Problems with bitless bridle?

Question

I used to ride my 13 yr old appy gelding in a curb but he was getting to be very hard mouthed, he would bolt, buck, rear and would not stop/slow without a fight. I've been riding him in a bitless bridle for about 4 months now. At first he did wonderful, he was light, stopped when i asked and over all a much better ride. But now he's back to his old ways of running away with me, he almost won't stop at all, he's always fighting me in some way. I have tried riding him in a treeless saddle and bareback and that did not help. He has had his teeth floated in the last year so it's not his teeth. I don't know what to do with him anymore. What should i be doing to correct this?

Answer 1

Have you worked on your seat and leg and weight cues?  Those are the aids that slow and stop your horse.  Learn the lateral movements like two tracking him, which begins with teaching him leg yields.  Until he is flexible and can be turned without resistance, he is going to be running off on any type of headgear you try.

Answer 2

I don't think your bridle is your problem. I would work with your horse on ground manners and start with that.  Maybe try Natural Horsemanship.  Can you work with him in an arena or round corral?  

Work on flexing his head around to each side from the ground, then sitting on him standing still, then at a walk, then at a trot.  If he goes faster than you want, circle him in to smaller circles until he stops and walks forward again.  

What triggers his running or bucking?  Once you know what the trigger is you can predict when he might do it.  The idea is to recognize when he is thinking about doing these and give him something else to think about.  Trot him in some patterns to get his mind working, and get him guessing where you will ask him to go next.  

Its possible he needs more exercise, more mental stimulation, or both.  Also check that he isn't over weight and is not getting too high a concentration of feed.  Both can contribute to his higher energy.  

Use your leg and seat cues when you ride him.  Ask him to give his head and turn, then give him loose reins and a chance to try it.  If he does not turn for you, ask again and give him loose reins again.  If he makes an effort but turns wider than you wanted, use more body cues when turning him; shift your weight to help him make a tighter turn.  Also, turn your head and  look in the direction you want him to go.  

If he turns with his head and neck but continues to travel forward rather than turn his body, use more leg cues to drive him forward.  

Answer 3

All the people that suggest natural horsemenship are great answers.  Get the respect first on the ground.  I like most of the natural horsemen, they all teach basically the same thing.  I find clinton anderson is very easy to understand.  When he starts doing his bad behaviors, circles is the best thing to do.  Clinton suggests doing circles one way and then the other way.  I used to just lunge my horse in one direction for a while and then other.  There was no thinking for him.  Now I make him switch directions quite a few times.  I notice a difference, I can see that he has to think about what he is doing.  He is more alert and more concentration on where his feet are going and very focused on me.   You can get used dvd/tapes on ebay or craigslist.  Try using a pinchless bit for a while until you get the respect.  You will get alot of suggestions, the one thing I can suggest is getting the respect on the ground first.  

Answer 4

Maybe you could try doing some Parelli/Natural Horsemanship stuff with him, and get a bit more respect happening between you. Do you do much groundwork with him? This might help a little too.

Answer 5

WELL IF UR LOOKING FOR A BITLESS BRIDDLE I WOULD WALK AROUNDTHE BARN TO PRACTICE BUT THIS IS WAT ID DU

                GET 2 LEAD ROPES

                PUT IT ON THE HALTER

                ON THE SIDE PUT BOTH LEAD ROPES

                TIE THE ROPES LIKE A NORMAL BRIDLE

                N I GUESS PRACTICE STEERING

                

                             WELL IDK IF IT WORKS I HAVENT HAD MY FIRST HORSE YET :( BUT ME GET 1 SOON :)

Answer 6

Get your nerve up!

Take him to a wide open space and have no time limit on it.

Let him go. Let him choose the pace. Flat out if he want to, for as long as he chooses to.

He won't run forever. ( I promise)

As he starts to slow, kick him on. He will speed up and think "great". He will start to slow, then, again, kick him on...he will think "great" keep doing this untill he starts to think "hang on one minuet I'm needing to stop now as I am knackerd!" kick him on. When his ears start to flick back and forward, he is really thinking about whats going on.

The time between you telling him to go on and him wanting to slow down will get shorter and you will have to work hard to keep him going.

He will start to BEG you to slow down. Only when YOU decide to ask him to come back to a walk let him slow he will be VERY HAPPY TO DO SO.

If you are miles from home he then has to carry you back too.

It won't take him many of these sesions to listen to you and teach himself to wait untill asked to do something faster than walk.

I have used this method myself several times

The most sessions it took was 9. Each "bolt" got shorter and shorter time and distence. He was a TB gelding a bit "set in his ways" & not the brightest firework in the box.

The fastest was 3. She went for miles (stubborn but smart pony!) the first time, and had to carry me home for over an hour.

The second time she took me home over 25 minuets and the last time it was only 15. She never did it again.

We spend an age getting our horses to "go forward" then try and hold them up.......let him go...let him teach himself that pulling and running when not asked is NOT a good idea.

If you don't have the nerve to try it you can find someone who will. or you can use a school or round pen. I find enclosing horses in this situation takes much longer to get a result though, open space, open mind and all the time in the world....Go for it. where a hard hat and body protector if your worried and try it.

Good luck and enjoy it! we have to out think them, we have the "thinking" brain after all. Some horses just need to outwitted to learn a lession, thats all.