Horse & Rider USA – September 2019

Fall 2019 / 49

Keep your horse from getting overbridled and

under the bit by checking out tips from leading

trainers at HorseandRider.com.

Learn more...

PHOTOS BY KARI DECASTRO

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everything to his face, using
your legs. Some horses are more
sensitive, so you can’t use your
spurs as much. But I always want
to be able to put my spurs on
them. I use my feet a lot more
than some other people, so it’s
really important to me to use
my spurs—not as a weapon, but
something to teach them with.

Five

You want to keep your hands
alive when using a snaffle.

What I mean by that is that

you’ll see people with a snaffle

always hanging on their horse’s

mouths. If you just hang on

your horse, he’s never getting

that release he needs to under-

stand what you’re asking. That

makes for a pushy, resistant

horse. Keeping your hands alive

means moving them left and

right—not big moves, but sub-

tle, light moves—instead of just

hanging and pulling. It’s little

movements that work the bit

across the tongue and on the

sides of his mouths. You can’t

out-pull a horse, so you’ve got

to figure out how to keep him

connected to your hands.

Six

There’s a fine line with a

snaffle, and you’ve got to be

careful not to allow your horse

to get behind one—or any

bridle—where his feet aren’t

connected to kis face. When

your horse is behind the bridle,

it’s dangerous because you

might need to pull to stop or

turn, but your horse will just

bring his nose into his chest or

shoulder, rather than backing

off and respecting you. He’s

got to have a stop point in

their face. If I pull and his head

goes straight to his chest, my

horse can’t turn with the cow.

There’s got to be a spot where

that pull gets to a certain spot

that he has to be connected

and stop with his feet. If he

puts his head on his chest and

keeps running, that won’t be

a very good situation most of

the time. 