After my experience with Lola, a show-bred Morgan, I wonder if these saddleseat-bred horses just tend to chomp on bits. I mean, I go to a Morgan show, and in most main ring classes, it’s noisy with all the chomping.
Lola loves her Little S hackamore. When I first rode her in it, she started to chomp and then… stopped. She seemed confused for a moment, like she was just realizing that there was nothing in her mouth to chomp on!
My anxious and forward twh chews air in a hackamore. He gnaws on his tongue like some folks bite their nails.
My TB chews air too, when he’s anxious. It’s not related to a bit, he still does it in just a halter or bosal. 
once he’s in that state it is hard to get him relaxed again.
They do. And saddlebreds are mouthy AF.
EVERYTHING must go in the mouth all the time. Putting halters and bridles on mine is kind of a dodgem game as they are grabbing at the leather and bit as I try to get the bridles on. They can’t have anything on the front of their stalls, no blanket bars or halters as they will grab them and mouth them or drag blankets into the stalls and tear them apart. One of mine also likes to pop zip ties (we had some in the pasture holding a pipe to the fence). He finds it great fun to go over, pop the zip tie, and move on to the next one. We finally had to bury the pipe because he figured out his way around so many of the attempted “fixes”. He also removes T-post caps - I have to superglue them on in the few places we have t-posts. He just works at them until they are flung off, and then walks away. He can’t wear bell boots in the stall as he will play with them until he gets them off. He CAN wear clothing, but it’s tricky!
They just need to “do” all the time. They are busy animals. And disciplining them does no good - my QH types try it and you say no, and they move on. For the saddlebreds it’s a game that they MUST win. The saddlebreds also love to steal hats, hairclips, play with zippers, and more than one has investigated my shoes to play with the laces. They are small children, curious and playful.
I find that my saddlebreds go best in a mullen mouth with a roller to keep the tongue occupied (so just work with the issue) or the shires mullen that has a LOT of space for the tongue so that its not triggering their oral tendencies. Or bitless. We’ve used a traditional bosal which felt like it got to his shoulders very well, and a more traditional spanish cavession (the Monolo Mendez, not a serrata) which was more like a bit but didn’t do anything for controlling the noodle neck. It’s SO easy to overbend them since you have 9 miles of neck to contend with.
My ASB’s were never chompers or mouthy… if they do it means they don’t like the bit or don’t know how to wear it. My QH is way more mouthy and it steams from anxiety at least for him.
My ASB loves toys but knows the difference between a halter/ bridle and his rope toy, anything left in front of the stall or his reach is fair game. He is currently obsessed with chasing his pasture mates with big sticks and halter tag.
He’s basically a poodle in horse body. He’s too dramatic to be compared to a lab.
That is amazing news! I am so happy that you are seeing a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Just remember horses love to throw fireworks in the best plans, so if two steps forward and one step back happens, deep breath, and know the end is worth it.
Poodle! LOL That’s great. I think mine are border collies or dobermans. Or SpongeBob. I always hear from them “I’m READY!” when I go out to the barn.
I had a TB who was a chomper. His was definitely anxiety. He also ground his teeth, which I thought was an old track habit.
My ASBs are more like “What’s this, I’m doing a thing, is this a thing? Should we chew it? What if I grab the cheekpiece? Hey, can I grab the rein? You’re moving too slowly, let’s GO already”. They also walk right up to the mounting block on their own and get into position (which I did train them to do), looking back at me like “Up lady, so I can get my treat and let’s get this party started”. And if I dilly dally up there, my main man will literally bend his neck around and gesture at the stirrup like I’m being stupid and I must have forgotten how to mount, DUH.
I made the mistake once of tying a mecate on my bridle that had fuzzy ends of the rope that were right by his mouth. He spent the first 15 minutes of the ride trying to catch them with his lips. I’d get him focused for a second and then he’d try to grab them again. He’s a hoot!
I’m over laughing my butt off at this because it’s SO FAMILIAR. 
And people don’t believe you!! They have to experience it firsthand, most horses are like livestock, they eat food that is food, they walk to shade/shelter or water source when needed, occasionally run and kick up their heels, and that’s it. Saddlebreds be like - ooh, what’s that coloured thing on the post over there? I want to smell it! Can i eat it? Can i play with it?? Can i rip it off and show it to my friends? 
