Pulling to much on the bit?

[random2]

The horse that I ride pulls a lot. If she does this without any reason to, I pull hard on the bit to teach her a lesson. But if I don't sometimes it gets so bad that I can't ride her and I fall down on her back! What should I do?

[*Anna*]

Whatever a horse does never never never give it a jab on the mouth to teach it a lesson! Its very painful for it - horses mouths are very sensitive and you could do some nasty damage by yanking at its mouth - it could cause trouble later on - try to look for the cause rather than just punishing her for doing it - I would say get a good trainer or instructor to look at you and the horse in action they may be able to see a problem that you can't from horseback - do you tense your arms without realising it? some horses try and snatch the reins if your hands are 'heavy' or you have the reins too tight - make sure you have your hands relaxed and give and take with the reins don't just resist when the horse tries to get the reins from you... I don't know if that is much help but remember not to jab it in the mouth no matter how annoying the horse is being...

[Heather]

Get a snaffle bit, with a pair of reins attached, then ask a friend to put the bit around your forearm, raise your forearm upright, and then get your friend to pull back on the reins. Then get your friend to yank hard on the reins, with the same sort of force that you would use on your horse's mouth. Hurts like Hell, doesn't it? Then, remember that your arm is not nearly as sensitive as the horse's mouth.

Heather

[olympicprincess]

You need to be sure that you are giving her the reins and freedom. I agree with what you did IF you gave one quick hard yank with one rein towards your shoulder and that was it.
Sometimes they are just being rude and no one has corrected them.

Remember to reward her whenever she's pulling even the slightest amount less, quit if she's been good even for just a few minutes. She's going to need time to use herself correctly and not hang on you. You'll have to give her more days off to rest those newly worked muscles and not be stressed by all the new training.

You need to be sure to get training to break the habit and develop soft hands again or else it will never work. You really should work with a trainer to help you both. Good Luck.

[*Anna*]

I disagree with that - NEVER yank on the horses mouth under any circumstances - try the test Heather suggests and you will see why... its *very* painful for the horse - would someone pulling hard at your mouth make you want to cooperate more??

[Clj369z]

My horse does this also - what I have found works with her is that when she does this - no matter what gait - I just give her the rein and at the same time - with my feet push her forward. I have talked with several people about this and what we have found that, at least with my mare, she is doing it for any of the reasons - she is bored or she is unbalanced or tired(ie her back is not build up enough). She becomes unbalanced when she is not using her hind end enough.

Three years ago - this was a big problem. She had not been worked for over 2 years and hardly ridden in her life (she was a city carriage horse). As she learned how to carry herself and a rider - the rooting (pulling) stopped.

I also would try to anticipate her and let her have a stretch break before she needed one. This combined with the pushing her forward elimiated it after 2 solid months of working on it. It just kept reducing gradually each day until I couldn't remember when the last time it happend.

Since then - she has had an 18 month rest due to her having a foal and my hetic life and we have just resumed riding about 3 weeks ago and the rooting is back. I try to do the above and keep her moving forward and giving her stretch breaks and yesterday the rooting was down to twice during the ride

Don't know if this will help you or not.

Cindi

[Daventry]

One thing that no one has suggested is getting her teeth looked at! She may need her teeth floated. Talk to your trainer to find out when she was last done. Most horses need to have their teeth floated at least once a year.
I would NEVER, NEVER yank on the horses mouth. This will only cause her to pull harder on your hands and it is very discomforting to the horse. When she tries to pull on the reins the best thing to do is sit up, hold the reins (NOT PULL) and add your leg to push her through and to bring her head up a bit.

[bettina]

Everyones reacting like random2 was yanking at the reins, but this is what I read..

random2 wrote:
"If she does this without any reason to, I pull hard on the bit to teach her a lesson."

Pulling hard is DEFINITELY not the same league as yanking, so I think everyone should get off her back about this. Sometimes Pete pulls his head down and it's really frustrating on course, when you're trying to concentrate on your jumping. So I pull hard on the reins (keyword: PULL) while closing my legs on his sides. If he leans on my hands with 5 lbs, I'll pull back with 10 lbs. while urging him on til he gets his head back up. It doesn't hurt him because I'm not suddenly jerking on the reins unexpectedly, but it fixes the problem and tells him that I'm the boss, and I don't like what he's doing.

[*Anna*]

Pulling hard or yanking its still going to be very uncomfortable for the horse even painful...

[Sarah]

hello!

Try this:

put your finger your mouth on the flat bit of gum behind your last molar (just where or behind where your wisdom teeth are or should be). Try pushing down a bit on your gum. It doesn't feel too nice does it. Your finger is probably the sme width as the bit you use so try pushing down on your gum with the force you would use on a horse. It isn't exactly pleasant. NOw give a real hard prod to show your gum who is boss. I can tell you that prod you gave was short, as it was very uncomfortable.

