From: Kerry
Hi Jessica,
I have another question about another problem I am encountering with Bo although it's of a different nature. Bo, for some reason, hates having her mouth, chin, nose areas touched. Taking the bit when she's being bridled is a battle if I let it. She has pulled back once when being bridled and snapped her headcollar in half.
So I have two questions - one relative to the short term, and one relative to the long term.
Long term - what is the best approach to cure her of this dislike ? I am taking fifteen to twenty minutes each day to just feel and stroke her nose, chin etc. and she is praised when she does not yank her head up in the air, step backwards to escape the "torture". I am trying to get her to associate this experience with nice things such as verbal praise, cuddles and treats such as pieces of apple. I do not do this with her tied, usually she either in just a head collar, in her stall or ground tied (I use this phrase liberally). I don't know what has caused this reaction with her but I do know it's something we definitely need to resolve.
Short term - while we are doing the above, in the mean time bridling her causes me a lot of stress as she just does not want to take the bit. I'm trying praise, treats of a sugar cube or something when she does accept it (relating experience to something pleasant ?) I can literally have to plan for twenty minutes to get the bridle on. She is a whopping 15.3 and I am small 5' 3" :-) so I can have a terrible time when she sticks her nose in the air and does not want to bring it down. I understand that currently it's not something she likes and therefore wants to avoid it. That's why I'm working with her to qualm her fear - however, in the meantime I need an approach that will allow me to bridle her without a todo (she is not just gritting her teeth, she is strong about not wanting the bit/mouth touched). Once bridled, she's as happy as a lark.
Once again, help please Jessica! :-)
Thanks!
Regards, Kerry.
If she's an older mare and has been ridden by or trained by someone else, she may just have developed a behaviour pattern based on the way she was handled. Some riders dance around their horses and make a huge fuss about bridling, and eventually the horses begin to play the game that they think their owners want them to play. If this is what's going on, you'll just have to teach her a NEW game, such as the "Bridling Is No Big Deal" game. In this game, you always play first: you approach her as though putting on the bridle is nothing at all (which is true) and that you are going to do it smoothly and quietly (which is true) while talking to her about other things (which is a good idea), and that it is a very MINOR part of the getting- ready-to-ride process, and that she will be quiet and put her head down for you. Wait for her head to come down -- if it goes up, stop talking, don't touch her, just WAIT. When it comes down, you can pat her and talk to her. She'll get the idea. The whole point of this game is that it's an "as if" game -- you treat her AS IF she is a horse that doesn't have ANY problem about being bridled, and she will behave AS IF she doesn't have a problem, and soon she will NOT have a problem!
But before you do that, read the rest of this message and try whatever applies to you. Behaviours and games can be modified very quickly IF the horse isn't physically uncomfortable; if the horse IS in pain, that is what must be addressed FIRST, because if that is the case, the "game" is not a game!
Since she objects so strongly to the process, it would be a good idea to eliminate physical causes FIRST. Check her mouth for sores, and have the vet check her teeth -- perhaps they need floating. A few sharp edges can be excruciatingly painful to a horse, especially if they cut into the lips when her mouth and nose area is handled or compressed. Tooth-floating can eliminate an incredible number of mouth problems and behaviour problems based on mouth pain.
You know how important it is that the horse wear a bit that fits properly -- check this too. And check the adjustment of the bit in her mouth -- is it hanging to high or too low? Also check her headcollar, and the cavesson of her bridle -- both should be comfortably LOOSE. Cranking a cavesson tight is a good way to make a horse fear and resent the bridle, the headcollar -- ANYTHING that goes around the face!
If her mouth and teeth are fine, the bit fits well and is adjusted properly, and the cavesson is fastened loosely, move up -- check her ears and the area all around her ears. She may have an injury, a bruise, or a sore -- or the problem may be more subtle!
I was once presented with a horse that objected very strenuously to bridling, although his teeth were fine, he had no sores in his mouth, and the bit fit him well. I watched the owner bridle him, and she did NOT bang the bit against his teeth or scrape the bridle over his eye -- both of these things can also cause a horse to dislike bridling. But what I DID notice was that the browband was too short! This meant that it pulled tightly across the horse's forehead(annoying), rubbed agains the base of his ears(painful) and pulled the top of the crownpiece against the base of the ears from behind (also painful!). The horse was miserable, and every time he looked at anything, he got MORE miserable, because the eyes and ears work together, so when he looked in any direction, his ears tried to move and were pinched and rubbed by the browband and crownpiece! I sent his owner to the tack shop for a longer browband, and the problem was solved. This is NOT an uncommon problem, BTW. It did take several days to convince the horse that the bridle wouldn't hurt any more, because he was EXPECTING pain. His owner is still careful and slow when she bridles him, but that's a good way to bridle ANY horse, anyway.
In the meantime, here's my short-term formula for easier bridling. Remove the cavesson from the bridle and just work without it for a few weeks -- strip the bridle down to the bare essentials: crownpiece, browband (long enough, remember!), cheekpieces, and bit. Unbuckle the bit from the near side, lift the bridle, put it gently DOWN over her head. Ask her to open her mouth -- you can put the fingers of your right hand lightly on her nose, and then slide your thumb into her mouth -- and then pop the bit into her mouth and attach it to the nearside cheekpiece. Since she'll not have had a bridle put on in this way, she won't have any habits of avoidance.
Have practice sessions with her headcollar and a handful of treats -- hold up the headcollar so that she has to lower her head into it and put her nose through it to get her treat. Don't follow her head UP -- just keep your hand (and the treat, and the headcollar) low and let her figure it out. She will.
When she's quiet about this, you can go back to "normal" bridling, but leave the cavesson off for a while. You can hold the crownpiece and the throatlatch in your right hand, the bit in your left hand, and a treat in your left hand along with the bit. Bo will quickly learn that she needs to lower her head to get the treat, just as she did with the headcollar, and if the bridle goes on smoothly and quietly and doesn't hurt, she will think less and less about it as time goes by. When she is quiet and lowers her head readily, you'll be able to put the cavesson back on.
Good luck!
- Jessica
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