I had to post instructions on how to place blankets on my horse’s blanket bar such that flaps/bits didn’t stick up near the stall bars because one time she managed to slowly and methodically pull her entire rainsheet into her stall through the 2" opening between bars and rip out the polyfill and had it strewn all over her stall the next morning. 
When she’s having anything done - massage, chiro, PEMF, rectals/ultrasounds, farrier, ANYthing - i have to give her something to chew on. She’s like an anxious kid with a squeeze stress ball. I let her chew the snot out of the butt end of the leadrope and that keeps her calm and happy. 
When i see other boarder’s horses just standing on the crossties, staring off into space, just… NOT moving… and their owners just… walking away… and the horses don’t even register that they’re gone, they’re just… standing there… not caring… i’m like:
“Wow… that is so foreign to me.” 
Mine is like:
“HI MOM! What are you doing now? Oooh, what’s that down the aisle? Oooh, something just moved outside the window! cranes neck Hey mom, why are you picking up my leg, do you need help? What’s that you’re using, can i eat it? Ok can i just lick it then? OOh, i heard something *shifts weight, moves sideways” Oh hey mom - i wuv you nuzzles and licks my sleeve Oooh, what was that?? (heard door open 30 ft away around a corner) Hey can i see my friends from here?? walks forward and braces against the crossties to peek outside HEY, MOM, DON’T LEAVE ME!!! (as i walk 5 ft to the wash stall to get some water)… nervous poop …
Honestly, this is offensive to those of us who have well-behaved and confident, well-adjusted horses. I can walk away from my horse in the cross ties and he will stand quietly, but believe me, he is aware that I’m gone. When I return, he keeps his eyes on my until I’m back by his side. Don’t confuse well behaved with dull. You and other ASB people seem to take pride in your horses’ antsy less-than-great behavior. I would much rather have one that you misinterpret as dull and uncaring but is confident and not full of angst. To each his or her own, I guess.
LOL, of course you’d find that offensive.
And yes, i 100% agree - to each their own.
I have two of another breed that behave just like yours - I taught them to stand quietly, and I’ve made every attempt to help the Saddlebreds adapt. It’s definitely a breed-related difference, not a training related difference.
We have these really tall light poles on our property that overlook the outdoor arena. One of the horses, being goofy, ran into the light post after a miscalculation when another horse approached him, making it vibrate and make a noise from the vibration.
All the other horses ran away terrified, snorting, bucking, and carrying on.
Who comes back? The saddlebred. He’s snorting like a dragon, neck arched, looking absolutely magnificent walking up to the lightpost which is now making this BRRRRRRRRRRRR sound as it winds down its vibration. He gets close enough to it and reaches out with his nose, and it must have vibrated whe he touched it because THEN he decided it was scary and ran off tail flagging about 3 feet before turning around to check out the vibrations some more. He did that 3 times, clearly having great fun while the TB, QHs, and Warmblood were hiding back in the back of the pasture ROFL
When I first got my main man, he literally tapdanced on the cross ties. He never challenged them or was rude, but the feet tap danced. Finally, 6 years later, he’ll act kind of snoozy and I almost cried the first day he cocked a foot, but he is ALWAYS ready and he is SO helpful. When you go to pick out his feet, he offers each one before you’ve asked, and the right front, and only the right front, always provokes a butt nuzzle. He has never offered to nip or be rude about it, but he DOES want to check you out when you pick up that particular foot.
When I pick out the stall with him in it, he licks the back of my jacket the whole time, sometimes “helping” me with the muck fork. I have to repeatedly tell him, buddy - it’s mine, no thank you, thanks for the offer.
Once I was picking out his feet in the stall with him loose and handed him the hoof pick and I swear to god he tried to clean out my foot. He was scraping my foot (not the ground) with it. That one I didn’t catch on camera but I was like ok, this is spooky!
He carries his feed pan around with him…plays with the hose. These guys are the ultimate in prankster. Once he snagged my wide-brimmed hat off of my head. Flung it, spooked at it on the ground, came back and picked it up and flung it again. Great fun was had by everyone except my hat. LOL
They are definitely different creatures. We usually say that if he had opposable thumbs we would all be in trouble. That’s the ONLY thing he is missing. And even then, he knows how to unpin the door and before I realized he had figured that out, I caught him in the barn once. A boarder had left wrapped soft peppermints on her stall, and he knocked it over and figured out that if he stepped on the wrapper he could make the peppermint pop out. I caught it on the camera and came out and shouted his name, and didn’t that booger start stomping and sucking up peppermints as quickly as he could.
