head tossing

[tillsmum]

Hi can you give me some tips to stop head tossing. I have put a flash nose band on her to stop her evading the bit and swapped her old snaffle for a french link that I had and she seems to have stopped trying to evade the bit but she is now leaning slightly and definatly on the left more and she throws her head about. (she did this before aswell) Actually its more of a nod really as if she is going on the bit and then throws it down and back up slightly. This make no sense sorry but hopefully you've got the jist.

thinking about it she only does it on the way home. bless her she has so many issues.

[Iron Maiden]

My friend's horse head tosses, sometimes to the extent that you can't get a consistent contact and he is very hard to ride. We took his flash off & that helped, as did putting him in a happy mouth snaffle - instead of head tossing he leans on it, but I find that easier to deal with. Trouble with both these is you have no brakes for jumping, so we put him back in his flash & old bit (a sweet iron french link) for that.

[galadriel]

Evading the bit may have been an objection to the bit (or the rider's hands). When you strap the mouth shut and the horse can't evade by opening the mouth, if the mouth is still uncomfortable, the horse has to find something else to do.

It's far better to find a bit that the horse doesn't evade. Switching bits once isn't enough...there are a thousand different combinations out there, and most of the time you can find one that the horse likes. When you can't, either the horse has teeth problems or the bit itself isn't the problem; it's the rider's hands.

[CurlyWurlyRach]

Curly used to do that.
I got the dentist out and her teeth were a right state :( As soon as he'd rasped them she stopped head tossing.

[tillsmum]

thanks everyone. I personally thinks she hates the bit and i would love to try her in a bitless bridle but as she is only on loan for the winter and from a riding school I can't justify the expense. This also is the problem with the teeth as they aren't my responsibility. I'm trying to find a solution with what i've got to try and mae life easier for her when she has to go back. We went back for a couple of rides this week and the problem was alot worse as she winds herself up and won't listen to me anymore.

[CurlyWurlyRach]

well...if you have her on loan then the teeth kind of are your problem. She might be in a lot of pain.

[KateWooten]

That's a tough one for you because tossing the head is usually an attempt to avoid the pain she thinks she's about to receive. Now, the pain can be caused by the teeth and the bit and everything ... and of course the rider's hands. Now, there's not really a lot you can do about that in the short term... I mean, she's probably developed this over years of experience with different riders - and it only takes a proportion of them to yank her head off , and she'll develop this wariness.

She sounds very like my new bolshy mare, who has been ridden with unsympathetic hands for six years or so. The solution for her, was to start from scratch and make a promise to her ... we'll take as long as it takes, but I am not going to jab you in the mouth no matter how annoying you are ... and it is insanely annoying to have this head throwing about all over the place, and the reins constantly yanked out of your hands ... but from their point of view - it's their last resort to save their mouth from heavy hands and of course, the more they throw and brace, the heavier the hands get etc etc.

I did go the bitless route, starting her again in just a halter, and working on softness. I take things slower than you can imagine. For example, the bulk of the time, for the first 6 rides or so, were at a halt ! Just asking for flexing and softness. Then the same at a walk. I know this is not feasible for you - I was talking about putting in 2 months of very focussed work with the aim of getting a partner for life out of it - I just wanted you to have some perspective of where you stand - you can help her, but you're not likely to be able to 'cure' her if she has to go back to the same situation that made her this way.

For you, I'd say, go look up 'lateral flexion and the one rein stop'... practice lateral flexion with her, all the time, focussing intensely on the timing of your release ... and then when you've got that going on good in an arena or safe field, then on the way home from a ride, ask her to just walk forward calmly and let the reins go slack. Trust her to just walk forward calmly. Then if she chooses to jog, or pull, or throw her head about ... immediately go into your lateral flexing routine for 3 minutes... then drop the reins and expect her to stand quietly. One tiny hint of a step forward and it's 3 minutes flexing,... then stop. Ony when the stop is good and relaxed do yo uask her to calmly walk on again with loose reins.

You're telling her 'it's your choice... I can't stop you jogging, or flinging your head about, but whenever you do, we get to flex all over again Woo Hoo, my favourite.' It will take you 3 hours to get back to the barn the first time, but if you're consistent, you will have got over the worst of it.

[oldbushy]

If it's the teethyou are never going to solve the problem by changing bits etc you are simply going to turn this horse into an unmaneagable horse because it will become so fearful of pressure of the bit causing pain and it will resort to all sorts of different devices to evade that pain. If you've got a saw tooth put a bit in your mouth and see how you like it. Get the teeth checked first and if you don;t want to take responsibility for the wellbring of the horse whilst in your care give the horse back. Otherwise it is negligence and cruelty. You have intelligence and problem solving at your disposal, your poor horse can't even tell you what is wrong.

[tillsmum]

Found out the problem was the bit/ It pinched her as it was quite worn so I've now put a frnch link in her and a flash and head tossing has virtually stopped. now she just leans on the way home in anticipation of being given a long rein to cool off. But much nicer to ride now.

[Scarlett 001]

Good to hear you have it sorted out. My horse does things with his head when he is objecting to my contact, so I second Gal's idea that if his teeth are fine and bit is fine, then it can well be the rider's hands that a horse is unhappy with.

[Nimbus65]

Maverick does this. When he first came to us he did it partly due to lack of balance (he plaited) and partly b/c his previous owner/rider had VERY heavy hands. Now that he's been ridden by the staff for a while and fittened and schooled up, he's more balanced and the head tossing has almost stopped. The only time he does it now is if someone has an uneven contact . . . echo what others said about it being his way of saying "get OFF that side of my mouth" etc.

His teeth are fine now but I wonder if in his previous life they were in need of care and this is a learned behaviour. Either way, it's much improved now that he's more in balance with himself (used to trip over his own front feet bless him) and ridden by people with quiet hands.

N