Bridling Headshy Horse?

[blackeventers]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone would have some advice on bridling a semi-headshy horse. She’s a 16.1hh thoroughbred mare, with a medium case of headshyness.
To make my problem clearer:
When going to even halter her, she will happily have the nose strap done up, but as soon as you move into the ear area, she will throw her head up and back up rapidly, as well as throwing in a bit of head tossing.
She isn’t happy about her ears being touched, and much the same happens. I’ve gradually been able to brush around the ears with a soft brush, but that’s about it. Even touching her forehead sets it off.
So far to bridle her, I’ve taken the noseband and browband off my English bridle and basically detached it so I can do it up like a halter at the base of her neck, pull her head down and wiggle the bridle down her neck. This sets her off too, but it’s the most successful I’ve gotten as after 10 minutes or so I’m able to gently pull the bit around her chin and then put it in her mouth and tighten everything up (which also sets her off, but not as severely).

Wondering if anyone has any advice on the matter? She’s being sent to a showjumping trainer very soon and we don’t want to be paying for them to sit around trying to bridle her as opposed to actually training.

Also curious as to how she was ever broken in/trained/ridden. Was trained as a racehorse but too slow, leased to an elderly lady for riding purposes. If anyone can give some insight into this mystery, it would be much appreciated!

~Ella

[SuzieQNutter]

Usually these problems originate with a bridle being taken off and not allowing the horse to spit the bit out.

Being head shy is from a horse that has been ear twitched or hit around the head for biting or similar.

Or a green horse that has not been handled yet and is afraid of you.

There is several things I would try. If she is afraid of the bit. Change it to a rubber bit until she is happy.

First of all remembering safety first and I don’t want you hurt but if you touch her and she moves you must not remove your hand until she is still. If she mucks up and your hand is removed she has been rewarded for playing up. If you wait until she is still before removing your hand, she is rewarded for standing still. So start where she will let you touch and just go minutely where you can’t touch and rinse and repeat.

Another thing I would try is putting on one of those showjumping head thingies that they use with the v that goes down the forehead.

When Twiggy came we couldn’t touch her ears but she did allow us to bridle her. After having one of those things on for a couple of hours she didn’t care about us touching her ears anymore.

[jawa]

Have your vet out to check to see if she has aural plaques in her ears. They make the ears SUPER sensitive and they won’t want you anywhere in the same zip code as their ears.

If your horse does have this, the way I worked with a horse that had AP, is i would undo the cheek straps on the bridle on one side. I would set the crown over the ears without touching them. Put the bit in the mouth, and then re buckle the cheek pieces.

I had to do this routine until the AP were under control. Bugs in the ear make the AP worse, so they got better once the cold weather set in. In the spring I would put SWAT in his ears or he wore a flymask with ears to prevent a flare up.

[Texarkana]

Any race horse barn worth its salt isn’t going to utilize any methods that would create a head shy horse. Race horses are backed very similarly to any other horse before they learn their job on the track. There are a lot of misconceptions that race horses are frequently ear twitched or beat about the head, but that is just untrue! I’ve found quite the opposite in my years on the track: it’s faux pas in most barns for a groom to even raise his hand to bump a nippy colt in the nose. There is so much scrutiny that it is very rare for anyone to physically reprimand a horse. I’m not saying that she couldn’t have encountered a bad person, but there is no reason to believe that race training alone would have made her head shy.

This is just my experience, but every head shy horse I’ve ever met falls into one of two categories: fear from mishandling or pain. Fear is very straight forward to address: lots of positive reinforcement and the horse will begin to respond almost immediately. It can still take a long time to build that trust, but you will see slight improvements right away.

When a horse doesn’t begin to respond right away, most of mine have almost always had some sort of physical pain exacerbating their head shy tendencies. Tooth pain or TMJ pain is a huge one. I’ve also known head shy horses with cervical vertebrae problems.

[Guilherme]

Work on the ear issue. I have a mare that was “eared down” badly at one time. The first time I tried to bridle her she almost put her head into the ceiling!

So, back to basics. Putting a halter on was not an issue, although she would make a “sour face.” So I took her into the round pen haltered (for security), removed the halter, put lead rope around her neck tied cavalry style (so I had a “handle” to grab) and then talked quietly while I ran my hand slowly up her neck. As soon as I saw a reaction (the sour face) I backed off and the ran up to the line, praising her for her quietness. Over time (a couple of weeks) I was able to move up and touch the ear (the left one) without anything more than a “I really don’t like this but it’s OK” face.

After the halter was done, tried the bridle. She took it with the same “I’d rather not but it’s OK” face. Over time even that went away.

This is a tough way to do it because it takes Tincture of Time, the most difficult equine medication to administer.

I’m sure there are other ways, but this one worked well for us.

G.

[blackeventers]

Thanks so much for the quick replies!

