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Itchy Boobs
Posts: 360
 
| Do any of you bit your good horses down? If so how often and
What do you do and use? |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
 
| rodeochick123 - 2015-05-05 12:18 PM
Do any of you bit your good horses down? If so how often and
What do you do and use?
Why would you do this if the horse is a 1D, finished horse? Is there some kind of problem your wanting to correct? |
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Member
Posts: 12
| astreakinchic - 2015-05-05 11:23 AM
rodeochick123 - 2015-05-05 12:18 PM
Do any of you bit your good horses down? If so how often and
What do you do and use?
Why would you do this if the horse is a 1D, finished horse? Is there some kind of problem your wanting to correct?
Agree |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | And what is the reason for this?  |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
| Not normally, but I did have one that I would work in the roundpen once every week or two, tied around each way and bitted back...Just until she got really soft. It was the best way to keep her shoulders lifted and light. It didn't take more then 5-10 minutes. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 304
Location: Up and over to the right | Sounds like you don't ride a 1D horse to me... |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | I dont even do this to my colts...we called it bitting up though.......over the years i have found much better ways to get my point across.......M |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| I'm sorry but I feel like bitting one back is a gimmick. They are held in position basically. If you have it loose yes they can learn to give and the pressure releases but for some they never learn to give they constantly push against it, whereas if you were working on them with your hands you could give a lil when they give and by give and take make them softer/lighter. If you work on them with your hands you are teaching them to carrying themselves correctly.
Now some young horses can benefit from being bited down/back in the round pen but over time i've quit doing that because its just an easy way out/gimmick that you can fix better by taking some time and doing it yourself.
I know some "professionals" train this way still and advocate it in magazine articles etc..... but IMO your not teaching the horse your making him and thats why you need to repeat it once a week to keep him soft. Not that you don't need to repeat keeping them soft with your hands. IMO its a lot less work to teach one while riding than to go round pen that horse for awhile, because I can ride them around and work on other exercises while I work on keeping them soft in the face.
Edited by astreakinchic 2015-05-05 1:32 PM
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | no |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
| Done correctly it can be a very good tool, but it is not to be over used. People like to assume that if one uses this tool that they don't get the softness with their hands, but I use both. I am not advocating for everyone to use this tool, honestly I haven't done it in probably about 3 years, but I don't feel it is to be demonized. It can and does work in certain circumstances. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | What kind of issue are you having that makes you feel like your horse needs to be bitted up? |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
| astreakinchic - 2015-05-05 1:31 PM I'm sorry but I feel like bitting one back is a gimmick. They are held in position basically. If you have it loose yes they can learn to give and the pressure releases but for some they never learn to give they constantly push against it, whereas if you were working on them with your hands you could give a lil when they give and by give and take make them softer/lighter. If you work on them with your hands you are teaching them to carrying themselves correctly. Now some young horses can benefit from being bited down/back in the round pen but over time i've quit doing that because its just an easy way out/gimmick that you can fix better by taking some time and doing it yourself. I know some "professionals" train this way still and advocate it in magazine articles etc..... but IMO your not teaching the horse your making him and thats why you need to repeat it once a week to keep him soft. Not that you don't need to repeat keeping them soft with your hands. IMO its a lot less work to teach one while riding than to go round pen that horse for awhile, because I can ride them around and work on other exercises while I work on keeping them soft in the face.
The horse I did this with once every week to two weeks was one of the most broke horses, if not THE most broke horse I have ever ridden/trained. It wasn't a matter of not being broke/soft or being "made" to do anything...It was all about the shoulder and not taking short cuts that sometimes older horses try to take. Like I said, with this horse it took 5 to 10 minutes (closer to the 5 to do both sides and bit back) and we were done. This is what worked for this horse. Edited to add the horse wasn't tied around and chased around the round pen...I worked this horse around my body on the ground as it was tied around.
Edited by MeepMeep 2015-05-05 2:10 PM
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 Veteran
Posts: 173
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow | It's a short cut. Lots of trainers do it so they can make progress faster but it creates a hole like a pothole you have to keep going back to refill. Don't be tempted. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| A good friend of ours sent an expensive roping horse to the trainers for a tune up- he broke his neck bitting hin down. |
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  Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | Never. Not colts, not finished horses. Like another poster said, there are better ways to get your point across. My horses stay soft, supple, flexible because I spend time teaching/training, and I use daily methods during riding to keep them that way. You would be surprised at just how much a horse can learn when they have a relief point during training.
I even managed to throw away all my draw reins and running martingales when I learned better ways to do things. |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
| There must be some crazy methods of doing this because the ways being described sound disturbing |
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Blessed 
Location: Here | Can you please describe what you are referring? Are you meaning a heavier bit or tieing head around? |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | I agree...It sounds more like most people don't know how to properly adjust their training equipment or how long to use an aid during a training session.
Horses shouldn't be bitted up and left, draw reins shouldn't be used without another set of reins as a primary, and a running martingale shouldn't engage in any way to hold a horses head down. The rings should be adjusted to meet the throatlatch, but that's rarely how you see hobby horse people use them.
When I see posts like this I'm generally shocked that the written word isn't carried over to actual use in the arena. I can usually count on one hand the "broke" horses at a barrel race and point out in FB pictures that their horse isn't one of them. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| I'll bit one up before I'll use draw reins. It's all in how you do it, like meepmeep said. Its a gradual process of applying more pressure with out scaring one. If you have a horse that blows up, flips over, falls down, when you bitted it up, you applied way to much pressure too soon! I'll use it on any horse I see that will benefit but mainly on colts in their first few rides.
Edited by FlyingJT 2015-05-06 9:28 AM
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | If I'm having trouble getting through to one, or I don't feel safe making my point while riding because they want to throw a fit, I will ground drive. If you do it right, you can get a better pressure/release and won't get them behind the bit like usually happens when one is tied back. |
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