Should I use.........?

Question

Okay, me and my horse have started doing this new local hunter curcuit. The shows are real nice, and the prizes are really nice too ^^ My only issue is jumping is in an indoor arena, and my horse just powers through the bit like he wants to get EVERYTHING oer with. I tried giving him half halts...but we looked more like we were in a cross country feild than a hunter ring lol. The starnge thing was he was FINE outiside, it was only inside he was "speedy" :P

So, my question is do you think those ear puffs would help? Do you think they are atleast worth a try?

(oh and the weird thing is I placed first in BOTH jumping classed out of like 15 rideres...do you think the judging was screwed up or was i because my horse staid at a consisitant pace...though he was speedy we didn't go from slow to quick. He also takes short strides so maybe when he was going nuts he had a bigger stride? lol xD)

THANKS :)

Answer 1

its just like with a new experience im sure he is just excited...showing more often indoors will get him a little bored with it and i should calm him down.you can try ear puffs if u want...cant see how it could hurt...but giving half-halts dont make any sense as a half-halt is a rebalancing of a horse to their hind end and that wont necessilary slow him down...just light squeezes of the rein sould help but if your horse was in a frame id b easier to control the tempo and speed...just a suggestion =]]

Answer 2

Try riding him indoors at another stable and see if he can get used to it. If not try (and I know this sounds harsh) a double twisted wire snaffle bit.   It will give you a bit more control.  Good luck.

Answer 3

I don't think the ear puffs will do anything to help. Maybe you should have 2 different bits, one for indoor and 1 for outdoors. Or try going to local stables and renting the indoor to get him used to it. Perhaps the pace wasn't as fast as you thought. There are a lot of factors to judging so maybe you just had a better overall round than the others regardless of speed. Consistancy is very important so you could be right about that. I had a horse that would take atleast one stride out of every line because we went so fast, but it was consistant so we never lost because of that. I wonder if he can't see as well inside, it is often darker indoors. the best thing to do would be to practice indoors as much as you can.

Answer 4

Are you showing hunters or jumpers?  If jumpers, you placed 1st because of you short time.  If hunters, your probably right about the consistancy.

As for the ear plugs, if he is spooking, then they may help, if he is just getting strong they probably won't.  He's most likely happier outside with all the other horses so he's getting strong because he wants out. If they are taking only one horse in at a time he may get nervous being alone and 'away from the herd'.  One thing that may help is having another horse from your barn that he knows in view while he's in the arena.  Just have the horse stand near the in gate so that he feels more comfortable.  

Best wishes