|
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| I am riding a mare that had 2 solid years of reining training and when adding speed on the pattern this mare basically tucks her head and runs right through the bit. This is a problem I have never dealt with, any advice to get her to pack the bit better and stay in my hands when speed is added?
I have done some speed control drills with 2 barrels placed far apart and it took awhile but she started to come back to my hands before the barrel, should I continue with a drill like that? |
|
| |
|
 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
  
Location: North Dakota | ChicksInferno - 2016-05-02 12:52 PM I am riding a mare that had 2 solid years of reining training and when adding speed on the pattern this mare basically tucks her head and runs right through the bit. This is a problem I have never dealt with, any advice to get her to pack the bit better and stay in my hands when speed is added? I have done some speed control drills with 2 barrels placed far apart and it took awhile but she started to come back to my hands before the barrel, should I continue with a drill like that?
I've seen some reining trainers that are fantastic and some that over-do it on the bending/flexing.
I spend last year rehabbing my aunt's horse who had been through "reining training" and completely evaded the bit and had no clue how to follow his nose. Could put his nose to his chest or to my knee, and his body would be going the completely other way.
So not assuming your mare has had bad training per se, but it's something to question since it sounds like she is tucking her chin and evading the bit?
Does she do this at any other time?
You might need to take a step back in general basics, and get her to respond better to the bit again. Can you post a video?
|
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 966
Location: Loco,Ok | I had several like this in last couple of years I start over.Drive the horse in a hackamore sidepull.They are so over bridled up.Nose comes down to their knees and they do not stop,I drive them then put them on the flag to get their mind off of me.Give them a job a reason.Its hard to get some to change much soon It takes a few months.I rope on all of then.Turn a calf loose in pen and track breakaway for while then go on.You have to come at them from a different direction. |
|
| |
|
 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | what type of bit are you running her in? |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| r_beau - 2016-05-02 3:03 PM
ChicksInferno - 2016-05-02 12:52 PM I am riding a mare that had 2 solid years of reining training and when adding speed on the pattern this mare basically tucks her head and runs right through the bit. This is a problem I have never dealt with, any advice to get her to pack the bit better and stay in my hands when speed is added? I have done some speed control drills with 2 barrels placed far apart and it took awhile but she started to come back to my hands before the barrel, should I continue with a drill like that?
I've seen some reining trainers that are fantastic and some that over-do it on the bending/flexing.
I spend last year rehabbing my aunt's horse who had been through "reining training" and completely evaded the bit and had no clue how to follow his nose. Could put his nose to his chest or to my knee, and his body would be going the completely other way.
So not assuming your mare has had bad training per se, but it's something to question since it sounds like she is tucking her chin and evading the bit?
Does she do this at any other time?
You might need to take a step back in general basics, and get her to respond better to the bit again. Can you post a video?Â
What did you do with your aunts horse to "rehab" it? This mare has only done it at a faster speed but honestly she is so broke and controlled in pretty much everything else I ask of her I haven't had to drive her up into the bit. She walks/trots/lopes around easy and on a loose rein. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| clampitt - 2016-05-02 4:14 PM
I had several like this in last couple of years I start over.Drive the horse in a hackamore sidepull.They are so over bridled up.Nose comes down to their knees and they do not stop,I drive them then put them on the flag to get their mind off of me.Give them a job a reason.Its hard to get some to change much soon It takes a few months.I rope on all of then.Turn a calf loose in pen and track breakaway for while then go on.You have to come at them from a different direction.Â
I have thrown the rope off her a lot and trail rode a lot and she has taken that all in stride, never pushes on my hands while doing that. I will work more on teaching her to follow her nose and drive up into the bit and stay there.... |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| hoofs_in_motion - 2016-05-02 4:33 PM
what type of bit are you running her in?
I've ridden her a lot in her reining bit and also my sherry cervi 3 piece twisted. I just started riding her in a twisted snaffle the other day to see if that made a difference as she was the same in the other two bits.... |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| I had pretty much the same problem with my mare as well. She will pull on the bit and try to get out of it when any speed at all is added. I switched her over to a hackamore (Jim Warner to be specific) and it made a world of difference! Not sure if it would work on yours or not, but I'll never put my mare in a bit again :) total control, and she had nothing to pull on our try and run through. Hope this helps! Good luck :) |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | Katielovestbs - 2016-05-02 11:33 PM I had pretty much the same problem with my mare as well. She will pull on the bit and try to get out of it when any speed at all is added. I switched her over to a hackamore (Jim Warner to be specific) and it made a world of difference! Not sure if it would work on yours or not, but I'll never put my mare in a bit again :) total control, and she had nothing to pull on our try and run through. Hope this helps! Good luck :)
Agree with the above or try a combo especially the Perfect Bit combo. |
|
| |
|
Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| sounds like some bad reining training, |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 634
| I like the Loomis Gag for horses like this. It's soft enough for when you want it to be but it will make them come back to you and cant "run through" it. It's worth a shot! |
|
| |
|
Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | ChicksInferno - 2016-05-02 4:45 PM r_beau - 2016-05-02 3:03 PM ChicksInferno - 2016-05-02 12:52 PM I am riding a mare that had 2 solid years of reining training and when adding speed on the pattern this mare basically tucks her head and runs right through the bit. This is a problem I have never dealt with, any advice to get her to pack the bit better and stay in my hands when speed is added? I have done some speed control drills with 2 barrels placed far apart and it took awhile but she started to come back to my hands before the barrel, should I continue with a drill like that? I've seen some reining trainers that are fantastic and some that over-do it on the bending/flexing.
I spend last year rehabbing my aunt's horse who had been through "reining training" and completely evaded the bit and had no clue how to follow his nose. Could put his nose to his chest or to my knee, and his body would be going the completely other way.
