Fix the issue

One of the girls at the barn was having issues with her gelding. She said he was and has, "pushed thru the bit" as she called it. I didn't see what was going on and of course there's no video because we can't be on both sides of the lens, but she asked me to work him in the long lines and see what he's doing and what I suggest to do to fix it.

First off I put him back in a snaffle. I had worked him once before in it and he did well then, so why shouldn't he now? She wants to do barrels on him at some point and had been using a bit that worked for her with her other horse.... A we all know, when it comes to horses and training- What works for some, don't work for one and what works for one, doesn't always work for some.

Another thing I did was to drop the bit one hole on both sides of the headstall. No wonder he puts his head up freakishly high when bridling... Also this give the horse the release when you release the reins or lines.  Sometimes she loans her bridle out or uses it on other horses and forgets to adjust it to the horse it is on. 

When he started off in the lines, he would give to the bit and turn his neck, but his body didn't follow. This was the problem she was having when she tried to long line him in the round pen. I used my inside line to pop him in the rear end and push it to the outside. This causes the front end to come into the turn the direction you want the horse to go. When I popped him with the line, he reacted a bit and went forward into the trot. She reacted too, saying that she seen he obviously needed that, but admitted she was hesitant to do it, almost afraid he would do something she wasn't ready for and then not sure how to fix that either. As he went into the trot, he was allowed to keep it as long as he was moving in balance.

I would tug on the inside rein and keep him on the circle and release when he responded. He stayed on the circle and was tracking up in frame, balanced and looking great. I slowed him back down to a walk and turned him around. A slight tug on the outside rein and he changed directions with ease.  When it came to the stops the first few took a little bit to get, but once he figured out that I would give him cues to set him up for the stop before asking him to actually stop, he started to really dial in the part about listening to me and what I was asking of him.

With my own horses, I have started to give them cues of what is to come next. It helps us both to prepare for it, before it comes. I make a softer, higher pitched whuuup a few times then a lower toned whoa. The whuuups let the horse know the whoa is coming and be prepared to stop. With my ponyman, he hears the whuups and starts to shut it down, no matter the gait. With her horse, once he figured it out, he started to slow things down  for the stop.  We quit on a good stop without any use of the reins.

What followed was an exchange between us and another boarder. This is what inspired the previous post abut opinions. The thing is, this person talks a lot about training, but only about half of what they say makes any sense at all.  After they had added their two cents to the conversation, my friend expressed her opinion about how the other boarder doesn't have a clue.  She doesn't take their advice because from everything she has seen of their horse- It's not all that.