I am having a hard time at the barrel races stopping my horse after the timer. When I put the breaks he shakes and throws his head. Nothing physically wrong with him that we can tell as he is up to date on dental and chiro work (done recently). No any health issues that we can see. So saddle issues either. I run him in a Kathy James bit and I am very careful and try to stay out of his mouth as much as I possibly can. I tried to work him on draw reins but I am not too crazy about using them as they put him on his front end more than I like him to be and in all honesty, I suck at riding with them ;-(. Also, for the record, I am taking him to the vet again this coming Monday just to double check things once again.
Any suggestions on how to approach this issue will be greatly appreciate it. He is a wonderful guy and I love him to pieces but we need breaks! He is also a big guy and I am pretty petite so.... muscling him is not an option
So many possibilities...1)are you sitting down & asking properly? 2)are you pulling with both hands all at once or see-sawing? 3) which mouthpiece does your bit have? (there's a lot less whoa with the chain than a twisted mouthpiece) 4) how does he stop for you on your dry work? does he shake his head only when "running hot"?
Some horses need a tune-up and some horses need a different running bit than what you work in for the slow patterns/daily work.
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