Help please, any suggestion?

Question

I have a big stocky quarter horse and i have ridden him in a curb and snaffel bit and a bozal and i dont realy feel like i have that much controll over him, i was wounder what outher types of bits i should use, maby a mechanical hacomore?

any suggestions?

thanks

Answer 1

I had an extremely head strong green thoroughbred mare, she needed a tom-thumb bit and a flash noseband, to be able to have a bit more control.

Answer 2

Just to let you know hacomores DO NOT make long term damage. Who ever said that has NO CLUE what there talking about.

BUT I have a horse JUST like that ha ha.

I use a mechanical hacomore on him. It applies direct pressuree. But not long term damage. You will notice that there is alot of differen't kinda. Some are more powerful than others. The first time you try one your horse may rear to try & get away from the pressure. If that happens try one with less pressure. GOOD LUCK.

One of my other horses uses a bosel but shes easyer to control.

&& then a couple use snffles until they are older & can't show in snaffles anymore.

Answer 3

well i've ridden in kimberwicks, (similar to a curb), pehlems (curb and a snaffle). I'd try a ported pehlem.  

Answer 4

well you cant control a horse, you can control things such as speed, impulsion, etc etc but not the horse......

i dont suggest a hackamore because they put pressure on the soft tissue of a horses nose and cause long term damage so id stick with a bit...i like loose rings full cheeks and D-rings...but why do u feel u need a stronger bit, is he really quick or what?

edit(from message u sent me):if he is strong then try doing lots of down transistions and keeping him in a frame(on the bit) more will help!

Answer 5

If you cannot control your horse in a plain snaffle, upping your bit or moving to a stronger and more intense bit will not solve your problems, it will just create more, first you always check to see if behavioral problems are related to pain, most are. If your vet gives you a clear bill of health, you need to go back to ground work to re-establish good control, softness, suppleness, flextion and respect and learning to give to pressure. you should work in a round pen, bitting and long lining your horse till he is responsive, moves forward, turns left, turns right, stops, backs and can comfortably move in all three gaits in a collected manner. Do your ground work for a few weeks till your horse is very comfortable then start riding again doing your circles, yielding from pressure, shoulders in, side-passes figure eights, transitions up and down, extended trots working on rating your horse, moving out then slowing up and collecting. All these techniques will give you a responsive supple more reliable horse. Good luck

Answer 6

Explain how you don't have control over him.  What does he do that you don't have any control over him?  Awnser this and maybe I'll have a better awnser.

Answer 7

If you are trying multiple bits and still don't feel like you can control him, then you have control issues with the horse and the bit is not the issue. If you have a really good relationship with your horse and you're a good rider you should be able to ride him bitless and bridleless and have control over him under good riding conditions (bitless and bridleless I wouldn't expect you to have much control if something scared him to death on the trail).

Your tools are best used for communication not to try and force the horse to do something. So you need to work on your relationship with the horse to improve:

1) Your leadership

2) Your communication

3) Your timing

First off, the best way to start building these three aspects of your horsemanship is on the ground. If you don't have much control of the horse when riding then he is either dull or doesn't respect you. So its time to invest in some groundwork with two goals in mind-get him to listen to you, and make sure he responds to light cues. Start by doing some backing up exercises, making sure he is paying attention to you at all times. If he is looking off to one side and only has you in one eye, he isn't giving you full attention. Bump the rope sideways (to move his head toward you) to make sure he is looking at you with both eyes. Then ask him to back up lightly. Have your lead rope so that it drops down from the halter and most of it rests on the ground, and you are standing maybe 4 feet from your horse holding just the end in your hand. Move the end of the lead rope back and forth without having the rest of the rope shake at all. Does he move backwards? If so then he is really paying attention to you. If not, then you need to train him to pay better attention. You do this by increasing the amount of energy into shaking the rope in 3 steps. First move from just moving the end back and forth to getting the part of the rope that is laying on the ground to start wiggling. This will barely cause the halter to go back and forth and put very light pressure on your horse. Give him maybe three seconds to respond. If he moves backwards, even a single step, then stop shaking the rope and praise him. If he doesn't, then increase the energy again and give him three seconds. If he still doesn't step back, then really start shaking the rope hard and walk towards him until he backs up.

When you have him backing up good, then move to an exercise called one-step-forward one-step-back that will help YOU work on your timing. Start by asking him to back up very lightly. When he takes a single step back, raise your right index finger and say "whoa". He will probably take two steps back the first time, but thats OK. Keep doing it until he understands you only want him to take a single step. This is going to help you to because you're going to have to watch how he moves very carefully and take the pressure off (i.e. stop asking him to back up) the instant you sense he is going to move backwards.

After he takes a step back and stops, gently pull on the rope and ask him to come forward. When he does, raise your index finger of your right hand and say "whoa". This is going to take some practice too, but pretty soon you will find you're able to get him to take a single step and stop. When he does, ask him to go backwards again. When you can do this your timing will have really improved and your communication with your horse is going to be at a much higher level. This translates directly into riding.

Now take him out to ride but go to the round pen. Before going off to ride and saying you're not having much control, you need to practice in the round pen until you are really in tune with him. The groundwork exercises you did should make this go faster. First, sit on your horse and just stay there without asking him to move out. Flex him to both sides 10 times. Make sure he is not moving his feet at all, you're just flexing him and not asking him to move out. After doing both sides 10 times, then ask him to circle. Flex him to one side, then look back at that hip. Then start tapping him with your foot on that side. He will start to circle. Have him circle completely around and then ask him to stop. Then repeat for the other side.

Then you need to do is take a 15 minute session where all you do is ask him to walk forward, then ask him to stop. Have him walk forward in increasing numbers of steps. Start with say 3 steps, then stop. Then do 5 steps, then stop. Then get him walking all the way around the round pen a couple of times, then stop. The final part of the training session is 15 minutes of walking/trotting. Ask him to walk out, then have him trot, then bump him down to a walk again. Just keep doing that alternating walk-trot-walk-trot.

The idea of these tedious exercises is to train your horse to listen to your cues lightly instead of looking for some super-bit that is going to force him to turn or come to a stop. If you are looking for that then you are not practicing good horsemanship.

Finally I have to say hackamores are fine. I think the idea they hurt the nose of a horse is mythology, provided that its fitted properly and the rider is not being harsh.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 8

Are you sure the bit is not hurting your horse? Get a dentist in to cheek his teeth i had that same problem with my old Qh and i ended up riding him in a hackamore.

Hope this helps

Good luck

Answer 9

Sorry but it sounds like you need some sort of professional assistance before something bad happens.

I would look into getting a trainer to help you out. A horse you cannot control is a disaster waiting to happen.