Pleiades Farm

11/11/2023

“Bot flies may look gross but they are rarely something to be concerned about”

The more you know!

06/04/2023

Agree!

Why a cavesson?

Until about a year ago I thought a cavesson was just a fancy piece of equipment that unless you were German or did upper level dressage, you didn't need. Now I recommend them to nearly every client I meet. This is a simplified example of the mechanics at play when we use a cavesson (leading from the top of the nose) vs. a halter (leading from the bottom of the chin). Because the point of contact is different, these two methods affect the horse's head and neck in different ways. And as we know, everything is connected and this affects the rest of the body too.

The rope halter doesn't allow as much innate healthy lateral flexion, because of where we are applying the pressure. The chin and nose come first, and the opposing action of that halter is that it's actually pushing the rest of the head away from you. If you're aware, you can feel this immediately. If the horse is rotating the poll away from us, like in the halter photo, we haven't set them up very well to be able to rotate that poll in the direction of the bend, which is our goal most of the time. The horse has already lost it's balance and we haven't even gone anywhere yet.

The cavesson, by contrast, helps keep the head in better vertical alignment as we apply contact. The ears stay level, and the horse is able to rotate the poll in the direction of the bend. This has implications at the base of the skull, throughout the cervical vertebrae and of course through to the hind legs as well.

I don't mind rope halters, I use them in situations when I think it's appropriate. But if you're doing in-hand work, lunging, asking for bend, or otherwise conditioning your horse, consider how a cavesson might be a more supportive piece of equipment!

27/03/2023

25/03/2023

06/03/2023

The beauty of non-opposing aids.

The brilliant thing (well one of the brilliant things) about horses is their capacity to learn. They are literal, contextual learners who rely primarily on motor patterns and skills to understand how to relate to us. In the main they do not use verbal language, but instead movement and their other senses. They learn motor skills much, much quicker than humans. They’re digital while we’re analogue.

Riders often find their horses confused because we have ideas that don’t relate to what a horse can do or understand. Our big thinking brains can lead us to believe that a horse can work something out because we have told ourselves its true. When from a horses perspective it makes little to no sense.

One of the biggest areas of conflict for horses and people is the use of aids which oppose each other. And the simplicity of the principles of Legerete often shines a light on this which allows everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.

At the most basic level the modern concept of the half halt can create some serious problems for horses. Those of us who’ve heard Philippe Karl speak will have heard this said many times, and it’s worth reminding ourselves of.

In essence, if we apply the aids for stop (blocking with our hands) and the aids for go (using your legs) at the same time, what is a good horse to do?
I meet many people who have been told to ride this way, and I’ve yet to see it create much of use.

Because, with horses being the generous, helpful creatures that they are, they can only - as PK always says so eloquently - agree to be obedient to one or other of these aids. They cannot respond to both these requests from the rider, however much we dream that they can.

Therefore, they end up giving it a go in relation to the one they find it easiest to respond to, and ignoring the other. They have no choice but to either lean on the bit or go behind it as they try to respond to the ‘go’ request of your legs. Or, they must learn to tune out the leg aids.

I rode someone’s ‘dressage’ horse recently and was told I would have to have extremely strong legs. What this tells you is this horse has had one half-halt too many and has given up responding to the leg aids. No horse requires a humans ‘strong legs’ to keep moving, they have their own perfectly good legs. They have just been taught to tune out the leg aids, that’s all.

If we really think about it from the horse’s logical, movement based perspective it’s so clear that using aids that cancel each other out makes no sense. And that it results only in stronger and stronger aids and often more equipment.

There is a very specific way of using your lower legs which can be combined with rein aids in the ‘Effect d’Essemble’ which has some interesting effects on the horses body. But I’ve yet to meet someone who’s clear that’s what they’re doing and why.

Instead, most of us have just been told to hold the horse in front and drive them on from behind at the same time. And most horses are doing their damndest to make sense of that but falling short. Because they simply cannot both go and not go.

In this school we make sure that the aids agree with each other. If you ask your horse to go, you let him. If you ask him to change his balance and slow, you say thank you very much.

From a horse’s point of view, this is just common sense.

