On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 09:34:47AM -0400, Gale Dunn wrote: > I have been following this thread on bits and leverage and benn > disappointed that no firm recomendations have been made. > [...] > Any advise would be helpful.
at my barn we have a saying: "bits don't stop horses. horses stop horses. or not." so my suggestion is not that you change your bit, but that you do a lot of schooling on "walk on" and "whoa" and "easy" (slow down within a gait without breaking). start in hand, on foot, with a lead line, until all these things are boring and easy. then go to the saddle, in a ring, wearing a bit, but still relying primarily on voice commands. start at a walk. once that is boring and easy, try other gaits. then do the same thing out of the ring. then out of the ring with one other slow, reliable horse. build it up. and good luck. a lot of horses just like to run together, and to be in front; i think this is part of the herd instinct. but i also think the way to control it is through training your horse to listen to your gentle aids, not to make your aids stronger either by giving yourself blisters or using a harsher bit. --vicka
