>I have been following this thread on bits and leverage and benn > disappointed that no firm recomendations have been made.
Hi Gale, you may not get a recommendation for a stronger bit here. What we try to do is get to the goal through horsemanship. > my horse, Gormur, is > very strong and at the end of a 2 hour ride, my hands are developing > blisters from trying to hold him back, especially on the way home when > he just wants to get faster and faster. I also have a problem when going > out with my group of friends riding. Several of them like to fast > canter/gallop and a few hang back, doing a slow canter. Gormur and I can > tolt or canter with the slow group but Gormur wll pass each horse if I > let him to catch up with the ones in front, pulling almost until I can > not hold him back. (this is where the blisters come from!) Many times I > feel I almost cannot hold him back. Good horsemen will tell you that we don't control a horse with a bit. We control a horse with his mind. We will never be strong enough physically to stop a horse, but what we can do is create the desire of the horse to be "with" us, to let us use his legs. > I have been advised by the barn manager to get a stronger bit. My barn > is geared to western riding and so they recommended a western bit, a > Monte Foreman bit which I have been using. It does seem to give me > extra control but last time I rode, he decided he wanted to run up to > another horse that was a ways away and when I reined him in he started > bucking and crow hopping and spinning, something he has never done > before in the three years I have owned him.(although he has bolted on me > once a long time ago) It scared me and I dismounted and walked him > back to the farm. The escalating behavior is predictable. Horses will start in the beginning giving you little signs of communication, maybe that something is wrong. Then their tries at communicating their problem to you, will get louder, to the point of bucking, rearing, spinning, etc. > Is it possibly the bit is too strong for him and hurt him. Is there > another bit I could purchase that would be a step up from the old one I > used (loose ring french link snaffle) and not a severe as the Monte > Forman bit. Can we take a look at Gormur and try to figure out what his basic problem is? what he is trying to convey to us? Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