10/02/2023

Another important reason horses need to have hay much more often, ideally 24/7

“Horses don't have a gallbladder. Because of this, horses' livers only secrete bile acids, salts, and buffers when stimulated by consumption of food. Horses with an empty stomach for a prolonged period of time are more prone to ulcers because the stomach continually releases stomach acid, regardless of whether or not food is consumed. The buffering agents which neutralize this acid are only released when food is consumed. Do not let your horse go more than 6 hours without eating. Do not exercise or transport your horse on an empty stomach.” - Podcast Ep. 48 | Gastro pHix - Foregut Health

Listen to the entire episode wherever you consume your podcasts!

bluebonnetfeeds.com

15/04/2022

The Exception.

"When *I* use [insert latest training gadget] it doesn't harm the horse"
"When MY horse is worked with [insert draw reins, rollkur, see-sawing, tie-downs or other tools and methods used to create a false frame] he's perfectly fine"

Many people make the argument that THEIR horse or THEIR training methods or use of particular devices doesn't harm their horse in the ways that are documented in different studies on whatever gadget they're using.

A horse is a horse.
Gravity is gravity.
Physics is physics.

What many fail to notice is that when they use these devices, they don't do so with a ton of additional equipment such as a heart monitor, Lameness locator, slow motion camera, gait analysis or anything else to both develop a baseline and measurable improvements/deterioration of the gaits, however it is being analyzed.

While there are horsemen and women who have a trained eye which is capable of seeing the subtle true engagement versus false, there is a larger majority that cannot. Too often you will hear riders say how rounded and beautiful a horse is while being ridden with his chin almost to his chest. The same for horses who are hollow over jumps, or completely disunited, tight barreled and 4-beat cantering.

Too many cannot discern good vs bad, and as such, cannot rely on their experiences alone to determine suitability of a method or gadget. This is why studies exist, and while not without fault, they provide valuable insight that should be combined with experience to make better choices.

14/04/2022

Yes.

Second thought for the day-
Good riding isn’t about bringing the horse’s chin in, it’s about bringing the base of the neck up

30/03/2022

Well-written.

⚜️ Physical Seat, Statical Seat and Half-Halts ⚜️

In the academic art of riding, we distinguish between the physical seat and the statical seat.

The physical seat is the area in which the rider and horse connect, where you touch the horse with your thighs, upper legs, bottom. The physical seat moves with the horse. When the horse makes a step with the inside hind leg, the hip on that side moves forward and down. And so should our own hip. When the horse puts weight on that foot and pushes itself forward, the hip moves backwards and up. And of course, our hip should follow this movement, too. It is an eliptic movement that can be best explained with driving bicycle backwards. The more relaxed we are and the less tension in our body, the better we can follow the horse's movement. Then the horse's spine and rib cage can swing unhindered and the movements can go through the shoulders, front legs, neck and head. Our goal is that the horse can move just as easily and beautifully with us on its back than when running free on the field. And for that we train our physical seat.

The statical seat has to do with the fact that we are vertical and have an angle over the horse, which means that when we lean slightly to the front, to one side, or back, then leverage forces come into play. You can try it out: Sit on your hands and move your upper body to the front and back, and feel the impact on your hands. Also try how little you have to move and still feel something! It's rather surprising. Even a slight nod of the head can be felt this way, and that's also the softest aid with our physical seat. With our physical seat, we influence the common point of weight of horse and rider and in the academic art of riding, we teach the horse to always step in under our common point of weight.

We start using our statical seat more once we work more with half-halts. When we lean a little forward (Bent always says stomach forward - hands forward), then we want the horse to stretch the upper line, search towards the hand and bring the hind legs more forward, under the point of weight that we now shifted a bit forward. This is the half-halt according to Steinbrecht and we use it when the hind leg starts stepping a bit short. Bent also calls it the first decente.

When the horse's hind feet stay forward, we can keep our point of balance in the saddle and just give a bit with our hand. The horse will then search a tiny bit forward-down, enough to take out any tension or compression that might be in the spine. If you can give without ruining the forward step of the hind leg, then we talk about "hand without leg", meaning we don't need our leg aid to correct the forward step of the hind leg. This is the giving according to Baucher or second descente.

