He doesn’t raise his head except he like raises his head to jump into the canter, would it interfere with that?
It’s hard to tell without seeing you riding your horse exactly what’s going on, but a running martingale is generally not that restrictive. It’s not like a tie down. If he’s raising his head during the canter transition it could be that he’s not using his back and pushing from behind.
This is really something you need to review with your trainer since she/he is there and can watch you ride.
Have you asked your trainer to ride your horse XC? That may be something to have her do as she can feel what you are experiencing and tell you what works to fix it.
All horses are stronger than their riders; you have to figure out how adjust your horse using finesse, rather than strength.
I’d be leery of going to a bigger bit or a more severe noseband. Eventually you’ll run out of bigger bits and nosebands, and then what?
You say he’ll walk out of the start box just fine but grabs the bit and pulls when he sees a jump? I wonder if that might be a physical issue. He may have issues in his back or legs that make jumping painful, so he just wants to get it over with. He might be scared of jumping if he’s had bad experiences with getting caught in the mouth or had a rider slam on his back mid jump. Or he may just be so excited to RUN and JUMP that he forgets his manners. Or maybe it’s just a pattern in his head: see the jump, and the get strong and run really fast because That’s Just What You Do in his mind.
The Drama King used to be very anxious about combinations because he was unsure of how to get his feet in order. He could leave the jumps up no problem, but he’d get so worried about it that it usually lead to some “interesting” footwork and wasn’t pretty. No such problems with two ground poles, however. So I decided to interrupt the pattern. I set up a simple two-stride double, and rode him towards it like we were going to jump it. He got all tense and worried and I went “lol, jk” and steered him past it. I could practically see the question marks forming in his brain. We did that a few more times: turn to the combo, get all tense, “lol, jk” and canter past it. It only took 4 runs for him to stop getting tense whenever we cantered towards the combo and then I just let him jump it. And since he wasn’t tense and nervous, he got his feet sorted and it was a total non-event. Stop, lots of praise, let him think it over, and then try again. And lo, the problem was pretty much solved. I still have to play the “lol, jk” game once or twice a year, but that one pattern interrupt session made a big difference.
Could you do something similar with your guy? He gets all worked up when he sees a jump, you go “lol, jk” and head in a completely different direction. Just something to interrupt the pattern and get him thinking different thoughts on x-c.
My trainer will be with me this weekend. I’ll talk to him when I get some time in between classes, but the only fear with that MNEventer is he will refuse if you don’t make him go so I don’t like to go at a jump then duck him out at the last second. 
[QUOTE=xRecklessRenditionx;8442934]
My trainer will be with me this weekend. I’ll talk to him when I get some time in between classes, but the only fear with that MNEventer is he will refuse if you don’t make him go so I don’t like to go at a jump then duck him out at the last second. :/[/QUOTE]
The exercise that MNEventer described shouldn’t teach them to duck out. You do not turn away from the fence that close to it…typically minimum of 2-3 strides out…but some horses it will be much further out. It is done when they lock on too soon and get tense accelerate to the fence. Once they DON’T anticipate and do that, you go the jump.
Another is to have a line of jumps with one in but multiple options to go to different fences (on bended lines) with different striding for the out. Constantly change what you do with a VERY random pattern so they horse doesn’t know which option you are taking when you jump the first fence. It get’s them waiting for the crazy person on their back to make up their mind!
[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;8443199]
The exercise that MNEventer described shouldn’t teach them to duck out. You do not turn away from the fence that close to it…typically minimum of 2-3 strides out…but some horses it will be much further out. It is done when they lock on too soon and get tense accelerate to the fence. Once they DON’T anticipate and do that, you go the jump.
Another is to have a line of jumps with one in but multiple options to go to different fences (on bended lines) with different striding for the out. Constantly change what you do with a VERY random pattern so they horse doesn’t know which option you are taking when you jump the first fence. It get’s them waiting for the crazy person on their back to make up their mind![/QUOTE]
Right, I wasn’t clear. In my case it was closer to 10 strides out because he would get anxious as soon as he even thought about going through the combo. YMMV, of course.
Additionally, most x-c courses have multiple jumps next to each other, so pretty much every horse has an experience with thinking they’re being aimed toward Jump A, but really they’re supposed to go over Jump B right beside it instead, which isn’t totally clear until a couple of strides out. Any horse that would take that as a reason to start ducking out at every jump is probably not suited to be an eventer, or any kind of jumping horse really. Your horse has to want to jump and be excited to jump in order to have a chance at getting around an x-c course without being beaten around it. Which is not to say they completely forget their manners, but it’s a lot easier for all concerned if both parties are on board.
[QUOTE=xRecklessRenditionx;8442934]
My trainer will be with me this weekend. I’ll talk to him when I get some time in between classes, but the only fear with that MNEventer is he will refuse if you don’t make him go so I don’t like to go at a jump then duck him out at the last second. :/[/QUOTE]
So he’s either rushing the fence or refusing? This is really starting to sound like less and less of a bit issue. Sorry, in typical COTH manner you came on asking for bit suggestions and the thread has done the predictable morph into training tips, lol.
But…what you are describing might really be a horse that has pain, fear, or a lack of education. Maybe have the vet run his hands over him? Something bigger is probably happening here.
He tends to refuse if I don’t commit to a fence. Purely something I need to work on. Since I am still learning I tend not to commit to fences with the confidence I need. When I get tense he does as well and I think that contributes. I have major show anxiety and have since I started riding. He doesn’t rush in stadium or in jumper rounds like the show this weekend. He likes to take control on xc, but inside of an arena he is fine and we usually have no problems in dressage or stadium, just xc.
Oh, riding is simple, it is just not easy. When you get tense, your arms lock. Try pushing your belly out and breathing when you are going cross country. Count strides out loud, because it forces you to breathe. When you feel him go dead in the mouth, it is because you are telling him with your leg he has to go do this thing you are afraid of while you pull back. So he’s getting it over with as fast as he can! The bit isn’t going to fix this. More bit is just going to make it worse. You have to fix you. And that means taking the time to get confident. Good luck. Welcome to the layers of learning to ride.
I have been trying and I think we are just going to work with what we have for now. Thank you guys for all your help! 
