Hi this is Will Faerber and Karen Loshbaugh from Art2Ride here with our horse Zoolander. Today we are going to start our Q&A sessions on video. We have been answering a lot of questions from people who view our videos around the world by typing them out and I thought it would be much more informative if we had a dialogue about the question itself.

The first question is: How do you get the horse on the bit? I think for a lot of people it is really confusing and I remember going through this stage too. How much pressure do you have? Should it be the weight of the rein? Should it be 20lbs of pressure? So the basic question is: How do you get a horse on the bridle? What you have to understand is what has to take place before you can get the horse on the bridle. Understand that a horse can only be on the bridle in a position that allows it’s back to connect the entire length of it’s topline from the poll all the way to the dock of it’s tail. If anything is out of line, if we engage the neck over to one side too far or if we have the neck up too high, anything that short circuits the horse’s ability, then the horse is never going to develop correctly.

The first thing that we have to talk about when we want to get a horse on the bridle is to first just get it to accept the contact with the bit. In a young horse for example, we put a bit in it’s mouth and correctly adjust the bridle and then put a halter or cavesson on to lunge till the horse is simply quiet in the mouth. You never want to touch a horse’s mouth until it’s developed  soft acceptance of the bridle in it’s mouth. Once you do that, then we find the position of the topline that allows it to flex at the poll. If the horse is hollow in the back and we raise the head up and try to flex it, it won’t be able to do it. That is why we very often end up with a break in the third vertebrae, which Karen will now explain.

Between the second and third vertebrae there is already a little gap, more so than the others. When there is pressure that is put on, this is the space that will start to stretch. You will actually be stretching out those tendons and ligaments and the gap between those two vertebrae become wider. It’s not really a break, but people tend to call it that because horses necks look pointed there giving the appearance of a break. It is of course tendons and ligaments though which is why it is so hard to correct and it takes so long to build those tendons and ligaments back and close that gap. So once again, first we have to get the horse to accept contact with the bit, meaning that the horse is okay with having the bit in it’s mouth. The mouth should stay closed, the horse should not be afraid of the bit and so when you touch the reins the horse gives and softens to contact and does not brace against it. What I see a lot is horses bracing against it and then people pull back, then if they can’t get the job done they go into drawreins to try and force it over.  Understand that that will never solve your problem. If the horse is broken in the neck it’s like having a short circuit. If I am trying to call you and there is a short in the circuit you can’t hear me and it’s the same thing in the horse, so once that break is there he is tuning you out. We have to find that level of the head and neck, long and low, that allows the horse to engage it’s entire topline, then you will have no problem at all softening the mouth of the horse.

The horse also needs to be energized from behind and coming into the bridle instead of pulling the head back to the person. The front end is fixed, it can’t flex, only the back end can change by stepping deeper and rounding the back and ultimately collecting by lowering the three joints of the hind legs. It’s amazing how many upper level riders that I talk to can’t answer the question: What is collection? One of the biggest things I have learned is it never feels like force. If you actually build a horse up, they actually come on the bit and into collection without the fighting and pulling and a tug of war. The horse will easily come up into it if you take the time and develop them properly. So take your time, get the horse to accept the contact with the bit, lunging in nice long side reins (as shown in our videos) till the horse’s mouth is quiet seeing a nice foam forming and nice softening of the contact before any contact is made. You would be better off just riding the horse forward leaving the mouth alone then trying to force it. If you’re having to go to stronger bits and more drawreins and devices to get that to happen, you’re on the wrong track. That track is you’re not allowing the head and neck to be low enough to allow the back to come up so that the horse can soften at the poll.

Thank you so much for joining us! This is Will Faerber and Karen Loshbaugh from Art2Ride, we hope this helps and we will see you next time!

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