Then we start giving half-halts with our hand and the statical seat on the horse's inside or outside hind leg. By taking back our point of weight a little with our statical seat, we bring slightly more weight onto the hind legs and we ask the hind legs to bend more in the haunches in order to carry this weight. Our hand does not pull actively backwards, it just follows the slight backwards leaning with our upper body. If we feel resistance in our hand, that means that the joints of the hind legs are not giving and are pushing against our hand. The hind leg will start to step shorter in that case and push more backwards-out. Because our horse has already learned to bring the hind leg forward again when we lean a little forward and give with the hand, that's what we do in that case. In this phase we practice to shift the horse's weight horizontally and to bend the joints of the hind legs more.

When we can give a half-halt on either the inside or the outside hind leg, then we give it in the rhythm of both hind legs. If the horse stays back and doesn't go against the hand, we give the half-halt only with our stomach and stay back with our upper body. Do we loose one hind leg we start giving the half-halts again on one hind leg. Can we stay back, give with our hand and the horse stays back, under our point of weight, we call this the third decente (or half-halt according to Guérinière). The third descente has both the first and the second one in them. Sometimes we will have to go a little forward with our point of weight to animate a hind leg to step forward again. Sometimes we will give the half-halt more on one hind leg, then on the other, giving with our hand sometimes to let the horse stretch the nose a tiny idea forward. And then we stay back and only use our stomach for the half halts, the horse bringing more weight on his hind legs and bending the haunches.

Eventually, our point of balance and the place where the horse's hind legs go into the ground should be the same. We lean a little forward - the horse brings the hind feet more forward, we lean a little back - the horse brings more weight on the hind legs and bends the haunches. At the same time, we cannot get stiff in our physical seat and block the swinging of the spine.

So that was a bit about the physical seat, the statical seat and half-halts 🙂

In my next post I will write about the seat in the half-pass.

More about the academic seat: https://www.bentbranderupfilms.com/videos/the-academic-seat.html

More about half-halts, halt and school halt: https://www.bentbranderupfilms.com/videos/school-halt.html

-------- www.academicartofriding.pl --------

27/03/2022

Mark Depaolo, DVM shows how to diagnose equine ulcers with an easy step by step palpation method. The horses in the video have different stages of ulceratio...

25/03/2022

The Heart of Science
by
Jean Luc Cornille

Once I was asked to help an autistic child riding a horse. The horse was a mare that someone in the stable graciously loan for the session. The autistic child was non-verbal with the reputation of having violent impulses of anger. In fact two male nurses came with the child and stayed in the ring to eventually “protect” me. The child had the facial expression of the grumpy cat, very intense an introverted. Once he was on the saddle, I placed myself in front of the mare for control and also because the only way we could communicate was body language. I did on the ground what I was expecting him to do in the saddle. I lifted my upper body opening my chest and he mimicked me. The mare responded immediately slowing her walk and coordinating her back. The facial expression of the child changed instantly. His grumpy face turned into a large smile. I was thinking, in fact he does have a beautiful face. His eyes were now wide open and their expression were like a language. He looked at me, looked at the horse incredibly happy that she felt him and responded positively and wondering if I saw it. The session became an astounding event. I faced right inviting him to turn right and he was ecstatic to feel the mare turning with him. I looked at the mare and she was very concentrated on the child and perfectly at ease. The child experimented right turn, left turn, halt, looking at me with an expression of total happiness. They were so much in tune with each other than I let them play just staying in front of the mare in case of possible reaction. The child was having a body or energy conversation with the mare. At times, he looked at me for help when the mare was not reacting as he expected. I did with my body the adjustment that he needed to do and his large smile came back as the mare responded.


The clinic was organized as a social event. It was cheeses and crackers and wine and champagne on the tables and the noise level of the many conversations was very loud. I noticed that soon it was complete silence. Everyone realized that they were witnessing an unusual event. This child and this mare were having a comfortable and friendly dialogue at a different level. The child had never rode a horse before. The mare was not trained for handicap riding. It was pure, peaceful and clear communication. The two male nurses had left the ring and one was crying.


The child and the horse talked to each other for a long time. The child was asking half pass at the walk mimicking my body language and the mare responded. Of course the mare knew the move. Of course it was not a perfect half pass. Of course it was at the walk, but the child had never rode. It was no aids, no cue. I moved my body as he should and he did and the mare responded.

