Pelham Bit for Trail Riding

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8528789]
I never hang onto a horse’s mouth to the point that I need to “let go.” In the beginning, they are taught to give to the bit (any bit, and actually a rope halter too). Well to each his own. I would not take a horse out on the trail that had the potential to get strong enough that I would need to forcibly make it stop. We’d fix that at home and then venture out.

I have decades of experience with race horses.[/QUOTE]

Hanging on the mouth is a monstrously bad idea.

I concur that home is the place to lay a sound foundation for the trail. And then introduce “distractions” under controlled circumstances. And then on the trail “keep your head a swivel” so you see potentially “scary” stuff before the horse does and engage their brain in something that will give you the control you need when they see the scary stuff.

Just exactly how one does this will vary depending on horse, discipline, venue, rider skill, etc. There is no “school answer” on “how.”

The curb is a communication device, not a set of “disk brakes.” The “snaffle bit Nazis” cringe over any level of leverage. But a curb permits a rider to “whisper” with their hands because the “communication device” amplifies the input. There are times when this is a Good Thing. This presumes, of course, that the rider has the ability to whisper; many, sadly, only know HOW TO SHOUT!!! Learning to whisper (or even not use rein but rely on seat and leg) is something you learn at home, not on the trail.

Once you leave the school and enter the wider world you no longer have much control over external input. Now the rider’s job is to keep the horse focused on what they already know and gain experience in the wider world without killing themselves or their rider.

G.

[Christa_P]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;8529750]
Hanging on the mouth is a monstrously bad idea.

I concur that home is the place to lay a sound foundation for the trail. And then introduce “distractions” under controlled circumstances. And then on the trail “keep your head a swivel” so you see potentially “scary” stuff before the horse does and engage their brain in something that will give you the control you need when they see the scary stuff.

Just exactly how one does this will vary depending on horse, discipline, venue, rider skill, etc. There is no “school answer” on “how.”

The curb is a communication device, not a set of “disk brakes.” The “snaffle bit Nazis” cringe over any level of leverage. But a curb permits a rider to “whisper” with their hands because the “communication device” amplifies the input. There are times when this is a Good Thing. This presumes, of course, that the rider has the ability to whisper; many, sadly, only know HOW TO SHOUT!!! Learning to whisper (or even not use rein but rely on seat and leg) is something you learn at home, not on the trail.

Once you leave the school and enter the wider world you no longer have much control over external input. Now the rider’s job is to keep the horse focused on what they already know and gain experience in the wider world without killing themselves or their rider.

G.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I was going to post a longer reply later (when I was on a computer,not my phone), but this sums it up nicely.

[Palm_Beach]

I like my horses to have one ear on me and one on what is going on around them. I just expect them to control themselves when they are surprised. I use a variety of object, some remote control and crazy, to desensitize them in the ring. Sure, they get surprised by stuff in the woods, but they don’t wheel, bolt, buck or run. The worst thing they do is spook in place (and rarely). It’s a lot of work, but worth it to me. In fact, it’s not unusual for me to spook and my horses not.

[pryme_thyme]

I feel your pain OP. My mare has no trouble leaving the herd but for whatever reason she used to hate going out in the bush alone.

Now, we can hack out alone without any major issues. I just have to be confident in my riding when she gets looky and not accept any baulking. I carry a dressage whip to reinforce.
Note- Once you accept a baulk, whether that means allowing horse to turn around and take even one step toward the barn, the horse registers that as a win and will escalate to get their way again. Horses are masters of pressure!

Originally, I thought I would need to bit up but I didn’t. I was just very proactive at recognizing and dealing with evasions instantly. Applying my own pressure until my mare accepted.
For example. Mare didn’t like to cross the river. (Shallow, maybe 15ft across).
I put on my leg. She would try to spin right, I turned her left and kicked with right leg. She turned back to face river, pat. Relax a moment. Press on again.
Couple times she even attempted to kick out at my leg. She would kick, I would kick back.
Mind games really… Just depends how far you intentionally or un-intentionally let them go on.
It is hard I know.

We are still working on hacking alone but due to the incredibly muddy fields we have here the majority of the year it only allows a couple trips out a month.
We now have very minor and far between issues. Slight indecision about river but with a little pressure applied to move forward, mare obliges.
Mare still gets excited trotting and cantering out alone so I work on a million and one transitions. Some times have to use an e-brake but rarely.
Time will heal…

Last tip for you. Work on flexions before hacking out. I once heard, ‘horses don’t have hard mouths, they have hard bodies’.
The flexions will loosen up the body so the mouth can be soft.

Good Luck!