I think the problem with saddlebreds is that you’ve got to be smarter than they are, and that’s tricky! He keeps me on my toes! I’ve owned 20+ horses of different breeds, managed several barns, trained greenies, and I’d like to think I had a handle on equine behavior. Saddlebreds blew me away.
Morgans are like that too - they have a shared heritage. Wicked smart. Very people-oriented, with a sense of humor.
And heck, Saddlebreds even know how to pose for selfies! And no, he’s not biting, he likes to hang out with his nose on my shoulder.
So they can’t be trained to behave better?
It’s not a negative behavior. It’s an energy level and an insatiable curiosity. If you read my NEXT post, you’ll see that mine finally settled in the cross ties after 6 years of patiently working with him.
Some of it may be early handling. The saddleseat people don’t want to tame them too much because that natural fire is what they want. They want the horse that feels that joie de vivre. They don’t want something that looks dull and boring, which is how they see QHs, TBs and Warmbloods. They are not looking for qualities like submission.
It’s a LOT of energy and interest. As a breed they want to interact with everything, their environment, you - it’s like having a toddler. Which is why you’ll rarely see a saddleseat horse in the ring with their ears back looking dull. They perk their ears forward and interact with the crowd.
Don’t knock it until you actually interact with one. It’s different, but it isn’t bad.
Again, to use a dog analogy - different breeds of dogs require different things. They can all be taught things, but need different strategies and different behaviors are tolerated. Try to teach a hound the same way you teach a lab, the same way you teach a border collie and you won’t be successful. You have to work with their nature.
The job of saddlebreds was to look exciting and show off. That’s what they are GREAT at. They’ve been bred for generations to be flashy, showy, interact with the people and be crowd-pleasers.
Plus - they don’t normally do the rude things other horses do even when they don’t quite stand the way you expect them to. They don’t paw, rear, scream or look distressed. They look interested. They are highly engaged.
It sounds like a horse unsuitable to an ammy/rerider though.
You know, someone like the OP?
Yep. Just like the hyperactive/busy types of dogs are unsuitable for most people as well. And then the dog gets dumped at the shelter and passed around……
@AdultEmmy has a much quieter one than mine, even though mine was used for children’s lessons as a 5 year old. 
They LOOK fiery but take care of their people. They do NOT want to harm their people. The behaviors simply do not mean the same things. My dancing snorty beast would NEVER run over a person in a million years. He won’t even pull on me. I handle him a flat halter and he tries his level best to stay underneath me in all instances.
There’s a fun tiktok video going around by an eventer encountering them for the first time, and she brings up the fact that when an event horse looks like a saddlbred, theres some shenanigans about to occur. What happens to a saddlebred? They just pick up their knees higher.
You cannot equate “normal” horse appearances to theirs. I KNOW that sounds crazy. If I hadn’t had the experiences I’ve had with them, I would think myself crazy. I honestly think the hardest transition to a saddlebred is for experienced riders used to hunters. The same physical energy and body signals that would mean you’re about to get punted into next week with a warmblood mean you’re going to have an absolutely lovely forward ride from your saddlebred.
The danger is that people misinterpret them and think the behaviors are BAD or negative. Then they overreact and that’s when things can go sideways. They aren’t bad or negative behaviors.
Unless they are understood by people who teach the owner how to deal with that type of dog.
The worst behaved dogs I encounter? Goldendoodles and Labs. Why? Because people believe they are easy and don’t get the help they need.
Oh, I wasn’t aware you knew them personally.
I’ve had much more extensive conversations with @AdultEmmy than just the posts on these threads. We’ve talked about more of the horse’s history, I’ve seen a significant number of videos, and more of the behavior - she’s close to me in location and we are arranging some physical visits. I’m sure some of that would be helpful background information for the thread, but I think she has been bitten pretty hard so I see why she doesn’t.
I know that you said that sarcastically, but it’s the truth.
I have significantly more info about both her situation and the breed of horse she has. And while you can accuse me of being barn-blind, which I suppose I am with regard to my main guy who has turned me into a 15 year old girl again, enjoying horses in a way I had given up on 35 years ago, you cannot accuse her of that. If anything, the descriptions of the behaviors are a bit exaggerated, as sometimes they are with beginners.
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