Soon, the young boy showed signs of muscle fatigue and we ended the session He did not want to leave the mare and we continued with the work in hand. He was on the left side of the mare holding the reins and I was close from him helping eventually. Of course he needed some help but he had picked up the natural frequency of the mare and his move were soft and at the right cadence. The horse world tends to be satisfied with simple explanations and, since it is well known that sometime autistic persons develop unusual senses, the explanation for what they just witnessed was that he was autistic. The owner of the mare was one of the few ones realizing that it was a dialogue; it was a two ways conversation. Showing great intellectual modesty, the owner of the mare repeated, “I never saw her so confident. He did better with her than I ever did.” The father of the young boy was not a horse person at all, but he knew his son and realized that an important event had just taken place. He asked, “What happened?” I told him, “.More and more studies talk about frequency, vibration, energy. Horses have a level of sensitivity far beyond what classical approaches can even imagine. They feel the energy that we created through nuances in our muscles tone. Your son picked that when the mare responded to the adjustments of his back muscles. He was so happy to be able to communicate with the mare that he concentrated on this feeling. He does not have a brain that has been trained to think correct aids and all these stereotypes that are used in the equestrian education. He vibrated at the horse’s frequency because he was fully and purely interested in communicating with the mare and the mare was comfortable with this level of dialogue because such is the horses’ real level of sensitivity. It is indeed, their comfort zone. When I realized that, I let them be together just helping him when he looked at me for help. I can tell you that being close from both of them, it was beautiful to watch.” An auditor approached us asking “I did not see the aids?” and then, in the line of horse peoples who ask a question and provide the answer all in one sentence, she added, ”It was no aids; he is autistic” and she walked away. The father commented, “I see what you mean by being brain washed by formulas and stereotypes.”

We discussed about the benefits that riding could have for his son and I encouraged him but also warned him that he will have to find the right person as this person would have to adjust the program to his son and not fitting his son to a program. I told him remember what Albert Einstein said about the school system, “I failed school and school failed me. I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. “

Almost a year later, I meet the father again. He knew that I was in the area for a clinic and came to discuss a little. I asked about his son and he said, “he does not want to ride anymore. I did not understand your warning and they did exactly what you say. He wanted to communicate with the horse and they wanted him to learn the basis, I tried to explain what you did but they looked at me in total incomprehension.” I told him, I was afraid of that. They don’t have enough knowledge to be able to adapt. They don’t have enough understanding of the equine physiology and neuro-physiology to understand that love is not just heart. You need the science to understand what the heart feels. Your son was intuitively capable to feel what the equestrian education regards as the finality. They don’t have enough understanding of how the horse does it to be able to adjust to your son sensitivity and start by what is traditionally regarded as the end. The system put riders and horses through formulas that are supposed to be learned in a specific order. Doing so, they kill intuitive minds for both, the horses and the riders. We were talking about Einstein. He wrote about that. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” The reason in the equestrian world is lack of knowledge. Trainers know how the movements look like but they don’t understand how to prepare the horse’s physique for the athletic demand of the performance. They can only fit the horse to the system. They are not capable to take a gifted rider or horse where they are and cultivate the gift. A few good trainers and teachers can do it but they are very few. Most want a faithful servant because they do not have the biomechanical knowledge to be able to deal with situations and events that do not fit the system. The father smiled saying, “You just described the heart of science.”

Jean Luc Cornille 2015

22/03/2022

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗕𝗶𝘁: 𝗔 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁.

Written by Caroline Larrouilh, ProudHorse Connections with help from Chantelle Matthews Dressage

In your hands, you hold your horse’s emotions.

With the reins and the bit you are not only able to provide your horse with information about where you wish to go, how you wish his posture to change or how fast or slow to move.

With the reins and the bit you impact directly a horse’s sense of self, his safety, his wellbeing and his desire to be present with you in the work.

How light and careful or demanding and brutal you are affects not only your horse’s mouth and body but his understanding of the training relationship.

It reveals your true self to him and it can lift him up or discourage him profoundly.

Therefore our choice of bit and how we use it is something we have to give thought to daily.

It is important to be aware of, and not take our horse’s mouth for granted.