So not assuming your mare has had bad training per se, but it's something to question since it sounds like she is tucking her chin and evading the bit?
Does she do this at any other time?
You might need to take a step back in general basics, and get her to respond better to the bit again. Can you post a video? What did you do with your aunts horse to "rehab" it? This mare has only done it at a faster speed but honestly she is so broke and controlled in pretty much everything else I ask of her I haven't had to drive her up into the bit. She walks/trots/lopes around easy and on a loose rein.
He was 12-years-old. I had ridden him over the winter a couple times, and he had no control with his face, bucked, and was just a hot mess. My mom had ridden him here-and-there before then and he had done the same things with her. When I brought him with me for the summer, I was expecting much of the same, but I was really impressed how well (and quickly) he transitioned by just making a bit change and riding him a certain way.
Even though he didn't know how to follow his nose and would severely evade at times, he was very light in the mouth. He certainly did not need anything more than a snaffle in his mouth. That was plenty strong enough. He just needed to re-learn how to respond to bit pressure.
Edited by r_beau 2016-05-03 11:46 AM
|
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| She is a 4 year old. I pretty much always rode her on a loose rein and had no issues putting her body anywhere I wanted. Heck I have ridden her quite a few times bridleless (never on the pattern) she's just that easy to ride. At first loping out on the trails she ran through the bit a little bit but she got over that so fast and stays in my hands now anytime I ride her outside the arena. Its just in the arena and anything more than a lope on the pattern. I have been in a regular twisted snaffle 2 days now and it seems to be good, I also have the loomis gag so I will switch to that too. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1039
| Have you tried just letting her run in the arena? Like, put her in a circle and then drop your hand but keep your body slow, push your feet down in your stirrups and make sure you aren't squeezing her even with your calves and just let her cruise around until she wants to slow down. Then, just work on raising and lowering your hand, engaging the bit but then releasing her to see if you can find her relax or release point. you may have tried that already, idk. Also, do lateral work. Instead of pulling straight back on both reins, bump back and forth making her work her face back and forth. You can also try just doing one rein stops so you are disengaging her hindquarters and stopping her from continuing forward when you pick up your rein. It may at least get her to thinking about slowing down when you pick up your rein.
Something else you can do - just put a piece of pvc pipe on a tiedown so that if she tries to invert, she will bump the pipe and raise her head back up. I've seen that work. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 300
| rosies_1 - 2016-05-03 8:39 PM
Have you tried just letting her run in the arena? Like, put her in a circle and then drop your hand but keep your body slow, push your feet down in your stirrups and make sure you aren't squeezing her even with your calves and just let her cruise around until she wants to slow down. Then, just work on raising and lowering your hand, engaging the bit but then releasing her to see if you can find her relax or release point. you may have tried that already, idk. Also, do lateral work. Instead of pulling straight back on both reins, bump back and forth making her work her face back and forth. You can also try just doing one rein stops so you are disengaging her hindquarters and stopping her from continuing forward when you pick up your rein. It may at least get her to thinking about slowing down when you pick up your rein.
Something else you can do - just put a piece of pvc pipe on a tiedown so that if she tries to invert, she will bump the pipe and raise her head back up. I've seen that work.
Thank you! These are all helpful suggestions. I have tried some of these but not all. She is a pretty smart horse so I am hoping she will come around soon. I have never heard of the PVC pipe thing but it sounds interesting! I may have to try that if these other techniques don't work. |
|
| |
|
 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | My horse was the same way. He was a reining reject. He could outrun a freight train with his nose between his knees. Switching to a hackamore did help. What also helped was lifting UP to stop/rate instead of pulling BACK-- aka the Ed Wright way. You have to really ride him with your seat/legs and only be on his mouth when you absolute have to. I would check hocks as those might be sore. I would rope on mine sometimes and he'd just run off sometimes....hocks were sore. After that I started injecting and haven't had issues. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 35
| Make sure you're sitting down deep and asking her to stop with your body and not just your hands. Most reining horses I've rode will lope around forever with their nose to their chest if you pick up on them but they don't stop till you sit deep and push your legs forward. |
|
| |
|
 Veteran
Posts: 188
Location: Under the Big Sky - Montana | I am a prior barrel racer that switched to reining about 15 years ago. It is important to keep in mind that when you pull/lift on a bit on a reiner that doesn't mean slow down, it means drop your head and give your face to the bridle. Slow down is communicated through voice and seat (weight in the stirrups, etc). You are probably getting the reaction the horse is trained to give. It is no fault of their own, they are doing what they have been taught is correct. Yes, the cues can be untrained, it just takes time and a lot of patience for them to figure out what you are wanting. This was especially fun on a western pleasure gelding that I have that was trained for a spur stop. It took him awhile to figure out that when I put my legs on it didn't mean stop, but I also had to remember not to be harsh in my corrections. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1446
Location: California | Put her in an o ring snaffle, every time you ask for "rate" or "control" with your body and she ignores you, one rein her. Then go again. She will learn. I don't like to whip their heads around on leverage bits. You can move back to your shanked bits once she learns.
This has worked on all of my horses. One horse in particular was a finished roping horse with a bolting problem. Made her a whole new horse and later my winningest barrel horse. |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
| My reject reiner does the same. Goes 9-0 freight train with the head down and runs through you. I haven't found anything that works yet either other then riding with your body weight constantly. Shifting weight through the whole pattern to get her to her spots, but even then it can be difficult to get the timing right on every move.
I've spent 3 years doing drills with mine to try and work on it but they are so programmed. When you add speed, it reverts to reiner mode every time. It's just easier to learn to shift your weight and ride with leg than fight with them because the way they were trained is different than the normal barrel horse training.
Edited by epoh 2016-05-07 11:09 AM
|
|
| |
Folks on-line