Will an English bridle give us more control?

[Weeg]

When you say a snaffle, do you mean a divided bit? A bit with a joint in the middle? This is what I used when riding English. This allowed me to pull directly on either side of the horse's mouth. If I wanted her to turn left, I pulled the left rein directly toward me, turning the horse's head to the left. If I wanted to ride Western I used a curb bit. This is a one-piece bit with a curved raised section in the middle. If you want to turn left, while holding both reins in one hand, you move your hand to the left so the rein crosses over the horse's neck. You keep a slack rein when riding Western. In English you keep light contact with the horse's mouth.

Honestly, we don't really have a western or english style of riding! Lol! We ride in endurance saddles, and just ride how we ride. We don't really use a certain discipline. I guess we ride more english? I like to "jokey up" when running, trotting, and moving quickly. This is what I mean by snaffle bit -

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Cool. So yeah, that's a snaffle; with that you want to use direct pull, controlling the horse's head with each rein directly. You should be using an English bridle with that. Go to YouTube and see if you can find some info on riding or reining English. If you can manage the bit properly, you will have much better control over the horse, and you won't be hurting her mouth either.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

It would be very confusing to the horse to try to neck-rein her in a snaffle bit.

 

[Weeg]

It would be very confusing to the horse to try to neck-rein her in a snaffle bit.

We don't really neck rein I don't think. We have never really practiced any specific discipline in general, we are just willy nilly trail riders who like to race each other, jump whatever we can and stuff like that. We just use the bridle and bit to how they they respond best. We don't really ride a certain way, but that doesn't affect our ability to ride and control our horses just for the record. Thanks for the advice, I will look into an english bridle. I think my question has been answered.

 

[littledog]

No piece of equipment can replace proper education, IMO you should concentrate on training Lucy instead of changing out her tack while riding her the same, and hoping that will get a different result.

I want to help, but I'm not sure I'm understanding the problem quite exactly - you say when walking or trotting she will listen and go at the speed and in the direction you want, but when you ask for a faster gait, she interprets that as "always gallop at top speed?" You say that even when she's galloping at top speed you can control her, but what does that mean exactly? If I'm interpreting your description right, she doesn't just bolt off, you can get her to stop when you want and turn in the direction you want, even at top speed - so what it sounds like to me is that she doesn't understand she's capable of going at a regular medium or slow canter, and you would like to be able to do that. Am I interpreting your question right?

If so, this is something she needs to be taught. No piece of equipment can do the teaching, you have to do this yourself, or find a trainer who can help you. This is one of the better horse-training problems to have! A horse like yours with a "go forward" mindset is usually easier to train than a lazy horse. The right trainer could fix this with just a few rides on your horse and then a few lessons with you, but if you don't have access to a good trainer or if it's not affordable, you might be a good enough rider to do it yourself. It sounds like you have good balance, maybe not a huge amount of knowledge but definitely some talent, a lot of bravery, and an attitude of enjoying your horse and a commitment to doing what's best for your Lucy. Add in a lot of patience, and you can possibly do it.

The snaffle bit you're currently using is fine - just make sure your bridle is adjusted so your bit rests on the bars of Lucy's mouth, on the gap between her front teeth and molars. It can slightly brush against her front teeth, but not go any more forward than that. You might need a noseband, just an average cavesson that's not attached to the bit in any way, just hanging from the poll part of the bridle, only tight enough (3 fingers) to make sure she can't open her mouth wide enough to get the bit between her molars.

The main thing you need to do first is teach her to go at different speeds in all gaits. Do you have a smaller area, like a round pen or arena to work her in? It would be helpful to start out in a smaller area where she can't work up to an all-out gallop, but it can be done even if all you have is a field, if you get her used to working slowly in the same small area every day.

Get her to do a slow walk, then switch to a fast walk, then a slow walk again. Praise her every time there's even a small improvement in regulating her different speeds at the walk. It might take several rides until she really understands that she needs to regulate her speed according to what you ask. Make sure you do this training in both directions. Then do the same at the trot. Slow, fast, slow. Fast, slow, fast, stop. Train yourself at the same time - your signals to her for the speed you want her to go, should come mostly from your seat and weight first, then your legs, and finally your hands will only be for fine-tuning to make her response more quick and accurate. For example, if she's trotting too fast, slow down your posting bit by bit until her pace matches yours.

Once she is responsive to different speeds at the walk and trot, try combining the two. Slow walk to slow trot to slow walk. Fast walk to fast trot to slow walk, fast trot to slow walk to stop, to slow trot, etc...You get the picture. Lots of transitions in the same gait, to and from different gaits, and stops. Only after she understands that you are in charge of her speed when you are riding her, then introduce the canter (lope). Start only with brief transitions, like trot, ask for canter, then ask for trot again after only a couple canter strides. Try this in both directions, on small circles and large circles, gradually work up to full circles at the canter. It takes a lot of fitness for most horses to do slower canter circles with a rider, different muscle strength than galloping at top speed, so ask for it gradually in between doing a lot of trot (cardio) work in between.
Once Lucy's fit enough to do slow, smooth transitions from walk or trot to slow canter, responsive to your weight and seat, then smoothly down again from canter to trot or walk, you will have an impeccably-trained beauty who can not only beat other horses in a race-only when you ask- but an awesome horse who understands and can do everything she's asked. Can I guess, she used to be a barrel or gaming horse? Just a guess.
Good luck to you,
Lucy sounds like an awesome horse!

 

[MissMonty]

I trained horses (and people for that matter) for years and one of the worst mistakes a person can make is trying to replace training with a quick fix piece of equipment. It never ends well, if anything it usually makes the problem worst.

First thing I'd do is look for a trainer. Not necessarily one that you send your horse to for a month (although that wouldn't be the end of the world) but I think you'll benefit more from a trainer coming to you and working with the horse AND YOU! You may have to have him/her ride the horse a few times first, watch them and take notes! Then the trainer can let you ride and basically give you lessons on how to work with the problem.

Find someone good, that may not be the cheapest person but correcting the problem is vital. Overtime the trainer may change up your equipment and such and teach you how to use the aids versus relying on them for control.

 

[Percheron chick]

We are mostly looking for more control I guess, and leverage when she is running. Less concerned about her training and listening skills. Thanks for the responses! Avery

Very troubling thought process.
You have holes in her training not a bit issue. You can spend $1000 on bits and she will still runaway with you. You will not fix this issue until you admit her lack of training.

 

[Folly's place]

Agree!
Mary

 

[Weeg]

Very troubling thought process.
You have holes in her training not a bit issue. You can spend $1000 on bits and she will still runaway with you. You will not fix this issue until you admit her lack of training.

Thank you, but she doesn't have holes in her training. It may sound like she does because she wants to run, but she doesn't if you knew her then you would understand. Thanks for you concern, but I got it. I think my question has been answered.

 

[NatJ]

We don't really neck rein I don't think. We have never really practiced any specific discipline in general

One common way to turn a horse is to pull on one rein, and the horse goes that way. (Rein pulls on one side of the bit, bit pulls on the mouth, mouth steers the horse.) I think this one is called "direct reining."

Neck reining does not pull on the mouth at all. Move the hand-with-reins to the side you want to turn, which makes one rein push against the horse's neck, and the horse turns away from that pressure. (It's like you're pushing the horse the way it's supposed to go.)

I'm pretty sure neck reining works with any kind of bit, because the signal is actually against the neck, not the bit at all.