Horse on the bit...

Loopyness

How the hell do you get a horse on the bit?
What is the aim of doing it.

I dont have my own. I ride school horses once a week (wish it was more:( )

I have tried it but i dont know it they are just too much of a ' school horse' to do it.

can anyone explaine how to do it properly?

Cheers

fits

Loopyness wrote: »

How the hell do you get a horse on the bit?
What is the aim of doing it.

I dont have my own. I ride school horses once a week (wish it was more:( )

I have tried it but i dont know it they are just too much of a ' school horse' to do it.

can anyone explaine how to do it properly?

Cheers

'On the bit' is a bit of a misleading term. What you are really aiming for when riding and schooling horses is that they're working softly and correctly from behind into a contact. I prefer to call it working in an outline.

Some horses will work in an outline easier than others, so it depends on the horse really and how well schooled they are. When schooling a horse you work on their suppleness, transitions, and really get them working from behind (i.e. stepping under themselves, rather than dragging themselves forward from the front). The whole point of this is that they are more athletic and responsive when they can work like this so it has benefits across all areas of equestrian pursuit.

togster

OP thats a good post from Fitz. On the bit is a misleading term. In lay man terms the horse carries it's head lower that it normally does. It's nose should be perpindicular to the ground or as close to that angle as possible. Ideally you want a horse to carry itself in that position i.e. the horse is balanced and working in a correct shape. Please note that the correct shape does not exclusively mean that the head and neck are low. The idea is that the horse gets elevated in it's stride. So in effect the horse heigthens its back and an arc of sorts is created from the horses quarters to its head. As Fitz said it comes from experienced riding. The most important thing is that the horse goes forward into the hand. This means that the horse is active behind engaging it's hind legs and propelling itself forward into the contact.

On a young horse or untrained horse. Get it going forward on a loose long rain first. Gradually increase contact untill the horse submits to your hand. Upon submission you too should relax your hand to reward the horse and indicate to it that this is what you want. But remember leg to hand. Forward first into a contact. It's quite easy!!

granturismo

togster wrote: »

It's nose should be perpendicular to the ground or as close to that angle as possible.

Am probably at the same level as the OP and trying to implement instructors guidance identical to fits & togster (thx for the reminders)

I was talking recently to an event rider who rode at international level in the 60s/70s and he was commenting on the what he thought was a trend to increase the angle of the head. He had a contact where the head was perpendicular or slightly greater angle and his view was that the increased angle put some unnecessary strain on the horse and reliance with some riders on extra tack. Any views from experienced competitors?

Loopyness

Thanks both - That clears it up a bit, i think.

So what is the craic with the whole arched head , horse feels the contact and is more forward going. Someone once told me that is when the horse is on the bit

there are so many people out there that say so many different things.

Thanks for the response, no idea how i do it (horse going from behind and not dragging from front - how do i even know? i m sure it would feel different) Im riding tonight so will raise it with RI. Ahhhhhhhhh i so want to learn!

fits

granturismo wrote: »

I was talking recently to an event rider who rode at international level in the 60s/70s and he was commenting on the what he thought was a trend to increase the angle of the head. He had a contact where the head was perpendicular or slightly greater angle and his view was that the increased angle put some unnecessary strain on the horse and reliance with some riders on extra tack. Any views from experienced competitors?

I'm not very experienced but I think its easy to get too hung up on the angle of the horses head. As long as its not overbent, and the horse is working well through its body, I dont think the perpendicular line is really all that necessary or desirable (certainly at lower levels) although the head should be close to it.

On the other side of things you often see horses at shows with their head perfectly perpendicular, dragging themselves along with no real impulsion. It doesnt take a genius to work out when draw reins and the like have been used (incorrectly).

Loopyness wrote: »

Thanks both - That clears it up a bit, i think.

So what is the craic with the whole arched head , horse feels the contact and is more forward going. Someone once told me that is when the horse is on the bit

there are so many people out there that say so many different things.

Thanks for the response, no idea how i do it (horse going from behind and not dragging from front - how do i even know? i m sure it would feel different) Im riding tonight so will raise it with RI. Ahhhhhhhhh i so want to learn!

Well one way of putting it, is if you use your legs to create impulsion and energy in the horse (rather than speed) and use your hands and seat to contain that energy you would be getting there.

togster

Don't worry to much OP, it takes alot of time and feeling.

Feeling is very important. The horse should be "light" in your hand but you should still feel some weight there.

If the horse is going forward the stride should be bouncy and light. Effectively the horse should be "taking" you forward.

It's so difficult to explain. You will get there. Concentrate for now on riding with your legs. Turning the horse with your seat and legs and controlling impulsion with you body rather than your hands. You don't need your hands to ride properly. The hands give direction. If you simply pull a horse into a "shape" the back end will drag and the horse will get over bent and unbalanced. By riding with your seat to form transitions, create impulsion and give direction the shape will come automatically!

ell

here are two ideas.

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Riding & creating softness.

Start with creating a soft halt.

As you stand still, pick up a light contact and just hold it.

Wait.

Your horse might do nothing, might pull against you, might up their head, etc to get out of it. Don’t increase the contract, don’t move your hands, again just hold it and wait for softness. When your horse gives his head a little, and you feel the strain gone from the reins, immediately loosen them a little as a reward.

Do this often enough and when you hop on, and pick up the reins, your horse will automatically soften his mouth. The idea is now your horse is balanced – he could just as easily take a step forwards or take a step backwards, whatever you choose to do. A lot of horses, when you sit up and take alight contact, they immediately push their weight forward, so you’re not at the 50/50 forwards / backwards balance, you’re about 80% forwards, 20% backwards, and so not balanced and not really ready for all manouvres.

Once the soft halt was establish, do this again from halt to backup. Once this is established, then it is time to start doing it in a walk. Looking for one step of softness first.

Walk around. Pick up a light contact. Hold it and wait. Your horse might pull against you, ignore you, etc. Just wait. When you get that moment of softness, relax the contact a little. Eg. On Saturday your horse might be up to doing this for three steps in a row in walk, and on Sunday it might have built up to five or more steps of softness together in walk.

Homework would be to continue this in walk, slowly in increasing the steps required with softness. When you’ve a solid walk, then the next step would be to go through all of this again in trot, etc.

http://irishnhsociety.proboards41.com/index.cgi?board=usefulinformation&action=display&thread=406

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Using lateral work first to soften up horse and encourge him to work from behind:

http://irishnhsociety.proboards41.com/index.cgi?board=usefulinformation&action=display&thread=315

kick-on

its hard to get a riding school horse to do anyhing bar plod around because they have kids either kickin the sides off of them to speed them up or other kids swinging from the bit to slow them down, after around a year of that they just switch off during lessons!!!! in racing terms a horse takes hold of its bit when it is still fresh and travelling well, after it becomes tired it drops the bit and is in essence runing on empty

Alibear

Every horse is different when it comes to getting them to accept the bit and work in a correct outline... You have to make sure your horse is using their back end correctly- you need to work on the overall "picture", don't just focus on getting your horse "looking pretty" in front. Shoulder-in, lateral work, serpentines, circles etc. will help your horse become more supple, which means that they'll find it easier to work correctly in a nice outline. Plenty of transitions help as well. Your horse also needs to have all the correct muscles built up... I'm not sure what your riding experience is like, but if you are a fairly good rider then have you considered having some decent private lessons on a good schoolmaster?