It certainly isn’t a bit problem, as far as I can tell of course. She accepts it like a star, and while I’m tightening up is happy to chew on it until in place. Quiet as when being taken off as well; no drama whatsoever.
Her breeder/trainer was lovely, so I’m confident there was no abuse from that front. I’m confused as to whether this developed recently or not, as I can’t see an elderly lady with, as we were told, weak bones bridling a very strong, very tall mare.
She is only five, so it hasn’t been ages since then also. Not a lot of time in between.
I’m actually not tall enough to fully reach her ears if she throws her head up, though I’ll certainly try the first method to the best of my ability (and of course all your advice, everyone!) She does tend to throw her head and move away, also.

She isn’t sour whatsoever, and I’ve not ever seen an ounce of nastiness. It seems very fear based, as there’s no pinning of the ears or tail swishing, just the evading of the touch.
I’ll do some research into AP, also. It’s not something I’ve heard of before, so time to start reading!

[Flash44]

Why not just teach her to lower her head for the bridle just like you would teach her to have her ears clipped?

[Guilherme]

Sometimes “abuse” is seen differently by horse and human. And, then, there’s the reality that not every breeder handles every horse personally all the time. What happened in those times when others did the work? We don’t know.

So, the approach is still to go back to basics to, first, clearly identify the “trigger” and then work on desensitizing the horse to said “trigger.”

Put another way, it’s not about “judging” prior handling; it’s identifying and correcting a problem.

G.

[californianinkansas]

My very reactive and hot horse was head shy and ear shy when I purchased him, I believe due to the F-I-L of a previous owner using the “ear twitch” method to bring him in from the field instead of simply grabbing a halter. I was able to resolve it within two weeks using a clicker (operant conditioning) to overcome the head and ear shyness, but YMMV.

While you are working to overcome the ear shyness, you may wish to purchase a cheapie mule halter and/or bridle, which are made so they don’t touch the ears when tacking up.

Best of luck to you!

[beowulf]

Several of the OTTBs I’ve gotten off the track has been headshy. Here is what I do.

Always reward them for dropping their head. Find out what their favorite treat is because this is something I think food makes all the difference for. This is a nervous habit and not one that they do to be bad - usually they had a bad experience or were not properly handled… so don’t force them through it.

1. Teach them to drop their head. Use a rope noseband if you’d like, pull down until they drop - do this ad nauseum and heavily reward when they do. If they balk, don’t increase the pressure - stay “neutral”. Find some command you like “head down”, etc to use verbally.
2. Hold out a carrot or some other treat and brush their face. I do this multiple times a day. They will learn to identify the brush as okay, sometimes it does not translate over to every other tool near their face.
3. When bitting, hold out the bit and treats (I use grain for this). Wait for them to come to the bit. Don’t force the bit in their mouth. Additionally look into some sort of soft treat that can mold around the bit so that they associate the bit with something pleasant.
4. When removing the bit, ask them to drop their head and gently pull the bit out. Make sure to avoid the bit “clunking” their teeth - most horses HATE that! Then treat

I find after a productive work-out (one that ended on a positive note) they are the most amenable. I spend some time gently rubbing their face with my hand and slowly work up to their ears. I do this daily until it’s NBD. If they shy away, stay neutral, start at the nose again and gently work your way up. Some of them really enjoy having their “temples” rubbed.

Most TBs haven’t had positive experiences letting something near their heads… so it’s up to you to change that.

[RedHorses]

I had to braid an ear/headshy horse for a season. I was advised to begin at the withers and work my way up. I could braid him, but he wasn’t happy and the last few right behind his ears sometimes required multiple attempts as he twitched away just before I could tie the knot.

I ended up braiding in his stall, his bum in the corner and his body parallel to the wall. I put a chain over his nose and dropped the lead end over my shoulder. Then I started behind his ears, keeping a firm contact with his neck with at least one hand at all times. He couldn’t get away because of where he was standing (and I was on my braiding step so tall enough to stay with him). At no time did I lose contact with his neck and as I worked away from his ears he relaxed (a tiny bit at first, less tense rather than relaxed). It is difficult to tie up braids without losing contact with the neck, but I did it and he got better and better each time I did him. I used to tease him and pretend that I didn’t want his ear to touch me (“Ew! Don’t touch me!” :lol: ). So I too would try the touch and maintain contact until the horse is still method.

My super horse was ear shy as a foal. He didn’t like the halter crown sliding over his ears. So I trained him to put his head in the halter (with a friend’s help). After that I’d just have to hold it open in front of his nose, crown up around eye level and keep it there. He’d move his nose away, but the halter would follow until he finally squinched his eyes closed, wrinkled his nostrils, flattened his ears and thrust his head into the halter. His expression when he did it was priceless! :lol: Once he realized it wasn’t that bad I could gradually move to putting the halter on and he was okay with it. The escape attempts always put that much more pressure on the ears as we chase and try to get it on quickly. Allowing him to control the process showed him that it wasn’t really a big deal.

[OveroHunter]

With the exceptionally head shy horses we start with a very simple western bridle. The kind that are only a bit, reins and one strap around the head (clearly not an ideal set up for riding as it could slip back, but you have to start somewhere).

