the bit and running).

Things that worked:
-single jointed boucher, it wasn’t 100% but he played too much with double joints to actually get anything done, the boucher really steadied it
-myler level 1 loose ring, he played a ton with it and was a little more sensitive but he was steadier than he had been, and stopped running through it

and lastly:
a double jointed (stubben) boucher. It is quite thin, and I think actually a defective bit as it locks when bent about 45% but is not actually an e-z control bit but he loves it and something similar would be worth trying. For my guy at least, the steadiness of the boucher lets him play with the bit without it going too far

[Christa_P]

In addition to what has been mentioned, I want to add:
Check the fit.

I had my mare in a 4 3/4" single joint and she went okay, but, like you, the contact wasn’t consistent and sometimes she would resist. I looked closer and then tried a 4 1/2" basic Dee, single joint. I now have a very happy horse that takes steady contact.

Christa

[TheJenners]

Curious about the Herm Sprenger Duo… Will it help a chewer? Or encourage?

My 4 yo WB, who I ride in a fig 8 because otherwise he yawns his mouth completely open and fidgets even worse, is currently in a double-jointed D ring, with a bean. He sucks the bit back and crunches on it like it’s a hard candy. I keep hoping he’ll outgrow it … He is NOT resistant to getting on the bit anymore than any other young horse. As far as I can tell, everything fits, I may have the bridle one hole looser than optimum but then again, maybe not.

No, I’m not a dressage rider (obviously :lol:) but I saw someone ask the same question I’ve been pondering (re: nathes).

[Come_Shine]

TheJenners: Have you thought about trying a key bit? My coach starts her young ones in them and they seem to encourage a nice contact with a fussy horse. It lies in their mouth a little bit differently than a bean.

I like the nathe for a horse that is resistant to take contact until they learn they can accept the bit.

[Hawks_Nest]

[QUOTE=TheJenners;7396320]
Curious about the Herm Sprenger Duo… Will it help a chewer? Or encourage?

My 4 yo WB, who I ride in a fig 8 because otherwise he yawns his mouth completely open and fidgets even worse, is currently in a double-jointed D ring, with a bean. He sucks the bit back and crunches on it like it’s a hard candy. I keep hoping he’ll outgrow it … He is NOT resistant to getting on the bit anymore than any other young horse. As far as I can tell, everything fits, I may have the bridle one hole looser than optimum but then again, maybe not.

No, I’m not a dressage rider (obviously :lol:) but I saw someone ask the same question I’ve been pondering (re: nathes).[/QUOTE]

my guy did that with a d-ring, it is much better with the boucher. He still sucks it up but not to the same extent

[candysgirl]

It took my Arab a good year in his bit (JP Korsteel oval mouth eggbutt) to really actually accept the bit and learn to deal with contact. He did the Arab giraffe thing. A lot.

What helped him was just ignoring the fussing and fidgeting with the bit and working on riding him back to front. He seemed to just need time to develop the proper muscling and an adult brain to be able to accept contact. He was 5yo before he really accepted contact and 6yo before he sought it out and would really push into it.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

If she has a small mouth low palate, you should try her in a bradoon. I have used a Sprenger KK bradoon on TB mares without much room in their mouths with great success.

But a lot of what you are describing probably has very little to do with the bit, and more to do with conformation, prior riding, crooked posture (turning nose to the side) and even past or present soundness issues. Some horse’s conformation, coupled with the way that they were ridden on the track, turn them into stargazers. It takes a long time for them to lose that habitual way of balancing on the forehand with their heads in the air. The muscle on the underside of the neck needs to atrophy, and the horse’s top line and abdominal muscles need to strengthen. This takes time.

[TheJenners]

This is his 5 yo year so maybe I’ll wait it out. May ask my trainer if she has a boucher that will fit him though…

[PoohLP]

I’ve been struggling to find a bit for mine too. I started him in a western d when I got him as a 3yo and he liked that, but the rings aren’t legal so I tried the same bit in a hunter d and egg but with no success. I found a single jointed d with rollers on both sides that works great for hunters but obviously, not legal for dressage as rollers are verboten. I’ve had him in a kk three piece loose ring as well and that was ok until I started asking for more contact, then he got high headed and fussy. Just for kicks I threw a rubber Mullen mouth Pelham on him the other day and it was like having a whole different horse. Unfortunately, we’re not ready for third level so it won’t work. Figuring maybe he liked the feel of the big fat rubber Mullen, my most recent attempt is a rubber Mullen D and when I played with it yesterday, I got good results, so we’ll try that for a while. If that doesn’t work I night try a level 1 Mylar or a Boucher since really likes his Watson 3 ring we use in the jumpers, which is somewhat curved.