Horse won't open for the bit! Help!

Okay so I just bought this horse a couple weeks ago. :/
Hes great, kinda pusha, but he has some problems.

The ones i'm worried about right now, would be the bit problem. X.x
Hes Perfect to saddle, stands still and everything. Dosen't care about the girl... but when its bridle time, ugh-- it takes more then 3 people to bridle him. He won't open his mouth and he raises his head, and backs up. And we tried that whole put syrup or mollases on the bite. His smart he just sticks his tongue out and laps at it a bit. As soon as we get the bit in his mouth... he's okay. As if nothing happend. The whole problem is getting it past his teeth.

What do you think I should do, its a big problem, even the people that I know that have been with horses for years struggle with him. :/

Back him into a wall so he can't back, and hold down his head with your right arm while you hold the bit to his mouth with the left. Stick your finger into his mouth from the side. Most horses will open their mouth, but a few stubborn ones won't. If not, pry with you finger and he will be forced to open it.

If you can't reach his head to hold it, I like to use the head stall of the bridle, it's a pefect fit to slip over their nose and hold it down, lol

I know you said that you just got him but do you know when is the last time he has had teeth work? Having to take the bit might be hurting him

It takes more then one person to do that still... I'll try again with that see how it works. Is it something I should worry about? :/

Well his previous owners said he had been checked by the vet and shod and everything so they could sell him. I'm not so sure about his teeth. I contacted his owners about the trouble bridling and they said he had been like that but with syrup he took it in easily. :/ We did the syrup and it didn't work.

I'm going to have his teeth checked his in case. But he's a real hassel. X.x

Please don't force him..

Check his teeth..
Make a game out of it... make him WANT to take the bit

Cover it in surgar and water.... once he takes it, give him treat, take it out... Do that like twice.. he will realize taking the bit = treat. For the 3rd or how over many times keep it in but no treat.

Chance GRABS for the bridle the second she sees it.

I don't understand why people feel the need to force these animals.

Thats a good idea. O.o

I'll try that. Sugar and water.. hm..

Please Do!!

Its SOOO much better then forcing him to open and he will love you/ respect you even more!

Also teach him to lower his head. I had a horse coco that was like that. She was sooo much bigger than me when I had her and she would allways raise her head when I bridled/unbridled her. I taught her to lower her head and I had no problems.

Yeah that's a good idea to. If you want you can PM and I can give you some more advice if you need it.

Definitely don't try to force the bit into his mouth. Try and figure out what's causing him to react the way he is. I worked with an Arab that you couldn't bridle, because some idiot trainer had told his old rider to tweak his ears like mad when he was "misbehaving" under saddle. It took about three years of patience and accepting the fact that maybe you weren't going to ride that day, to get him to accept the bridle without panicking.

We didn't try to restrain him, he was in an open area, and if he wanted to back up, we let him take a few steps and stop him. We took a while just desensitizing him to the bridle as a whole, rubbing it all over his body and taking it away when he stopped trying to move away from it. And since his fear was getting his ears hurt, we spent a lot of time rubbing on his ears. So are you sure he is okay with his ears, poll, forehead, etc, being touched?

We also rubbed the headstall up his nose and back down a few times. And when we did get the bit in his mouth, we made sure we stuck our fingers in so the bit didn't clang against his teeth. That's another thing people don't usually think about, letting the bit clang on a horse's teeth while bridling.

Just remember that you can't be sure what he's been through, so be patient and be kind. =]