Discussion

[Silver1]

Thanks to you guys sending me all those articles on driving, I have now cobbled together something of a plan for training Mear. I found it interesting how many of the ideas I was already using, but two of the things (tempo and half halts) were new ideas that I quickly saw the benefit of.
My first question is this:
Mear is very tentative and nervous about establishing contact with me, she always has been since I first got her. I think it may have something to do with her needing to be floated, which will be done this week. What is strange to me is that when a horse needs floated generally it will be a pain to get the horse to open their mouth for the bit but after that they are fine. Mear is the opposite, she is fine for putting the bit in but is really nervous about contact.

I did some experimenting and found that if you tie the reins to the cinch and lunge her, she will drive into the bit, establish a good contact, lift her back and stride forward with this energy and athletism that makes you want to cry it’s so beautiful. How ever, the minute a human hand gets hold of the reins she falls off the bit and ‘hides’. She’ll either give you this really spongey contact or she’ll yank the reins till they’re loose. When I was ground driving her, the first time she didn’t realize I had hold of the reins and went into a fabulous contact. We did very well, my following the bit and just letting her do what she wanted, her reaching for the contact…until we got to a turn, I guess she saw me and instantly she dropped off the bit. She hasn’t done it again.

Does anybody have any ideas of what to do to encourage her to go on the bit? I was thinking of experimenting with driving her in a bitless bridle for awhile. To be fair after she’s floated in case that’s the problem. Do you have any ideas on some exercises that would help her? Is it something that I’m doing wrong? Here is a shot of me ground driving her.

[galadriel]

If she's done this since you got her, it sounds to me like a pain memory, like she's had bad experiences with contact before. Your job, then, is to teach her to trust contact and teach her to trust your hands. Probably going to be very difficult if she won't give you a chance.

Just offhand, I'd think that you'll have to put her in a position where she takes contact before realizing that it's contact with hands, and then have a good experience; with enough good experiences she'll lose that hesitation. The difficulty would be in getting her to take the contact in the first place.

I wonder; you said that with her reins attached to the saddle, she'll take a contact. Can you work her in side reins? That way she will have one very firm form of contact with which she can feel comfortable, and also your rein aids.

I wonder if one of those rubber rein inserts would be useful in this attempt somewhere. If it doesn't feel quite like what she's expecting hands on the rein to feel, then she might be less hesitant.

Any thoughts about the above? :)

[Silver1]

Forgive my ignorance, what are side reins?

[Waikato Valuta]

these are side reins:

http://site48430.dellhost.com/Store_Stuff/trainingaids/nnunnfinersidereins_small.jpg

They attach to the girth or sercingle to the bit they have elastic and are used to keep the correct head position while not on the horse.

Anotehr sugestion I have is that it may be her back. You say she actually roudns her back a little more and works forward. well maybe she finds this hard with the extra weight of a human.

[Silver1]

Well that would be difficult as I'm driving her right now, not riding.

[Silver1]

http://moghilemear.50megs.com/drivingtest.htm

Here is the halter/bridle comparison :)

[Showjumper]

Wow methinks bitless is her thing! She looks fantastic! :D

[galadriel]

You can use side reins while driving. It's actually not considered proper to use them while riding, although it could be helpful in some situations.

Duchess yanks her head around unless your contact is near perfect, therefore lesson students ride her in a jumping hackamore.

She has also hated every bit I've tried her in but the happy mouth eggbutt; she doesn't like it but she doesn't hate it quite so much.

Incidentally, Kat despises loose ring. She started over-flexing at the poll when I was testing to see if she'd like it. She stopped immediately when I put her back in an eggbutt. Mear may simply hate bits, or she may hate that bit.

Horses can be funny about what they like in a bit. A single joint snaffle may upset some, some may prefer mullen mouth, some may like the french-link best. There are full cheek bits, half cheek, D-ring, eggbutt, and loose ring, as well as baucher. There are snaffle bits, pelham bits/double bridles, curb bits...and all sort of materials and thicknesses. Steel, german silver, copper, sweet iron, happy mouth, rubber, aurigaen...probably more. You may just need to experiment until you find one which makes her happy.

If you choose to go bitless instead (and I wouldn't blame you; I like bitless), you and she may be happier with another type of headgear (rope halter, crossunder bitless bridle, sidepull, jumping hackamore). A normal halter can be a little confusing with the way it slides around the nose. Then again, it may work just fine for you :)

[Silver1]

I'll probably change, I just tested her in the halter to see how it works. Mear's last bit she really hated, it was too small and she said "NO THANK YOU" by refusing to open her mouth. I figured that one was a winner when she took it and held it in her mouth with out benefit of a bridle when I went to try it on (I was just going to slid it in and hold it in and she put her mouth on it and that was it...) Then she wouldn't let go of the thing!

She is still very good about having the bridle on but she avoids contact. I'll have to check the rules for the trials I want to go to and see if bitless is allowed, if so I'll take that option!