When I'm riding my horse we use a hackamore because she won't take a bit for the life of her. But when I ride she does little toss thing with her head constantly I want to get in showing wIth her but with this head tossing thing I won't do it
Hmmm what shows/classes are you intending on showing in? If I'm not mistaken many shows don't allow hackamores. What kind of hackamore are you using - some of them can be fairly strong devices.
Its not necessarily showing it's barrel racing. And I'm not quite sure it came with her and the person that I got her from never had a problem with her doing this
It sounds like this horse has never learned how to give to the bit. Does she maintain a fairly high head carriage? If so she's not relaxed in the poll which creates resistance thro the length of her body. Start with groundwork and a snaffle and teach her to bend, inch by inch if that's what it takes. Stand a couple of feet off her shoulder, facing her shoulder and start bringing her head around. Draw it in an arc, not just straight toward your hip. If she resists after a few inches then you know she doesn't know how to give to the bit. Try tickling the rein with your pinky so there's less pull and more lip signal. Once she stops demanding that her head be straight and holds it with no pressure on the rein, gently push her cheek to straighten her head so she can relax. Do this every time you are near her, even using the halter or your hand on the bridge of her nose so it becomes ingrained. Don't ride her for the first few days you are teaching this. Then do it from the saddle. This is what is often called the one-rein stop. What the one-rein stop is doing is reminding the horse to relax at the poll to relax his body.
We don't use a bit with her we use a hackamore we found she is better with one except when does her head toss thing. We used to use one but she's worse with it she was trained with a hackamore so that's what we will continue to use. I want her stop this head tossing
Have you tried just a halter? Did she react the same way? If she's still reacting the same way in a halter then you may need to consider that she's in pain somewhere.
Palpate her back, neck, head, legs. If she's flinching then she's in pain and the head tossing is probably because of this.
I have a horse that I also ride in a mechanical hackamore. Her owner used to really jerk on her head so I think that has something to do with it.
Maybe teeth also need to be done? I'm not sure if it would affect in a hackamore but I know my mare needs her teeth done but she throws her head also in a bit.
Poll out of place? A thoroughbred I work with had her poll out of place and she would throw her head, once I had a chiropractor out to work on her and they re-adjusted her poll her head throwing stopped.
That's good. Then another thing to consider is that the hackamore is hurting her. Try a different piece of tack and see what she does. I mentioned halter simply because it's very unlikely to cause her any pain. And if she's still doing it then I'm of no help. :lol:
Barring any problems with your horse's physical self, have you tried a non-metal bit like a happy mouth? Some horses just hate metal! I'd recommend a bit like this: Happy Mouth Double Jointed Roller Dee - D-Rings from SmartPak Equine
Non-metal, double jointed to avoid the "nutcracker" effect of a basic snaffle, and with D-rings to avoid being pinched by a loose ring.
You may want to pay very close attention to your hands. A mechanical hackamore can be pretty unforgiving if the hands get heavy. If the previous owner rode in the same thing with not problems it may be the change of hands. Since the tack hasn't changed. Just one more thing to look at.
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