Hi everyone! TIA for your help.
I have an OTTB mare, 11 years old, who constantly tosses her head, chomps at the bit, and roots. My trainer told me she is just having temper tantrums, so what do you think is the best solution for this?
I currently have her in a french link eggbutt snaffle and her teeth were done in December. I’m to the point that riding her is not fun because of this behavior, and I want to try to solve it before just selling her.
try going bitless for a while. It’s some combination of your hands, and her past experiences.
Does she do it on the lunge line with and/or without her bridle on?
EDIT: also…just get ready for a whole bunch of people to give you absolute opinions on this issue which may not be correct AT ALL. Take the feedback with a grain of salt and listen to your gut.
Not as frequently on the lunge line, but yes, and she does not do it on the buckle. I have a video of her standing in the cross ties with nothing on but her bridle (halter over the bridle, to hook on cross ties) just chewing away. No saddle or anything else. And I was sitting halfway down the aisle.
Could it be a TMJ, Poll or other discomfort? How is she at chewing? (thinking apples, thicker carrots, or hay). I recently had a client horse start to root, and it was a poll issue fixed by our chiropractor/vet. Horse stopped rooting right away.
If it is a “temper tantrum” then that implies to me there is either something the mare doesn’t understand, is in discomfort trying to do it, or is in conflict (she is receiving conflicting information either from you, her body, or a combination).
Discomfort. Somewhere in her head or neck. Check your saddle fit too!
When she starts rooting, how do you respond?
If you put an bit with just a strap to hold it up on her, and put her in her stall and go out of her sight ,does she stop chewing eventually? It may have something to do with anticipation of what’s going to happen to her next, which could be pain and/or fear-anxiety.
If she doesn’t do it on the buckle why do you think she would do it on the cross ties? Do the ties hold her head in a position that’s different from when she’s on the buckle?
Have you tried different bits? Did this just start or has it always been a problem and it’s getting worse? It could be discomfort and, since you say she does it on the cross ties with just the bridle, anxiety from anticipating discomfort.
Rooting is an easier fix. Do not pull when she does this. What worked for my mare was immediately dropping the contact when she’d start to root and take it back up again when she stopped. She would fall heavily on the forehand every time and eventually quit the habit. Failing this, waterford bits are amazing for horses that root.
My guy would always carry on in cross ties if he could see me. If I stepped away he settled right down.
I’ve tried the following:
Myler baucher
french link baucher
straight mullen mouth
french link d ring
french link eggbutt
single jointed eggbutt
The chomping is honestly what stresses me out the most. I’ve been told it’s a common habit to come off the track with… not sure if that’s true.
In response to others… she is fine with apples, carrots, etc. I did hear her pop her jaw once, I think. So TMJ may be a consideration.
Does she ever relax? Maybe do lots of work without worrying about contact and slowly add the contact back in.
Horses don’t tend to have “temper tantrums” out of nowhere. To me, it sounds like discomfort - whether that be physical discomfort, anxiety, a lack of understanding, or some combination of those. I tend to agree with what others have said - see if there is pain somewhere (my horse turned out to have sharp points on his teeth, 5 months after I’d had them floated), and then maybe do some work on getting her to relax both in the cross ties and under saddle before going back to asking for contact.
My mare had similar behavior (minus the rooting) and we managed to narrow it down to two issues.
I solved the low palate issue with a Myler MB 32-3 mouthpiece. (Mine is on a Dee, but you can get them with different cheek pieces.) It’s an expensive bit, so maybe try her in a mullen first and see if that helps before you lay out the cash. She used to chomp and chew a lot, too–all the stress went into her mouth. But this bit was a serious game-changer for us.
The hind-end issue is still there and isn’t going to go away, but I can mitigate it by keeping her in shape and making sure to build muscle back there to support things.
Maybe check her palate and then get some flexions to see if it’s purely physical?
How long has she been out of racing? I have found these symptoms to be really common for horses coming out of racing, whether flat or jump racing. I agree with all the suggestions to look for pain: pain or discomfort could be anywhere – neck, poll, jaw, ulcers, even feet. Also, anxiety can come from pain but also from anticipation of “work” and can become a habit, like biting our nails.
For the rooting, I agree with the other poster who said to drop contact when they start. I had a HORRIBLE rooter – he’d root you right out of the tack, Christ, it was awful. He rooted especially hard into downward transitions, so I would ask for the transition with my seat and throw away my reins. He’d root and have nothing to pull against. He didn’t stop altogether, but he became MUCH better and I could gradually keep some contact through down transitions. He had a lot of anxiety.
