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 Expert
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Location: Mississippi | So I have tried numerous bits on my gelding and still can't come up with one that works for us both. I have finally gotten fairly comfortable with him on the pattern and he doesn't need much guiding basically I just leave him alone. However, we have a stopping issue. He is very light and responsive except stopping from a full run (heading home in the arena as well as breezing in the pasture). I currently have him in the cloverleaf snaffle and tried adding a curb chain but still don't have much. He seems to work the pattern best in this bit so I am trying to find a compromise. We did run in a closed gate a few weekends ago and he did stop but I wasn't pushing him hard home either because I was a little afraid.
Any other bit suggestions or exercises I could work on at home to improve stop? He is a big horse, long strided horse and I am not looking for a reining stop, just something a little better than what we have now.
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| To me that sounds more like a training issue than a bit issue. Bits don't stop a horse, no matter how much pressure (pain) you inflict. You need to start practicing a stop at the slower gaits and work your way back up. I learned this from a runaway rope horse when I was 15 years old. |
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Expert
Posts: 1286
Location: Mississippi | Thanks, I have been working on it from slower gaits and he stops great. I always incorporate a good bit of stop into our daily riding for this very reason but at a full run, it just kind of falls apart. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Yeah I've been there. Like I said before, I would keep drilling it at the slower gaits and get faster and faster. You want him to respond to your subtle cues also and that is acheived through practice. Remember Bo the buckskin during the NFR last year? I have no doubt he has a solid foundation, but tune ups are sometimes required. With that old rope horse I had, eventually he was just as sensitive in a halter as any bit I put on him. |
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 Keeper of the King Snake
Posts: 7622
Location: Dubach, LA | Sorry.  No help. Just empathy. My 17 year-old turd that could run barrels with his eyes closed, no halter, no rider, does this too. Always has. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 164
| I have a gelding that is the same way. I got a bit very similar to this one after using this exact one that a friend had (I got a cheaper version haha) and somehow it helped a lot with training him to stop. I love it and now use it for everything. The trick with this style correction is a decent length shank for lift, it needs to pivot at the shank instead of being fixed, and the thinner the bit (obviously not too thin), the more response. A lot of correction bits have thicker side mouthpieces, and I had absolutely no luck with them. Also no luck with the square instead of rounded port. I'd say go to your local tack store and pick out a bit similar to this that isn't as fancy and see what happens. I could never get my horse to stop before and with some training in this bit, I just pick the reins up and he slows way down to a stop. I never turn him after our run, because I can stop in a straight line before the gate! Let me know :)
http://www.nrsworld.com/classic/classic-equine-calvary-star-cheek-c... |
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Expert
Posts: 1286
Location: Mississippi | HannahRodeoCowgirl - 2014-08-15 1:07 PM I have a gelding that is the same way. I got a bit very similar to this one after using this exact one that a friend had (I got a cheaper version haha ) and somehow it helped a lot with training him to stop. I love it and now use it for everything. The trick with this style correction is a decent length shank for lift, it needs to pivot at the shank instead of being fixed, and the thinner the bit (obviously not too thin ), the more response. A lot of correction bits have thicker side mouthpieces, and I had absolutely no luck with them. Also no luck with the square instead of rounded port. I'd say go to your local tack store and pick out a bit similar to this that isn't as fancy and see what happens. I could never get my horse to stop before and with some training in this bit, I just pick the reins up and he slows way down to a stop. I never turn him after our run, because I can stop in a straight line before the gate! Let me know : ) http://www.nrsworld.com/classic/classic-equine-calvary-star-cheek-c...
Thanks, do you just work him in this bit or do you also run in it? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
| I would change the bit you ride in daily and probably not the one that you run in. Work him in something like a square mouth or small twisted ring snaffle and a running martingale to keep him soft to your running bit. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 417
Location: CA | Have you tried a combo bit? Might help with your stop at the end of your run as long as you keep your hands quiet during your run and stay off his face. |
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Veteran
Posts: 164
| turtleaut - 2014-08-15 11:54 AM
HannahRodeoCowgirl - 2014-08-15 1:07 PM I have a gelding that is the same way. I got a bit very similar to this one after using this exact one that a friend had (I got a cheaper version haha ) and somehow it helped a lot with training him to stop. I love it and now use it for everything. The trick with this style correction is a decent length shank for lift, it needs to pivot at the shank instead of being fixed, and the thinner the bit (obviously not too thin ), the more response. A lot of correction bits have thicker side mouthpieces, and I had absolutely no luck with them. Also no luck with the square instead of rounded port. I'd say go to your local tack store and pick out a bit similar to this that isn't as fancy and see what happens. I could never get my horse to stop before and with some training in this bit, I just pick the reins up and he slows way down to a stop. I never turn him after our run, because I can stop in a straight line before the gate! Let me know : ) http://www.nrsworld.com/classic/classic-equine-calvary-star-cheek-c...
Thanks, do you just work him in this bit or do you also run in it?
I work him in it, rope in it, run barrels in it. It works, so I don't see the need to change it around. : ) Also, this horse would constantly get used to bits and eventually he would run right through them, but this one he has respected better and better every time I use it. And he has been in it for about 2 years. A new bit would last me about 3-6 months with him before before he wouldn't respect it anymore. Edited by HannahRodeoCowgirl 2014-08-15 3:54 PM
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