Are you feeling that something isn’t quite right with your horse?
Perhaps you’ve noticed training isn’t progressing, or your horse just isn’t feeling as cooperative as before, or started showing some bit evasions, and you’re not sure where to start your investigation or bit choice.
Sometimes evasions can creep in slowly and we dismiss them as ‘oh he’s just being naughty’ or ‘he’s just tired’ and we actually miss the first subtle indications that something isn’t right.
Horses aren’t vocal signallers, they will use body language to communicate. That repeated tail swish, head tilt or open mouth can be an indication of discomfort, confusion or perhaps even just tiredness.
Some bit evasions can be highly visible, some may start with just an unsettled feeling down the rein and escalate from there.
If you’re in this situation and want to make a decision about what to do, a good place to start is to make a journal of all the issues you’re experiencing. By writing a diary of events it can help you keep track of development, timings and possible causes. Include things like weather conditions, the exercises you did, when the evasion started, was it just at certain point, or constant etc. this will give you a baseline to start from and perhaps show you a pattern of behaviour.
If you are thinking of making changes, do one thing at a time. If you change your bridle, trial that for a few weeks, if no improvements then consider your bit choice. Make notes of any improvements and changes. It may turn out that your horse prefers a certain type of bit, or perhaps a better fitting bridle. Whatever you change first, always make sure you give your horse enough time to adapt to the new equipment, remember – they are learning too.