Bitting is very much an art and a science, like saddle fitting, shoeing or trimming. It demands we take into consideration the morphology of our horse’s mouth. There are many variables to consider:

Our horses can have:
-thick tongues
-thin tongues
-wide tongues
-narrow tongues
-wide jaw
-narrow jaw
-high palate
-low palate
-fleshy palate
-long lips
-small lips
-etc...

You must also consider the state of your horse's poll and his hyoids and TMJ, that of his teeth, tongue and parotid glands.

In our horse’s mouth the landscape may be quite different from what we pre-suppose a horse’s mouth “should” be like.

It is important we learn to gently open our horse’s mouth safely (your vet can teach you) and check his oral cavity.

Check the folds of his mouth, his tongue, gums and the roof of his palate for damages.

Know what a healthy color is for him, look for bruises and blood.

Mouth injuries can happen at any time.

The conformation of the horse’s mouth will dictate how thin or thick the bit needs to be or how curved - a thick bit is not always kinder, nor is a thin bit harsher.

It all depends.

In Manolo Mendez's tack room, he has a large box with over a hundred bits.

Half are for educational purposes for what NOT to use on any horse.

The other half are bits he has found suitable for a horse at some point, and he keeps because they may suit another horse someday.

He is flexible in his approach but in general, he is a a fan of the eggbutt snaffle that has a small joint and a gentle curve.

He finds a simple D ring snaffle (with a small joint and gentle curve) is also suitable provided the point on the D are NOT sharp and do not poke the horses face when turning left or right.

This is something Manolo finds riders rarely think about but it happens often when a rider does not have even contact, soft or not.

The joint in the middle of the bit is of upmost importance - a large or flat joint can dig into the tongue and also dig into the fleshy part in the horse’s palate, even worse if the horse has a low flat palate.

It is important that the noseband is not done up too tightly - a 2 finger gap allows enough room for the horse to open his mouth slightly if the bit does touch the roof of his mouth because if the noseband is done up tight the horse could bruise his palate.

The shape of the bit’s branches is also important to the horse’s comfort.

The branches should be slightly curved, not straight. Why? because when contact is taken on the reins with a straight bit it:

-Makes a triangle shape in the horse’s mouth and the middle joint pokes the horse’s palate.

- The bit compresses the lower jaw.

On the other hand, a bit with too harsh a curve will put unnecessary pressure on the horse’s tongue. Even small actions in the contact will result in the bit rubbing too hard on the tongue and compressing the tongue towards one side of the jaw more than the other.

Manolo Mendez does not like loose ring snaffles very much because in his experience, they can pinch a horse’s lips and because when the rings are loose unlike an eggbutt they do not offer any support to the mouthpiece of the bit which drops in the horse’s mouth. (see photo).

A bit with loose rings can be a good bit for a sensitive, experienced rider who has consistent, light and even contact but it is not suitable for beginner riders or riders with young horses because the young horses tend to play too much with this kind of bit and they do not learn to take the contact.

When you purchase bits examine them very carefully: You will find many bits are not balanced properly.

One branch may be heavier than the other so the design is not identical, sometimes one branch will curve differently than the other.

The joint’s are often different sizes too.

This is uncomfortable for our horse.

A dirty bit with encrusted old food matter or sweat is not just unsanitary and risk irritating our horse’s mouth, it is disrespectful as is a dirty or old saddle pad with hard or torn seams that rub the horses back.

All equipment that interface with our horse’s body should be clean, smooth and in the very best condition.

It is important to keep in mind that because a bit should fit in theory, it may not in practice.

A horse can still dislike a bit that seems perfect for his mouth conformation.

For example: Chantelle’s horse Mickey had a very delicate but soft mouth, a narrow jaw, flat tongue, small lips and low palate.

Mickey was started in a side pull bitless bridle (Lindell) for the first three months of his training under saddle so he would not have any negative experience with the bit while he learned to adjust to carrying a rider and learned to respond to direction and gait cues.

Then, he was introduced to a simple medium sized light eggbutt snaffle which we liked.

However, even though it was the perfect fit for Mickey’s mouth, after a couple of rides, we knew it wasn’t suitable for him at that stage of his training.

How did we know?

He wanted to travel with his head too low, as though he was being weighed down.

