The past few weeks, I have been taking lessons. The first two were at my trainer's barn and this last one was at mine. I have been having a lot of problems with my horse. Okay...maybe not a lot but a few...Anyways, I went from bitless to the bit. My horse has been doing much better!She's 10 times more responsive! She turns right but not left though...My trainer showed me she is really tense on her left side, so we're going to have loosen her up a bit. Also, she isn't very forward when going in a circle and she often grabs a snack during our rides. She has gotten better with that though. She tends to graze when the grass is tall and how hot it is...But like I said, she does much better in a bit. I use a twisted wire bit with an O-ring. My horse chews on it a lot and practically reshaped it. She's been on that bit for several years now, so it's time for a new bit. Plus, the twisted wire bit, when she took it, seemed uneven in her mouth, and I'm pretty sure it slid around in her mouth...
Today I went to a tack store and got a new bit. Another snaffle but not twisted and it's a D-ring. But when I asked what size the bits were, the lady started asking me more questions about my horse. She's a 14 year old mare and I ride western on her. We don't do any sports; we just ride on the field and dirt roads near my house. Her response to my horse's age and the fact she's ridden in a snaffle, was kinda harsh. It wasn't so much what she said but how she said it. "Why are you riding your 14 y/o in a snaffle?" I honestly didn't understand why she said that until I turned to the Internet for some research. Horses lose their sensitivity in the mouth as they age. So it makes sense why she tried to get me to buy a curb bit after I gave her my horse's age. But my horse does pretty good in a snaffle and I really do want to avoid a curb bit. She doesn't like bits as it is, so why go to a harsher bit? And even if horses' lose sensitivity, don't they still feel pressure? My horse is 14 and she does pretty good in a snaffle. It's just when it comes to turning left and that's because she tenses up in her neck...Now after I gave her more information on my horse and the old bit, she showed me the D-ring snaffle bit. I pretty much had a tense conversation with that lady. We weren't yelling at each other but there was a lot of tension. And my dad came out of the store impressed with how much I knew about what I was talking about and how I handled kt lol. He said "The lady was saying some technical stuff and she(me) said technical stuff back." Lol Today was interesting for me.
Comments (3)
Very good job sticking up for u and your horse but...don't use twisted wire. Other than that, good job! (Twisted wire can be quite harsh...even if it's a snaffle) :blush:
Yeah, that's what I've heard. I originally wanted to to buy the twisted wire and the other one to see if it was the type of bit or length of my old bit that was causing the problem. I ended up not being able to buy it anyways though. She's doing much better in her new bit though so i'm glad I made that decision.
If it’s not broke don’t fix it! If your horse goes well in a snaffle then I agree with you, why change just because some rando who has zero experience with your specific horse wants to act like they know everything. 🤷🏼♀🤷🏼♀good job for sticking up for yourself!