Start slow by teaching the horse to drop its head (as described by beowulf) and then when the horse is pretty good about dropping their head for grooming, work on bridling.

Unbuckle the bridle so it’s just a bit with some straps hanging from it. Find the tallest capable horse person you know (we’re lucky that DH is 6’5 and has been around horses all his life). Put the bit in while standing on the horse’s left side. Ease your right hand up, but more towards his neck than his ears. Bring the strap around the back of his neck (a few inches behind his ears) and buckle on the left side. Ease the bridle up to rest behind the ears.

Build on that until you are using an actual bridle and not unbuckling the thing every time.

[Libby2563]

[QUOTE=jawa;8282151]
Have your vet out to check to see if she has aural plaques in her ears. They make the ears SUPER sensitive and they won’t want you anywhere in the same zip code as their ears.

If your horse does have this, the way I worked with a horse that had AP, is i would undo the cheek straps on the bridle on one side. I would set the crown over the ears without touching them. Put the bit in the mouth, and then re buckle the cheek pieces.

I had to do this routine until the AP were under control. Bugs in the ear make the AP worse, so they got better once the cold weather set in. In the spring I would put SWAT in his ears or he wore a flymask with ears to prevent a flare up.[/QUOTE]

I had this exact experience with a TB with AP, and used the same method. (His AP never improved, winter or summer.) I didn’t find it too annoying to undo and rebuckle the bridle every time. I swear I’ve seen photos of bridles with a buckle on the crownpiece that would make this really easy. I did try to acclimate my guy to ear handling but it was just too stressful. Who knows what had happened to him earlier in life. He was so, so good in every other way that I decided I could work around this quirk.

[NancyM]

Sounds like a pain issue to me. If not in the mouth, then on the poll or around the ears. Aural plaques may be the answer, or ear infections down deep inside the ear canals. You will need a vet to search for that, and treat it. It was the deep ear infection that I had with one I had like this, treatment by a vet cleared that up.

[HungarianHippo]

Agree with ruling out pain. Assuming not the issue:
My foster hackney was horrible to even halter (even at 11h!). She was never trained until I got her at 4-- any farrier/vet work was accomplished by herding her into a confined space and wrestling her into a halter.

Just change your mindset in that you don’t have a bridling problem, you have an ear problem. So you need to work on the ears regularly without a bridle even in sight. I’m guessing that she gets tense if you simply raise your hands near her poll, without even touching her? If yes, start your training there, because you prob have a better shot of staying with her if she backs up, keeping the mild pressure on until she submits. Not waving your hand, just raised to the point where she gets uncomfortable, keep it there, and then release the pressure when she submits. If you are athletic enough to stay by her side, I’d do it in the barnyard or arena where she will eventually tire of backing up. If not, then in a stall (but confinement+pressure doesn’t usually improve their mindset).

Combine that with regularly (like every single time you interact with her, every time you pass her in the pasture, etc.) running your hand up her crest juuust the first hint of tension, hold there, then release. Repeat, repeat repeat. I mean, all standard stuff, but it took months of that before the hackney would calmly let me run my hand up over her poll, over her ears, etc. Absolutely none of this training involved haltering or bridling-- those issues disappeared on their own once the ears issue was fixed.

As with any basic training “gap”, this is not gonna get fixed within your “very soon” timeframe. I’m willing to guess the trainer has dealt with lots of headshy horses and has all the tricks at hand. Most of which will do nothing to fix the issue, and may even unsettle your mare even more. But they’ll get a bridle on her. Don’t blame the trainer if she comes back even more headshy (unless you are paying the trainer to work on this issue). Just start the intensive training when she gets back.

[whitney159]

HungarianHippo has some very good advice. I have a mare that came to me with some severe issue with bridling. No pain, no bit issues, it was all about having the bridle come over her ears. She’d hit the roof with any attempt. The person I got her from wouldn’t even attempt to bridle her without taking the bridle mostly apart, minus brow band etc.
I did the long slow annoying route of touching her up the neck, on the poll at every opportunity, at every feeding, always associating the touch with good things, a scratch on the neck that went higher, rubbing her poll while she ate dinner etc. I did this for a long time (while I rode her by taking the bridle apart). I tried all sorts of patient methods for the bridle and finally caved to outright bribery. Peppermints. I would unwrap two. One for just as the bit was being offered, the other for immediately after getting the bridle over her ears. The first one she’d grab and chomp while I swept the bridle up quickly (and I always adjusted the bridle to be loose and easy to get on first). Yes she reacted, but was slow enough for me to get the bridle on (most of the time). Then she’d get the reward again. She now drops her head for the bit and drools a little even. Yes, she still fully expects her peppermint, but she’s no longer tense about the bridle at all.

[CHT]

a boarder bought a horse with ear plaques that seem quite painful. She found the best solution is to use a combination halter/bridle (where the cheek pieces snap on to the halter). She puts the halter portion on to catch him, and then just snaps on the bit when she is ready to ride.

This way of doing things has made him much less paranoid about his painful ears being touched, and is now fine to halter and to bridle.