flax
in
equestrian
bridling naughty ponies
I know things like this have been posted before but I didn't find anything in the archives that has helped a lot ...
One of the draft crosses I just started riding is a pain in the ass to bridle. Normally I don't have too much trouble even with relatively silly/naughty or sensitive-about-the-ears horses, but he's got me stumped for a couple reasons. His evasion is kind of twofold:
1. Opening his mouth is tricky -- sticking just your thumb in is not enough, I usually have to put my whole hand in and pry open, meaning I don't have a hand on the bit and have to be quick to get it in there.
2. Once the bit (french link loose ring) is in, he flings his head around like a lunatic.
I've tried putting the arm holding the bridle over his head, between the ears, but he typically will duck his head out to the side, and a couple of times he's actually lifted me off my feet. (He's tall, with a long neck, and I'm short.) But with the arm around his nose, he can just go up too high for me to reach. I haven't tried bridling over his halter while he's tied yet, but that's probably my next plan of attack. He's not hard to halter at all, fwiw.
I could probably solve this if I just had an extra arm for a few days, but since I'm usually at the barn alone, a helper isn't an option! And he's improved some since the first time I rode him, but not enough. To the best of my knowledge, he's not sensitive about his ears/poll otherwise. He might have tooth problems, but the likelihood of that being corrected by the owner is low -- her vet usually looks at her horses' teeth annually but I don't think he's ever seen/corrected a problem with any of them ... which seems kind of odd to me.
His owner has never seemed to think it's an issue, because she's seen me bridle him and never said anything to the effect of "he knows better" or "he's never done that before."
How would you fix it?
One of the draft crosses I just started riding is a pain in the ass to bridle. Normally I don't have too much trouble even with relatively silly/naughty or sensitive-about-the-ears horses, but he's got me stumped for a couple reasons. His evasion is kind of twofold:
1. Opening his mouth is tricky -- sticking just your thumb in is not enough, I usually have to put my whole hand in and pry open, meaning I don't have a hand on the bit and have to be quick to get it in there.
2. Once the bit (french link loose ring) is in, he flings his head around like a lunatic.
I've tried putting the arm holding the bridle over his head, between the ears, but he typically will duck his head out to the side, and a couple of times he's actually lifted me off my feet. (He's tall, with a long neck, and I'm short.) But with the arm around his nose, he can just go up too high for me to reach. I haven't tried bridling over his halter while he's tied yet, but that's probably my next plan of attack. He's not hard to halter at all, fwiw.
I could probably solve this if I just had an extra arm for a few days, but since I'm usually at the barn alone, a helper isn't an option! And he's improved some since the first time I rode him, but not enough. To the best of my knowledge, he's not sensitive about his ears/poll otherwise. He might have tooth problems, but the likelihood of that being corrected by the owner is low -- her vet usually looks at her horses' teeth annually but I don't think he's ever seen/corrected a problem with any of them ... which seems kind of odd to me.
His owner has never seemed to think it's an issue, because she's seen me bridle him and never said anything to the effect of "he knows better" or "he's never done that before."
How would you fix it?