My horse keeps lowering his head and opening his mouth at the trot. Help!?

Question

I just bought a 3 year old QH gelding last month and have been training him to respond to more huntseat-style cues than western, which is what he is used to. Recently he has been jerking his head down and pulling the reins out of my hands at the trot, but he's fine as long as we stay at a walk. I ride him in Australian tack and I've had his saddle custom fitted, so I don't think discomfort is the problem. I'm using a full cheek snaffle bit which seems to fit him just fine. Can anyone tell me why he is doing this all of a sudden? And how can I stop him? I've been pulling his head up with the reins every time he jerks it down, but that makes him round his back up and I worry if I keep doing it he will buck.

Answer 1

Before I tried anything else, I'd have this horse's mouth and teeth checked.  At 3 years old, he may be cutting teeth that are hurting him.

Answer 2

i think u r pulling too hard.

Answer 3

You may want to have his mouth checked. He could be gapping at the bit because he has wolf teeth or is needing a bit bed placed in his mouth. He's 3 years old which means he's going to be shedding more baby teeth and that may very well be your problem.

Have his teeth checked, and if that's the problem you can either wait for them to fall out, or have them pulled so not to prolong the pain. Just as babies are in pain and cry when they are teething, so do horses and basically all other mammals. Just say if you were to be running with a tooth ache- ITS GOING TO HURT. but you aren't going to feel much contusion when you're walking.

If it is his teeth you may want to switch to a hackamore for a while as I'm sure if he's been trained western he was most likely broke out in either a hackamore or a breaking halter.

Answer 4

If he's trained western-style, they might have taught him to collect when you lift your hands....thats very typical of the show type western riding.  Instead of pulling your hands up and back, try just slowly lifting his head by reaching your hands out in front of you as far as you can, and lifting straight up.  Try it at a slower jog before you do it at the long trot.  As soon as he has his neck at a the level you want, lower your hands again slowly (if you just drop your hands, its harder for him to find his balance).  If he's really diving his head down and hanging on the bit, you might want to try a little slow-twisted wire snaffle to get him to respect your hands better, then go back to the full cheeck.  When he does jerk his head down, lock your elbows and arms so that he really hits a lot of resistance, if you've got the twisted snaffle in, that will help too.

Good luck!

Answer 5

It might be because he has started to get used to the bit and play with it. If he is not acting up, just opening his mouth, then you can change nothing. If you want this to change, try a new bit, he might listen to it better since it is a new feel. Good luck! <3

Answer 6

Are you riding him tight on the reins? I used to ride a TB gelding who went both english and western, however I was the only one who ever rode him english and he wasn't use to the set of my hands, I had to loosen up on him, especially at a slow jog or the walk and sometimes the canter. He would either jerk his head down and open his mouth, pulling on the reins, or simply keep lowering his head until I gave him some rein.

It's a comfort thing. Especially in western horses, they tend to be use to having their heads a little, and being given a looser rein. If you are riding him tight, loosen up, extend your hands, move them over his neck when he does that, so that you aren't loosing control of his head by giving him too much rein, but that you are allowing him some slack. He's just uncomfortable with the new seat more than likely, and doesn't like the idea of such a switch, especially since he's so young, and I'm guessing western is all he's known until now?

I would just try giving him some rein and gradually getting him use to having to keep a tighter rein. If he keeps pulling, just light taps and a bit of a calf-squeeze should get him to bring his head back to level ground.

Answer 7

He's asking you to get off of his mouth! He obviously has not learned to carry a bit with english style contact or to come up on the bit...and if you keep jerking him everytime he does it he probably will eventually buck ( and you will deserve it!)

Work with him at a walk, GENTLY asking him to accept bit contact and light rein pressure. Work on various sized circles and serpintines so that he begins to understand that constant pressure isn't hurting him, and that you aren't really asking him to DO anything other than accept the pressure and bend. When he has that concept down, you can start asking him to round up and come onto the bit, flexing at the poll, rather than stiffening and jerking away. Until he understands what the contact is all about, you need to stay at a walk. Please remember that a 3 yr old is still a baby, and you can't expect him to have a "made" mouth at that age...if you can't do the training, then hire a competant trainer to bit him up for you, then show you how to work with him. It'll be money well spent, and you won't have a horse with a steel belted rubber mouth.

Answer 8

Just a thought ( and I may be wrong)

If he's used to being ridden Western ie long and low then you are asking him to work in a way which is totally alien to him, his muscles will have developed to work in the way he's used to so now he's having to use his neck, shoulders, back and quarters in a totally different way. I should think that would make him ache a bit.

Answer 9

When he does it, don't do anything with the reins.  Sit deep and increase your leg contact.  Whenever he gives you back some rein, take it...if he pulls it away again, let him.  If you are patient, you will find that he is gradually giving you more rein and pulling back less of it.  It takes concentration but mostly patience.  If he is transitioning from western to huntseat style, he has to get used to the difference in how you use your seat and legs.  I'd use the deeper seat and longer leg on him until he adjusts to the new style of reining.

Answer 10

He might just be rounding up when you feel his back getting round because of the contact he may be going into more of a dressage frame.

The first thing you absolutely cannot do is pull back. What you are doing is making it easier for him to brace against you. Here is what I suggest, try both methods and see which one works (Because i can't see the situation, I can't know what is really going on). The first may or may not work. When my TB was doing her strange head jerk to the outside, I'd just keep my heels down (always a must because you have more control) and grab ahold of the saddle with my hand, when she went forward she hit the end of my rein. You can do the same with your QH, just make sure you aren't too forwad in the seat, sit back more - put your heels down, keep your shoulders back and then you should be hard to move. If you need to, wear gloves, I wear gloves every single time I ride because my hands get torn up from constantly shifting them around the reins on younger horses.

Then if he's still stiff, gently work his mouth with your reins. Don't give him something to brace off of, be there with the reins then "gone". Gently work the bit with your hands, because he'll have nothing to lean on then. My silly mixed thing, when he does that I drop my reins away from him suddenly then gently pick them back up and he goes back into the frame he's suppose to be in. I'd suggest every time he goes to snatch those reins maybe working him over some cavaletti so he has no choice but to lift his head up to see and move. It's a suggestion. But, don't pull his head back up, because it makes his mouth harsher and he can brace more. Just work gently.

And, again, his rounding back may not be him ready to buck - it may be him going into a dressage frame, have someone video tape you and look at that If he rounds dressage like, you may have something!