Now think about the amount of pressure to use on the reins - you wouldn't want to inflict that discomfort to your horse right?

bye!

[Medalia]

You shouldn't pull on the bit EVER. If you pull, she'll pull back, and you get into a tug of war, and there is no way that you can win; the horse is about 20 times the size of you!

Some horses have a thing known as "wolf Teeth" that cause them to hold and pull on their bit like that. My horse had them, and I couldn't figure out why she would hold her head at odd angles. The wolf teeth are like loose baby teeth. You know that when you would push on them, they would feel kind of itchy and uncomfortable? Well, the horse feels the same way, except the tooth is a LOT larger than yours ever was! It doesn't hurt them all that much to get them pulled, you can't ride them for a few days, but they heal very quicky.

When the horse pulls her head, for now, give her her head. Sometimes it fools them, and they think that they've done very well, so it takes them longer and longer to act up, but if it is Wolf Teeth, then this won't help much.

[Heather]

Going back to my little dismounted experiment with the bit on your forearm, it is not just 'yanking' on the bit which hurts. I always use this experiment at lecture/demonstrations, and get a volunteer from the audience to be the 'horse'. I start off by using just a fairly gentle backward traction on the bit- the volunteer winces, then stil exerting a steady pull, but this time with the sort of pressure that Bettina is advocating. The volunteer yells 'Ouch' and asks me to stop, but then I finish off by sawing a bit on the reins. By this time, the volunteer is trying to wrench the bit off his/her forearm with the other hand.

The trouble is, that this horse that you are riding, has probably had most of the nerve endings in her mouth destroyed by strong pressure of the bit. Each time you use even stronger pressure on the bit than the horse is offering , you are teaching it to pull harder and destroying more nerve endings in the process. You should never use more pressure than the horse is exerting himself. If your seat and legs are stable enough, you should be able to close your fingers without any backward movement of the hands, and resist when the horse pulls, usually squeezing firmly with the fingers of alternate hands works best, and yielding the finger muscles in reward, as soon as the horse'gives' in his jaw.

My Classical trainer, Capt. Desi Lorent, who was himself trained by the accepted Classical master of this century, Maestro Nuno Oliveira, would tell us off if we moved the hand backwards by a couple of centimetres, usually fining us a drink down the pub as a punishment. I kept Desi in a state of alcoholic bliss for some time before I learned the subtleties of quiet, but effective hands! My horses have thanked me for it ever since though, and I never find it necessary to resort to any backward traction on the reins, whatever the horse I am riding, and this includes horses that are presented for me to work with at clinics and demos that I have never seen in my life before, and whose schooling frequently leaves a great deal to be desired.


Heather

[Maisie]

Hi Bettina!

Don't pull! There's a horse where I ride who always does that and I've found that if you pull at him, he'll slow, he'll get head up, but only for ten seconds and after that you can bet his head will be down again.

When your horse does this, it is better to send him forward with your legs (because it will bring his head up in the process) than to haul his head up, which will only yank itself back down again.

And it hurts, too! Try the push-on-your-gum experiment Sarah mentioned, it hurts like anything!

[Zoie]

I have a question to add to this subject for Heather. . .I've only been riding for about 5 months now, does this method also work on school horses (I don't have my own horse)all the horses I've been on seem dead in the mouth, and often my instructors just tell me to pull harder, the whole situation just becomes a fustrating tug-of-war and I always lose. . .I've attempted to apply some of the techniques in the book, but the horses just seem unrespoonsive. ( I also understand since I'm such a new rider that my application of aids is probably pretty clumsy - I just have no way of knowing if I'm doing anything correctly)

[Mossy]

Just a thought. I read a while ago that riding school horses sum their riders up faster than their riders sum them up. Working on that basis I applied alternate rein squeezing to a unresponsive riding school horse I found myself on this spring and, much to my surprise her ears responded and she gathered herself up and listened. I had positive comment about her behaviour, so yes it does work. She was not as quick as my little poppet but the the lights came on and there was definitely someone home. Persevere it is worth it.

[Northern Dancer]

I ride a horse that's like that, I'm not giving any suggestions, but this is how I woeked it out. Though, you SHOULD NOT PULL BACK! Horses are stronger then us...
My horse used to pull on the bit till I started getting him proper;y going on the bit, he was ridden by riding students (They aren't ALL terrific riders!) and he cut it out, my hand became lighter. Then now, when he pulls, I try to get him to, it's hard to say. But to make him step up, not speed up, but to forget the bit and listen, bouce a little, it's always worked! (Also take breaks every 15 minutes, to releive stress on the bit.