I ride very casual western. By that I mean, non-technical, self-taught from books, videos, other horsepeople, this forum, experience and common sense. I am not trying to finish my horse into a perfect performance animal, nor train myself to be that kind of rider either. I just want us both to be relaxed and having fun, safely. I think I have a decent level of riding ability for non-showing purposes. I ride on trails and side roads. I've been riding this mare for about 6 years now I think. She's an OTSB and came to me harness broke only. I was the first person that actually rode her, so what she knows she learned from me. The good and the bad. Honestly though, the only bad is that she doesn't have the finish for collection, gait transitions and those show-level instant response. That's because I don't know enough how to teach the first two and could care less about the last one. When I ride with other people, she is always one of the best mannered and most reliable horses on the trail and at the camp. So, I've done something right with her anyway.
She responds as well as I need her to, but I'm wondering if I can improve on her neck reining with another bit. She came to me with a driving bit (from the track), I switched her to a hollow snaffle D-ring, then went to a French-link D-ring. Last summer I decided I wanted to get a bit more response from her, so I tried going back to the others. Of those three, she likes the French-link the best, but I actually seem to get a better neck rein response from the driving bit. Why that is, I don't know.
I ride with a loose rein already, but I do need to direct rein from time to time due to scary things (moose, other horses misbehaving, rattling trailers...) She never runs off on me; if she gets a little energetic I can snug up the reins and she settles back down. I use leg cues and weight shifting/settling to guide in turns and gaits. When she wants to go the way I'm asking, a leg cue is all she needs, but of course doesn't always respond just to that. When she doesn't care or doesn't know where we are sometimes I add a neck rein to it. When she's bound and determined to go another way, I still have to direct rein. And that's exactly the order I use when asking her to go somewhere: leg, neck rein, direct rein.
Today we were out for almost 2 hours. I used direct rein probably a couple of times when she didn't listen to the first two cues. Other than that I didn't direct rein at all except when she spooked at something. When we walked by a new horse in a field beside the road, I had snug contact on the reins because my mare was antsy. This is only her third time out in the last week and before that I hadn't had her out for several weeks. So, I think she's pretty solid.
So, if I switched to a shanked bit, would that help send her the neck rein message or would I just be upping the power without any more communication getting to her? I read part of the stickie that SMROBS made a couple of years ago about western bits, as well as some other posts. I think I would go with a dogbone style with loose shanks that are curved back. Does that sound right? Oh, I also let her graze on the trail with her bit.
Lastly, if I did switch to a shanked bit and something happened where I had to use a pulley rein or a ORS, are those movements going to be magnified as well, depending on the length of the shank? I need to be well aware of how much impact I would be having on her in an already stressed situation.
Thanks for reading! And thanks in advance for any input.
She responds as well as I need her to, but I'm wondering if I can improve on her neck reining with another bit. She came to me with a driving bit (from the track), I switched her to a hollow snaffle D-ring, then went to a French-link D-ring. Last summer I decided I wanted to get a bit more response from her, so I tried going back to the others. Of those three, she likes the French-link the best, but I actually seem to get a better neck rein response from the driving bit. Why that is, I don't know.
I ride with a loose rein already, but I do need to direct rein from time to time due to scary things (moose, other horses misbehaving, rattling trailers...) She never runs off on me; if she gets a little energetic I can snug up the reins and she settles back down. I use leg cues and weight shifting/settling to guide in turns and gaits. When she wants to go the way I'm asking, a leg cue is all she needs, but of course doesn't always respond just to that. When she doesn't care or doesn't know where we are sometimes I add a neck rein to it. When she's bound and determined to go another way, I still have to direct rein. And that's exactly the order I use when asking her to go somewhere: leg, neck rein, direct rein.
Today we were out for almost 2 hours. I used direct rein probably a couple of times when she didn't listen to the first two cues. Other than that I didn't direct rein at all except when she spooked at something. When we walked by a new horse in a field beside the road, I had snug contact on the reins because my mare was antsy. This is only her third time out in the last week and before that I hadn't had her out for several weeks. So, I think she's pretty solid.
So, if I switched to a shanked bit, would that help send her the neck rein message or would I just be upping the power without any more communication getting to her? I read part of the stickie that SMROBS made a couple of years ago about western bits, as well as some other posts. I think I would go with a dogbone style with loose shanks that are curved back. Does that sound right? Oh, I also let her graze on the trail with her bit.
Lastly, if I did switch to a shanked bit and something happened where I had to use a pulley rein or a ORS, are those movements going to be magnified as well, depending on the length of the shank? I need to be well aware of how much impact I would be having on her in an already stressed situation.
Thanks for reading! And thanks in advance for any input.