[QUOTE=netg;8619791]
So is he bracing or is he ducking, because your posts contradict each other?[/QUOTE]
Either way, IMO this is a training issue… perhaps for rider and horse! It’s also a strength issue. I’d go buy a new bit last, not first.
It takes some timing and feel to create a horse who always pushes into contact. You need to keep a soft feel and be ready to harden or soften your arm as the horse offers you the uphill-ness and feel that you want (and that he can physically produce). So I don’t let go if a horse braces or ducks. I keep the same contact and follow him (and add some leg) until he moves his head around “experimentally” and comes to a place that’s more to my liking. Then I relax my whole arm and hand and make that comfortable for him. In addition, I never close my hand first, or without leg. If I want to pick up the bit, I always close my leg first. This can be on just one side, but the rule is the same: Leg first, hand second.
And on the training thing for your particular problem: The idea is that you are always going forward, even when you “step down” into a lower gait. Or you think about riding the halt as if you want to march up to the place where the horse will plant his front feet and have his hind end active until the last step. In these cases, the horse is continuing to hold his core, even when the physics of the situation (and his body architecture) invites him to lean down on his front pair of legs.
It takes strength on the horse’s part, too.
After the horse has stopped and you wish to go again is a hard time to fix the problem. That’s because the horse already (probably) relaxed his core and dropped his ribs down between his shoulder blades. So when you ask him to go again, he has to (first) lift up his core and them move off, pushing from a hind leg that steps forward first, over his topline and up to the bit. But it’s more likely that he doesn’t engage his core first. Rather, he leaves it low when he steps forward. And that means he has to lift his head or lean on your hand so that he doesn’t fall on his nose as his downhill body moves forward.
I hope the biomechanics make sense.
To me, the time/place to work on the horse staying with the contact (and really, staying engaged in his core) is while he’s going forward. You can do transitions within gaits— I can’t tell you how much time I spend asking a horse to “trot bigger/trot smaller” (without losing his balance or rhythm) on a circle. That’s all just building the core strenghth he’ll need to do the bigger task of fully stopping and starting that heavy, high center of gravity body he has.
There is a time and a place to try a different bit for a horse. If a horse really chews incessantly on a bit (and isn’t particularly oral in other parts of his life or doesn’t have a Princess Complex), I’ll grant that the bit is hurting him some how. That’s when you get a different bit. But if the horse is happy with the bit but not just not using his body the way you want, I’d ask about training (lack of education about how to relate to the bit) and strength first.
I hope this helps rather than confuses!
