Hard to control!!!?

Question

I have a 12 yr old Appy barrel horse that is hard mouthed. I am currently riding him in a med. port curb with cheeks that swivel. He is very hard to control no matter what bit i use. I am a light handed rider. I have tryed several other bits on him like a D ring snaffle, Full cheek snaffle, Grazer bit. I have also tryed a hackamore and a side pull on him. He is getting so hard to control that i don't want to ride him anymore. How can i get him to give to the bit instead of fighting it? Should i be using a different bit?

Answer 1

have you had his teeth floated lately? you may need something like a twisted wire or a fish back bit. these can help also but in the hands of an experienced rider. if you are using a curb bit are you using a curb strap or chain? chain will give a bit more breaks too. but with him being a barrel horse, you may need to ride him for a bit and not do barrels. these horses tend to get a bit sour cuz this is all they do and gey hyped up a bit. you can also try a higher port bit, but just keep in mind that the more severe the bit gets the less you will have to try on him and stop him later. better to go back to the basics a bit on the lunge line and teach him how to stop again. good luck

Answer 2

bits aren't going to make a difference. Stop barrel racing and go back to square one. Don't go up from a walk until he listens to you completely and relaxes. A lot of barrel horses are also taught to just take the bit in their teeth and run, at least where I live, and are not taught to be accepting, I know that profs do it differently.
Go back to a basic snaffle and have someone lunge you if he won't listen at all. Have him walk, stop, walk stop. Do circles, squares, leg yields, etc. Once he is listening at that, progress to the trot and do the same thing. It may take a month or so, but whenever you have a horse that is not listening, he is uphappy in some aspect. I would highly suggest just taking it easy and not doing any cantering/galloping for a couple months and just work on the basics.

Answer 3

buy a surcingle if you dont already have one. put him in it and also put him in his bridle minus the reins. take some medical tubing and attatch a snap at each end with electricel tape. Then attatch one snap to the surcingle and one to the bit on both sides. let him stand in his stall just like that. he will get used to the pressure and duck his head into release it. as he gets used to it, tie knots in the tubing to make it tighter. You dont want to make it so that he is uncomfortable. Do this for a few weeks and then ride him again. You may want to keep bitting him like this a few times a month to keep him responsive.

Answer 4

Get a trainer to help you. The trick is to get the horse to want to do what you want it to not force it to. Use a bit that suits him and try exercises such as groundwork etc to get him to learn to listen not only to the reins but other commands like voice commands etc too.

Answer 5

I would go back to a simple curved bit with short shanks. You should try to work on leg pressures or neck reigning. You should consider spurs; if you've never been riding with spurs you should do so in a controlled familiar area as he may not respond well. He may just have a tough mouth.

Answer 6

If you keep switchin bits he's gonna get used to every kind of bit. Try using one-rein stops. A one-rein stop is when you pull his head around to your foot and hold him there until he stops. You can't use leg pressure though. You just have to be patient. Remember to go both ways the same amount of times because a horse uses two sides of his brain. If this isn't enough information please e-mail me.