My friend has a TB mare who ran on the flat for a couple years, really not that long, and she’s now like 15 or 16. My friend hasn’t really done anything special with the horse, just trail rides, jumps around, maybe they’ve been to a couple schooling shows. The horse lives the most chill life imaginable on a lovely quiet farm with minimal demands and STILL she is SO active in her mouth. She flails her tongue, flaps her lips, and chomps constantly. A few years ago, my friend put her in a hackamore to see if she’d ease out of it and no, she hasn’t. Granted, she’s not in consistent work, but it’s been years! At this point, it’s just habit. The mare is naturally “anxious” and ready to work when the tack comes out, despite nothing but super calm rides for almost a decade.
My own TB ran for a long time over hurdles and then hunted for ages. He was run into the ground and has loads of emotional baggage so he’s very anxious. He’s gotten a lot better the past couple years but he still is fussy in the bridle. He has really enjoyed the MB33 dee with hooks. It gives him a lot of tongue relief, which he likes, but still gives me some leverage when he gets strong. It’s work a try as all the bits you’ve tried so far lay on the tongue pretty consistently. The Mylers can be found used but also my local tack store lets bits go out on trial for a week or so, which is really helpful for the expensive ones. Might be worth investigating.
Like others have said, “temper tantrums” don’t come out of nowhere. It’s important to look into this issue, especially if it’s somewhat new. The horse might need some time to chill out and just have calm hacks for a while.
Thank you for sharing, that actually makes me feel a lot better. She retired in 2015, but was bred and foaled stillborn twins then bred and foaled a deformed foal last year, who had to be euthanized. I bought her in July and she hadn’t been ridden in 3 years. She was so not herself when I got her. She was super sweet, but the first time I went into her stall she just put her forehead on my hip and stood there. I have photos of it. She hasn’t done that since, and she is now much happier. She has a boyfriend, lol.
Lately I’ve been riding her at a walk and sometimes the trot with light contact. Maybe I’ll try to just let her be a horse and walk around on the buckle for a while.
@Bcarr510 Wow the poor girl! That sounds really sad about her pregnancies and I’m sure there’s some emotional stuff to work out there. Plus whatever happened to her when she was running. Does she trail ride? You might try some nice trails, just slow and easy. Some groundwork might also help. I’d just try to make your goal of every interaction being relaxed and having fun.
Also, this might be an unpopular opinion, but if it does seem like anxiety and it’s extreme, you could give her some ace for riding. My horse is 18 and I still ace him about half the time because he gets anxious, excited, competitive, and so effing strong, and 98% of the time I’m hacking out alone. Granted, not a lot – when he was sharp from hunting, he got about 1/2cc in the vein, now he gets 1/4cc or a hair over. Just enough to take the edge off. For your girl, look at it as a tool to help for now. Horses can learn on ace, and they can learn that riding is not stressful. Some people really get their hackles up about this practice but I think that if it helps the horse and rider be safe, helps the horse learn to relax, and prevents unnecessary stress (which TBs are really good at), then it is a temporary or tune-up tool like draw reins or a neck stretcher. The first horse I mentioned earlier, the rooter, he improved a lot with ace.
Obviously talk to your vet about it, but if it gets bad, it’s an option.
@firefoot I know, the poor girl. She’s so, so sweet, too. I did notice in her racing photos that they had her in a dexter ring bit (the half cheek/spoon), so part of me also thinks maybe she just needs to get used to a new bit. There are so many things that could be causing the issue.
I’m sure others have suggested this, but you could also consider a mechanical hackamore as an interim (or permanent) step.
I have done this with a retired huntsman’s horse just as a way to get him out of the hunting mindset and he went from a gag (after some time to cool down) to a plain snaffle that I everted him in all three phases. I also us a hackamore on the mare I mentioned above for trail rides and field work–because of the fact that her stress always went to her mouth. I wanted to just make a clean break from bit = work to hack = relaxation and fun. Sometimes it’s physical, but sometimes it’s mental. The emotional stuff you mentioned about her foals made me wonder if this might be a more mental thing for her.
Also…poor kid. I’m glad she got a soft landing with you.
Trying different bits can be pretty cheap, especially if you have a barn with folks who will let you try different bits.
This is just a suggestion, but I’ve had pretty good luck with a slow twist, full cheek with keepers on an iron horse TB mare with a very fleshy tongue who could hardly ever be persuaded to keep her tongue in her mouth.
Throwing away the reins when a horse roots worked for me.
Just as a side note, it would be interesting to have her tested for WFFS. It does appear in TBs, but the Jockey Club/TB breeding establishment is ignoring it, “since they have no evidence without DNA testing of stillborn/miscarried fetuses/unviable foals” that it is worth doing anything about.
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