We switched him to an old favourite, a fine, gently curved, soft metal eggbutt snaffle.

Mickey took to that lighter, fine, soft metal bit and so far we have not looked back.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁” 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿…. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁.

Because fitting bits has both a physical and a mental dimension, it is extremely important to allow horses the time to adjust when we decide to introduce a bit or a new bit to them and not make assumptions about what will fit them based on previous history.

When we look at bits, they may look quite identical to us.

One bit may appear to be a little thicker or a little thinner but the design will look the same to our eye.

Or the difference between bits may be more obvious, we may be looking at a bit with one joint and a bit with two joints but because both bits are the same thickness we may put them into the same mental box and make assumptions about their comfort and purpose based on what our eyes tell us.

In reality, it does not matter what we see or even how a bit feels when we test it on our arm or our shin.

Even a change we think is minor may feel like a very big change to the horse.

𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲, 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲, 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 - 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁.

It we decide to try another bit because one of our horses is telling us its current bit is no longer working (horses tell us this by becoming fidgety, not wanting to take the contact, becoming heavy, etc) we do it carefully and with patience over several days.

We do not change a bit for the sake of novelty or because of trends or what a friend or trainer told us.

We listen to our horse.

If our horse is going well and is calm in his mouth, if our dentist doesn’t see any bitting issues when he checks our horse’s teeth - we do not need to change the bit.

First, we double check that our horse does not have any of the injuries we mentioned previously. When we are satisfied that there is no physical issue, on Day One, we install the new bit on our horse’s usual bridle (one he is comfortable in, we do not want to change too many variables at once) and we make sure the bridle is re-adjusted to fit correctly with the new bit. Then we:

- Spend time walking with a soft contact and then on that first day, we keep the training very simple.

- We do not teach new things and we do not practice movements that are not already confirmed and easy for our horse.

- We give our horse a nice simple ride, we forgive mistakes that he does not normally make.

- We do not insist that our horse perform exactly as usual or carry his head and neck exactly as usual.

- If our horse wants to carry his head a little higher or a little lower then we allow for this different posture.

Our horse is simply trying to adjust himself to the new bit and we want to support him during that adjustment period, not work against him.

- We take our horse walking out in the field or around the property for a walk with a soft, even contact so that he can feel the new equipment without being in “work mode”- we want to feel what the contact is like when our horse’s mouth and mind are relaxed.

On Day Two and Three we do very much the same.

By Day 4, most horses who like their new bit start to feel settled and show us that they are comfortable in their working posture.

This is an important moment in time for us and it demands patience.

Why?

Because even though our horse is giving us every sign that the new bit is working, we still cannot quite start working again as we did before changing the bit.

We have to keep in mind that our horse is still adjusting to the new bit as we begin teaching new things to him again and ask more of him.

We have to be mindful of what we ask and how our horse responds as it takes a couple of weeks before a horse is back to feeling 100% comfortable with a new bit in their mouth.

How do we tell if our horse doesn’t like a new bit?

We know - and pretty early on.

Because we have been very careful on Day One and Two we know that the new reactions are mostly from this new object in their mouth.

If our horse who never threw his head up and down suddenly starts to - he doesn’t like the bit- this is simple to see.

If he is more fidgety than before and hasn’t settled in the first Two Days - he more than likely won’t settle.

If he is becoming too heavy or sucking back - this is probably not the bit for him.

In conclusion: In our every interaction with our horse’s mouth we are considerate.

This is especially true when we ask our horse to take the bit or remove the bit.

We do not push the metal against its teeth while pushing a finger harshly in its mouth to force him to take the bit and we do not clang the bit on its way out of its mouth.

We teach our horse to open wide for the bit and we hold the bit for him when we remove it so his experience is pleasant.

NOTE: We are not looking for arguments or debates. In addition, it is not possible or wise to make specific recommendations about a horse’s bitting need without seeing the horse in person so this Note is general in nature by necessity.

As we indicated throughout the text, your horse is the one who you should listen to when it comes to bits and in our experience, paying attention to your contact and using common sense go a long way in creating positive bitting experiences for horses.

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗺?

𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲'𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲?

𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻-𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿.

To make a difference in your horse's health, behavior and performance, simply click on the link below.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/inhandlessonswithmanolo