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  Discussion on Horse that won't take the bridle
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 10, 1999 - 9:24 pm:

I have a 6 year old saddlebred gelding, as soon as the bit gets near his mouth he will throw his head to the side & up. Help! I would like to start riding. What can I do?

Posted on Monday, Jun 28, 1999 - 10:15 pm:

Hmm need more info.

I am asuming that the horse is broken to saddle and bit.

And that you have not ridden this horse on your own yet.

Where did he come from, how long as he been broken in, what type of bit, what style of ridding.


If he is fully trained and being a smart alec, you try to trick him a couple of times.

If you are vertically challenged like me, and the horse is too damn tall, but he only puts his head up and doesn't walk off. You could try standing on a bucket or a fence rail. You will get away with it once or twice and as he will be confused, you should then use the same method to get the bridle off again so he gets relief the same way as you get him. Once you do get it on him give him plenty of encouragement and praise.

You should then go back to ground work so he gets used to doing it the correct way, it sounds like he knows what he is doing but has gotten away with it once too often.

Posted on Monday, Jan 24, 2000 - 11:37 am:

I have an 8 yr old TB riden everyday until 4 days ago.He will not take his bit being 17 hands and me not very tall its a bit of a battle. Not wanting to repremand him have you got any suggestions. Teeth have been checked and are okay.
Please help.

Posted on Monday, Jan 24, 2000 - 12:34 pm:

Penny, I guess you have read all the posts on bridling/bitting etc. etc. What happened 4 days ago to make him decide not to take his bit? A horse doesn't say "No" to a normal procedure unless he has been hurt or upset. Do you know?

Posted on Monday, Jan 24, 2000 - 6:50 pm:

It doesn't sound like he's truly avoiding that bit as much as he's avoiding the whole bridle since he knows that when he lifts his head you have a very difficult time confining and steadying his head in a low position to put the bridle on. What I would try is, put your rope halter on him (not a leather, but a western thin rope halter with the lead rope under the chin). Hold the lead with your hand with the thumb towards the ground and put some downward pressure on the halter. When he gives into the pressure and lowers his head, release the pressure and praise, but as soon as he brings the head back up again, repeat the pressure. Once the head is down and relaxed, place your right arm over the top of his neck towards the head area and use your arm to bring his head down. Then with your arm over his neck, use your right hand (fingers) to push his head in towards you. When he lowers his head and puts his head toward you, release the pressure and praise, but don't remove your arm, just refrain from putting pressure on the crest. If things go well, then put the bridle on but leave the rope halter on so you can have some leverage to bring his head back down by using the lead rope. Once the bridle is on you can take the halter off by letting the rope over the nose go in his mouth, over and behind the bit and out of the mouth. My horse is 17.3 hands and when she thinks she can avoid me I use the above to reinforce bringing her head down and focusing on me and not other things. Sometimes I do cheat though and have a sugar cube in my left hand that handles the bit, so when she takes the bit she also gets a treat (reward) right away.

Let me know if this helped you out. Jo

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2000 - 4:10 am:

It may sound silly, but has this horse been broken in by a right handed person and are you left handed, thus working from a different side or angle to what the horse is used to. A girl at our local pony club was having major problems until we spoke to the person who had broken this pony in.

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2000 - 6:45 am:

Great suggestions above. We had a horse here which started doing the same thing with her owner. Had her teeth checked first to see if there were any points interferring. Also had the vet check her ears for mites or ticks. Nothing.

On observation, this particular rider was not quiet with her hands, so constantly bumping the mouth when she rode. The horse related her rider with pain.
She had an instructor come out for lessons, who immediately discovered the bridle was too tight at the crown and pinching into the back of her ears! Duh.. we all felt really dumb not to have noticed this, but learned from it.
The bridle was replaced and the horse did fine with the instructor, but still resisted her owner. The soulution was to hold a sugar cube in the left hand and as the horse opened her mouth, slip in the bit. The owner rode with very loose reins, until she learned how to keep her hands still. The sugar cube reward was used every time the horse was bridled and the horse would actually reach for the bit herself after a week!
Good luck.

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2000 - 12:54 pm:

Angela, that is such an interesting comment - I had never thought about the question of left-handed handler versus right handed handler, and it makes sense that it could confuse the horse.
Thanks.

Posted on Sunday, Mar 17, 2002 - 4:51 pm:

Vickie, I had this same problem with a TB gelding that we used to own. He had nothing physically wrong with him and he wasn't "mean", he just always threw his head up when I went to put the bit in his mouth. Myself, being somewhat vertically challenged (5'5") and him being 16.5 hand I had to do something. Right before I put his bridle on, I untied him and DrOpped the lead rope on the ground and stood on it. I slowly inch up on the rope until his head was down where I could reach it. When he went to lift his head, he had to lift me!!(135 lbs!) Between your arm applying some pressure over his head (with headstall in hand and bit in place for him to take)and trying to lift me, he learned. He got to the point where he would just DrOp his head when I got the headstall in my hand. And the best part is there is no reprimand. Just work slow at first, but be firm. Good Luck! I hope this can help!

Posted on Sunday, Mar 17, 2002 - 6:03 pm:

Nicole, I have done that too with my youngster! It's not something I'd recommend just anybody doing with just any horse, as they could very easily fling their head and front end and whip you off your feet. But, I knew my guy wouldn't do that, and knew he'd be responsive to hitting the end of the lead rope, so I felt comfortable doing it. However then he discovered that if he couldn't go up, he'd go down! So there I was with his nose on the ground and me crouching waayyyy down there to keep the bit in front of his nose. Fortunately it didn't take too terribly long for this game to wear off, and now he's pretty good about the whole thing.

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 31, 2002 - 10:12 pm:

This reply may be a little late but I need to ask why are you using a bit. We have 15 horses rangeing from Quarter horses, Standard Breds, Mustang and Belgians all of which, without exception use a halter for riding and training. No bits are used. We use two of the quarter horses in cutting without bits, the Belgians pull carriages without bits and all but the Belgians are used for pleasure riding without bits. The only problem is the rider. They seem to need to have to yank on something to feel in control but none of the riders complained that the hores did something or didn't do something that they wanted. Try riding with halter only. It really does create a good partnership between you and the horse. You can send me an email for more help on bitless riding at tony@parklanefarm.com. Goos luck.
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