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boon
Posts: 1

| My mare shakes her head pretty bad around the second barrel, she used to do it around all three barrels but ive found that she likes both my hands on the reins. i havent grabbed my horn around the barrel anymore and that seems to help with the other barrels, but shes still doing it only around the second. shes had her teeth done and has had the chiropractor adjust her and do PEMF, ive tried plenty of different bits on her including a hackamore, any tips? |
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  Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7622
    Location: Dubach, LA | I've never heard of anything like that. Is she young? Have you tried a tie down? Do you have a more experienced friend who could try her or critique your runs? |
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Queen Bean of Ponyland
Posts: 24954
             Location: WYOMING | Some horses are very sensative about the material of the curb. Might wanna test a few different materials. |
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4640
     Location: Texas | I agree with having someone watch you and see what you are doing... sounds like maybe something that you're doing is causing the head shaking. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 984
        Location: Southwest Minnesota | You said you had a chiro adjust...did they do TMJ and Cranial Plates? |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
       Location: North Dakota | JLMyers12 - 2025-08-08 12:26 AM
My mare shakes her head pretty bad around the second barrel, she used to do it around all three barrels but ive found that she likes both my hands on the reins. i havent grabbed my horn around the barrel anymore and that seems to help with the other barrels, but shes still doing it only around the second. shes had her teeth done and has had the chiropractor adjust her and do PEMF, ive tried plenty of different bits on her including a hackamore, any tips?
Can you post a video? Most of the time, when a horse is doing something like head shaking, it is something the rider is doing to confuse/frustrate/bother the horse. The difficult part is figuring out what that is. I would wager --> Have you ever asked your horse to turn the barrel and completely leave your reins loose? Don't even touch her? Would she not shake her head then? (use your seat and legs to turn, and leave your hand on the mane and leave her alone) Without seeing a video, that is what I would tell you to try. And it's one of the HARDEST things to do (myself included), to completely trust your horse 100% that you literally don't touch those reins and allow them the confidence to do what they need to do. |
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 Super Woman
Posts: 1368
     
| I just had a friend go through this with her daughters horse. No limp, no signs of anything wrong except the head shaking at the first and sometimes going to 2nd barrel. Vet found old torn hamstring and soft tissue damage in front end. |
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Boot Detective
Posts: 1900
     
| Change to a lesser bit or let your headstall out a hole or let the curbchain out a little looser. Most of the head shaking I see is due to too much hardware on the head OR riding too heavy handed. |
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  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
     Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | is the mouth piece wide enough for the horse.? do you have 2 wrinkles at side of mouth? what kind of crown over the poll? narrow ? wide? wire? are you useing one ear? two ear? wide brow? does the brow band fit the horse? to narrow? too wide? Do you have your saddle pulled up on the neck past the wither to accomdate cinch? how is the horse shod good ? bad/ long toe flat heel? is your breast collar hanging low/ sloppy? are you HEAVY handed on the rein. some these areas need to be fixed. even cuing at the wrong time will get the horse to fighting. |
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 Ms Bling Bling Sleeze Kitty
Posts: 20915
         Location: LouLouVille, OK | r_beau - 2025-10-02 11:18 AM
JLMyers12 - 2025-08-08 12:26 AM
My mare shakes her head pretty bad around the second barrel, she used to do it around all three barrels but ive found that she likes both my hands on the reins. i havent grabbed my horn around the barrel anymore and that seems to help with the other barrels, but shes still doing it only around the second. shes had her teeth done and has had the chiropractor adjust her and do PEMF, ive tried plenty of different bits on her including a hackamore, any tips?
Can you post a video?
Most of the time, when a horse is doing something like head shaking, it is something the rider is doing to confuse/frustrate/bother the horse.
The difficult part is figuring out what that is.
I would wager --> Have you ever asked your horse to turn the barrel and completely leave your reins loose? Don't even touch her?
Would she not shake her head then? (use your seat and legs to turn, and leave your hand on the mane and leave her alone)
Without seeing a video, that is what I would tell you to try. And it's one of the HARDEST things to do (myself included), to completely trust your horse 100% that you literally don't touch those reins and allow them the confidence to do what they need to do.
I video would help |
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