Teaching my young horse to go on the bit

***EDIT July 2011: Please check out my video response below to see just how far my mare has come since breaking her in May 2010!! Please also subscribe to my channel for REGULAR VIDEO UPDATES of our progress.!***

FROM MAY 2010: My 5-year-old Thoroughbred mare is starting to learn how to go "on the bit"...AND stay there, as her strength builds. :) Since the feeling of bit contact is completely new to her, of course, she is alternately too high (above the bit) and then too low (behind the vertical or leaning on the bit), and she is frequently fussing (chomping on the bit, going around with her mouth open) and is otherwise pretty resistant and unaccepting of the bit, but I am doing my best to stay with her no matter what she does, and keep sending her forward while offering her steady, light contact and inviting her to take it. Each time we ride, however, I feel that she is ever more relaxed, and steadier in her contact and acceptance of the bit. Yay!! Note: Selina is still barefoot (and foot-sore) in this video, but look how hard she is still trying to stride out, despite her discomfort!! I put shoes on her shortly after this video was taken (i.e., any video I've uploaded after May 2010 means she has shoes, so you can see just how much improved her gaits are with shoes).

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• young
• horse
• dressage
• training
• backing
• breaking
• Thoroughbred
• OTTB
• TB
• mare
• going
• riding
• on
• the
• bit
• acceptance
• steady
• contact
• FlipShare

[CndTxc]

hey, well if you watch some of my videos of Toby could you give me some adivse he doesnt respond to twiddling with your hands?xxx

[MojoandGodiva]

@CndTxc Hi, I went to your channel and watched Toby; first, please know that "twiddling with your hands" is not how one puts a horse on the bit. There are two basic principles--acceptance of contact, and acceptance of the aids. Basically, your horse must always go forward from the leg. I see Toby balking/backing up often; this means he doesn't always respect your leg. Would recommend riding him in a smaller area where you can really get after him for napping. (Response cont'd next msg)

[MojoandGodiva]

@CndTxc (my response continued): Second, acceptance of the bit means if you touch the rein, he softly chews the bit (not chomping/pulling/leaning). Then you combine: get the horse forward, the inside rein flexes the jaw (makes neck round), get solid/honest but soft contact on the outside rein, and then you've connected the back end to the front end through your leg/seat/hands so half halts can go through. That is a really simplistic way to explain it, but that's the principle.

[pandorawarrior1]

watch sylvia lochs video, some very insightful and very helpful information

[MojoandGodiva]

@pandorawarrior1: Thanks for the suggestion. Just FYI, I don't have questions as to how to put my horse on the bit; I post these videos to chronicle the progression of my young horse's training mainly for my own benefit to see how far we've come, but I also hope they help out other people trying to train youngsters, as well. :) Anyway, I do feel that Sylvia Loch is an excellent resource: I watched her "on the bit" videos many years ago, and have read at least one of her books.

[keepcalmandrideon]

shes really pretty,how old?x

[MojoandGodiva]

@keepcalmandrideon Thank you! In this video, she was 5. Now, she's 6. :)

[MojoandGodiva]

@pazzimo2010 Why would you post such an unhelpful and irrelevant comment? Please keep all comments constructive and pertinent to the actual video. Thanks.

[MojoandGodiva]

@hunterjumper210 This was the 1st time I had ever asked her to go on the bit. Obviously, the 1st time, it's not going to be perfect. I posted this video to illustrate the ongoing PROCESS of how contact is established, and how much rider finesse is required to react to a horse's attempts to go above or behind the bit: i.e., I calmly continued offering steady contact and kept her in front of my leg no matter what she tried. Our recent videos show how very steady and correctly bent she is now.

[ChloeRosie14]

this is what my arab does and hes 13!! he just puts his head down and doesnt accept it. Any tips? Your a good rider :)

[CndTxc]

@MojoandGodiva okay, i was told in a few lessons that i should ask him to go down by moving my hands and play with his mouth, he is only 4 but i was just wondering, thanks.

[MojoandGodiva]

@imfanfreakintastic Thank you!!!!!! Yes, I was just trying to offer her steady contact and keep an even tension on the reins no matter WHAT she did with her head, which was pretty challenging at this stage since she was all over the place. Thankfully, she did like to stretch down a lot naturally so that did help her learn to relax. She's come a long way since this video was taken over a year ago, but we still have far to go!! We are doing our very best! Good luck with yours!

[MojoandGodiva]

@BoldEleganceRider Hi and thanks for the excellent comment. I did end up doing that with her, and that did help teach her not to "root" on the reins rudely as she does in this video. As I've said, this video was from over 1 year ago, and it shows the first time I had tried to get her to go on the bit so she did all kinds of crazy evasive maneuvers; if you look at our more recent videos, you can see that her contact is much improved and steadier now. :) Thanks again though!