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Accepting the Bridle

Teaching a horse to be light in your hands and listening to your aids isn’t a hard thing to do if you do it correctly. Here I will describe the basics on how to get the horse to become comfortable in the bridle and responsive to bit pressure.

Bridle Fitting

When it comes to bitting I recommend using a snaffle in this lesson. The snaffle bit encourages the horse to take the contact and allows you to have a direct line of communication from his mouth to your hands. While a curb bit has more leverage, which encourages the horse to stay collected on loose a rein. Choose a snaffle according to your personal preference. I recommend Myler bits as they conform to the shape of the horse’s mouth and relieve tongue pressure.

Fitting the bridle is an important piece of the training puzzle. The way your horse’s bridle fits affects his performance and the communication between the two of you. If the noseband is too tight you’re not allowing your horse to give you feed back about how he is feeling. The noseband should should lay across the nose with adequate space to fit one or two fingers between the noseband and your horse’s jaw; leaving enough room for your horse to lick and chew. The bit should just be touching the corners of the horse’s mouth; not adjusted too loose and dangling in the mouth or too tight and causing multiple wrinkles in the lips.

Teaching Lateral and Vertical Flexion

Horses, like people tend to catch onto a lesson better when it is broken down into pieces which they can master one part at a time. That is why groundwork is so important in horse training; it gives the horse the opportunity to think about a one specific movement. Lateral and vertical flexion on the ground will prepare him for later under saddle work.

  1. Begin by flexing your horse laterally (side to side) on the ground in a halter. Ask the horse to flex by sliding your hand down the lead rope and then bringing your hand up toward the withers. Hold when there is tension on the rope and wait for your horse to bend his neck to release it. When your horse bends his head around even a little bit, click for the correct response, drop the rope, and feed. Build on this lesson until your horse can turn his head all the way around to his shoulder both to the right and left, while still keeping his head vertical as you don’t want him to over bend.
  2. Once your horse can flex laterally on the ground in a halter ask him to do the same exercise but in a bridle. Then continue flexing laterally in the saddle by again sliding your hand down one rein and gently bringing it up to the withers. Click and release when your horse bends around.
  3. Next, teach your horse to flex vertically (up and down) from bit pressure on the ground. Stand to one side of your horse, pick up both reins gently and apply even, backward pressure. Slowly increase the pressure every three seconds until your horse responds. When your horse gives to the pressure and drops his head, click, release, and feed. Once the horse is lowering his head consistently, add another part to the exercise and don’t release the pressure on the reins until the horse lowers his head a bit and tucks his head toward his chest.
  4. After your horse can successfully flex vertically on the ground, try the lesson under saddle. Slide both hands down the reins until you have soft contact with his mouth. Hold the contact and wait for your horse to respond to the pressure by dropping his head. Slowly increase the pressure on the reins every three seconds. Don’t pull too hard though as you may cause your horse to feel trapped and rear. When he gives you should feel lightness in your hands. Click to tell him this is the action you wanted, at the same time drop the reins immediately to give him a release. Feed the horse his treat, let him stand for a moment then ask again. This process will be a waiting game, don’t get impatient. It may take a few minutes before the horse lowers his head the first few times. If you need to set your hands on your thighs and wait. He will give soon enough and his responses will become faster each time.
  5. After the horse will lower his head in response to the rein contact, continue to keep pressure on the reins until the horse also gives in his jaw and tucks his head toward his chest. When he does release the contact.

Problem Solving

  • Raises His Head– If the horse raises his head up in response to the pressure don’t worry too much about it at first, especially if the horse has been allowed to carry his head high. Keep holding a steady contact and wait for him to drop his neck even a little bit. When he does, click, release the pressure immediately, and feed.
  • Backs Up– Keep holding steady pressure on the reins, but check that you aren’t pulling back too hard and causing the horse to back up. Keep asking until the horse stops moving his feet, then release even if he hasn’t lowered his head yet. You want to break down the lesson as much as you can. Once the horse isn’t backing up anymore don’t release until he lowers his neck.
  • Walks Forward– Again, keep a steady contact until the horse stops moving his feet then release. Once he is not walking off start releasing the reins only when he lowers his head. If the horse is ignoring your rein cues change from contact on both reins to a one rein stop. When he is completely stopped, ask him again to lower his head. Repeat each time he moves around. The key here is to keep pressure on one of the reins the whole time so the horse doesn’t get a release for walking away.
  • Tosses His Head– Keep steady contact on the reins the best you can. Don’t let the horse pull the reins out of your hands. It helps if you set your hands on your thighs or on the saddle so he can’t move them when he tosses his head around. Release when he stops moving his head around, let him stand for a minute then continue with the lesson.
  • Lowers His Head Below His Knees– Some horses will start diving their heads down too low. Just keep the same amount of contact until he raises his head up slightly then release. You ideally want his head level with or just above the withers and no lower than his knees.
  • Rears– If the horse rears up you may be putting too much pressure on him. If you start to feel him raise his neck up and think about rearing, bend his head to one side until he yields then start again. If he is rearing or thinking about it you should go back and improve your groundwork and lateral flexion before you try vertical flexion again.