I have a horse who I showed in the 1.30m’s this year, and plan for her to be my GP/U25 horse this coming season. She’s fantastic at her job, and loves it, but is HOT and very strong/heavy. I’ve avoided bitting up because she can be sensitive, but I’d also like to avoid being drug around a 1.40m course with no control. She goes in a beval bit at home, and showed last year in a double jointed pelham. She responded really well to a hackamore combi, but I didn’t like that I couldn’t control the hackamore and bit functions independently. She’s overall a pretty resistant horse when it comes to her mouth.
And before anyone says it, this is not an issue of improper flatwork or training, she is a very well trained, 15 year old, competitive 1.45m horse, this is just how she goes and according to her previous two trainers, has always been like this. We flat significantly more than we jump (flats 6 days a week and jumps once, MAYBE twice a month at about a meter), so she gets tons of flatwork in.
You could try a swale bit as it acts similar to a double bridle with independent direct contact and leverage actions. I personally like it with the Beris mouthpiece to keep it softer in their mouth
I was going to suggest a Swail. Used on a former hot hot jumper who was sensitive in the mouth. It gives you more than a Pelham, but less than a combi bit, especially if you use it with a rein on the mouthpiece ring and a rein on the shank.
Similarly, as others have recommended OP, I’ve seen the combi-bit split work successfully. Most are set up as a single piece with the mouthpiece slide on the same shanks the hackamore action is tied to, but with a double bridle set up you can hang both, on separate reins, to only use the hackamore leverage when needed.
My hot mare went well in a swale. I also really like a waterford gag as they can’t grab that mouth piece. I flat in a waterford snaffle. Assuming you have soft hands as a hackabit is very strong, I just started using a double twisted wire only for jumping and my very picky and hot mare goes well in that.
I have a mare who just stepped into her first 1.35 classes last year (here she is in a 30 class with all of her ridiculousness). I use a myler 3-ring combo bit on her and it is complete magic. Anything else I put on her she just pulls through in the (rare) moments that she wants to. Super frustrating because she’s SO OPINIONATED and completely sure that her way is the right/only way. She’s also wickedly sensitive (when she wants to be), so if I use a normal strong bit (corkscrew, slow twist, gag, etc.) she just gets mad and fights it, so the myler is a nice middle ground. She’s funny about her mouth (and has been from day 1). As a 4yo, where most of mine are in snaffles, I had her in a hackabit and still barely had control. Like you, I didn’t love the hackabit, but at least it gave me enough to steer around a course.
But I will also add that mine is super quirky in so many ways, and though the combo action (nose rope, curb, and bit) seem to work magic on her, my other strong mare didn’t care about the bit at all and still pulled through it like crazy.
That mare was showing at the 1.40m level and I wanted to step her into the 1.45m, but she would pull to the base and roll the front rail of oxers if I couldn’t get her off my hand. Like the other mare, she was broke broke broke on the flat, but just got to pulling when the fences got big. I tried the combo bit with, as mentioned, zero effect. Ultimately for her I put her in a corkscrew gag and just had to accept that I had too much bit 50% of the time and exactly the right amount the other 50% of the time.
A gag is my usual go-to for a too-strong jumper. I showed my FEI horse in a slow twist gag for many years, and this one spent the last couple of years in the corkscrew gag. FTR, I did try a waterford and a waterford gag on both of my mares and they still were able to absolutely blow through it. But one of the geldings I sold a while back wound up in a waterford gag with his new rider and she said it was magic on him, so I know some of them really like them.
It’s just personal preference, I like having control over the pieces independently as I feel that keeps the bit softer until I need hack to come into play.
Different horse.The pics over the tiny fences were my 4yo gelding doing the first courses of his life at that show. Similar color, though, and though distant, related-enough to look similar!
It depends on what exactly “hot” means to you and how your horse demonstrates it… but with ones that tow through your hand, a pulley gag with two reins on it, one regular snaffle rein, and one pulley rein, held together like pelham reins. Simple, soft mouthpiece. Nothing that’s going to “hurt”… no twists etc. Just a simple snaffle mouthpiece, but the second rein on the gag action. So that if the horse goes to pull through your hand when she gets hot, she can’t put the pressure of the bit onto her bars and tow you… instead the pulley rein comes automatically into play, and raises the bit in her mouth, raising her head. A horse quickly learns that trying to tow you results in the opposite of what they are after, without any “pain” from a twisted or sharper mouthpiece, simply that they can not bear down to tow you. The horse corrects herself with this bit, you just hold the reins and ride normally. The mouthpiece you choose is soft and inviting to take a feel, but no towing is possible. This makes for a relaxed, soft horse on course.
Well, I guess I’m going to say it anyway --> she has holes in her training. There’s just really no other “ifs, ands, or buts” about it. Resisting the bit and not listening when the adrenaline gets pumping is a lack of training.
I get that she is older (age 15) and probably came to you with bad habits. It is what it is. But doesn’t mean you can’t keep on trying to improve it in the background, little by little.
Now I’ve only dabbled in jumping a little bit so I really can’t (and won’t) make recommendations on what is show legal for the jumping pen because that’s outside my wheelhouse. But I do ride barrel horses. You talk about getting a horse jacked up and strong? Yup. And expect to still have control at any time? You bet. There’s a hard line in the sand for me and that’s knowing I can have control 100% of the time if I need it. I’m asking my horse to do a full out run. For safety, I need to know they will stop, anytime, anywhere. And to the level that if I put one my children on my horses (with smaller weaker arms), that they too would also be able to stop the horse anytime, and anywhere. That’s my end goal in mind.
Yes, part of the situation is finding a bit that the horse is happiest in. Yet at the same time, I like to know I can ride with a variety of different bits and still have my horse trained to understand/respond in them. So I will purposefully expose them to different things.
In the meantime, I would say to put a bit on your horse that she respects and you have control. Even if you don’t “like” it. Make having the control a priority at a show. And then keep chipping away at home on those holes. You might be able to change your show bit down the road to something you like better, as you make progression on getting her more responsive and softer to the bit. Re-training isn’t achieved over night.
And really, really hone in on making sure she is on point with your verbal cues and your seat cues.
Maybe it’s more of a Western concept, but can you stop your horse by just sitting down? If not, why not? (work toward that!) Because then you have that secondary cue to support your reins when your horse gets really strong in the show pen.
I appreciate the advice, and I completely understand this view. She’s not a particularly safe horse under saddle (especially at a show), and will never be a horse that I put a child on for any reason. That being said, she’s pretty responsive to me at home. Still not very soft, but she stops when I ask and goes when I ask. However, when we get to a show, she’s a different horse. It is what it is. Unfortunately, I just don’t think a ton of the fine tuning work we do at home translates at a show for her because she’s so focused on doing the job she knows how to do very well.
It may also sound bad, but she’s 15, has some known vetting issues, and I likely only have one, maybe two more seasons with her jumping this height. So ideally yes, I could train the issue out of her, but I simply don’t have the time. I’d rather find a bit that both her and I are comfortable with than fight with her to change how she naturally goes around and possibly get somewhere with it when she’s just about to retire a couple years down the road.
I wish I could include a video here showing truly how hot she is in the show ring, it’s hard to explain, but no amount of voice commands or sitting deep changes her sole focus of finding the next fence. I wish it did!
She’s out 24/7 in the summer! Unfortunately not in the winter. We’re in the PNW where all of our grass turns to knee-deep mud this time of year, and I’ve yet to find a barn near me that will turn them out for more than a few hours a day. Not my favorite, but I don’t have a lot of options.
