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Hard to bridle young horse

942 views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Hackamore 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I have a rising 4yo mare who is an absolute pain to bridle! she's 16.2hh and I am very short, and she definatley takes advantage of this fact lol. She puts her head up when I try to put the bit in her mouth but doesn't really last more than a few seconds, the main issue is that she hates her ears being touched! So as soon as i go to put the bridle over her ears onto the poll she doesn't have a bar of it. I've tried the slow and gentle approach as well as just trying to quickly get it on but she just really doesn't like it! Her bridle is all correctly fitted etc, and it is not pain related. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
#2 ·
How are her teeth? Has she been clanked in the teeth quite a bit when the bridle comes off?

I'd go back to basics of desensitizing her around the poll, face and ears. What we do a lot of the times is have a demeanor of neutrality, don't take it personally when she shys and start by tapping her around the neck, chest all over the body with different object, not hard, just touching as a way to gain trust. You touch her with the object until she stands still and then take the object away and rub her with it as a reward. Don't start with the spots she is protective of. Gradually move towards her ears and back down, if she has an issue with her ears just go up and down her neck. Don't do it for longer than 10-15min. Short and sweet sessions, positive sessions. Don't get anxious or annoyed. Take your time.

Also do not force the bridle or get her anxious about it, don't be in a rush. Have an attitude of we could do this all day, there is no rush. Your mindset is very important too, when she is silly just have a mentality of I'm bored but okay here we go. Its important not to over react, just stay in a good mind space. It's also good to teach her how to give to poll pressure and come down in her neck when you put pressure at her poll. And maybe you'll have a day where all you do is put the bridle on and take it off until she is calm about it. Make it a positive experience.

Both are good horseman. People can say what they want about either but it doesn't make their methods obsolete.



 
#3 ·
I like the first video.

I had a very difficult to bridle horse on more than one occasion. One was a little TB who hated her ears being touched. What I did was to use just the running head of a double bridlle (one long strap and a normal cheek piece.

Using a similar method the First video once she was happy taking the bit I could flip the long strap over her neck and bring it to behind her ears and do it up. Thus not actually touching her ears.
Gradually I could loosen the bridle and lift it off over her ears, first without actually touching them and then slowly so it rubbed over them.

All the time I was working on her ear issue, scratches lower down her neck gradually working higher and nearer her ears. In the end she accepted that I wasn't going to grab her ear and twist it to make her behave. Took a few weeks but she was fine,
 
#4 ·
A couple additional things you could try:

-Work separately on the ear issue. Use the method in the Warwick Schiller video, but apply it to just incrementally getting her okay with having her ears touched, then with having things passed over them, etc. Doing it separately from bridling her will remove the added complication of simultaneously getting the bit into her mouth.

-For now, to bridle, undo one of the cheek pieces and just let the bit hang. Then get the bridle on over her ears. Then ease the bit into her mouth and do it back up.

When she's good with both you could work on getting back to the "normal" method and it should probably go a lot more smoothly.
 
#5 ·
Work on the ear issue. Fund it if she has a reason her ears hurt. My gut was difficult to bridle as a youngster as he was tall and east shy. He had/has aural plaques contributing to the shyness. While they haven't gone away, he's learned it's OK to have his ears handled.

During the process, I would stand on a stool and undo the cheek piece. Slip it over his ears and do the bit up that way. Cookies help. You may consider a temporary switch to a rubber bit to prevent teeth clanging.
 
#6 ·
IMO You are putting the cart before the horse so to speak. I would set the bridle on the shelf for a while and work on desensitizing the ears, teaching her to come off halter pressure so you can lower & position her head, and opening her mouth with the head lowered to eventually accept the bit willingly. Until the horse is confident and relaxed with these items you will just be creating a fight and making the situation worse than it already is. I will never attempt to bridle a horse with its nose/head in the air, because that only teaches them the behavior is acceptable. Time and patients makes the willing horse.

Best of luck,
 
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