Are You Making This Deadly Mistake To Put Your Horse On The Bit?

Are You Making This Deadly Mistake To Put Your Horse On The Bit?

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One of the biggest mistakes you can make when riding your horse is to saw left and right on your horse's mouth or to vibrate both reins to get him "on the bit".

If you "saw" on your horse's mouth by alternating squeezing and releasing with your hands or wiggle on the bit, you're riding your horse from front to back. He might look like he's "on the bit" because his head is down and his nose is on the vertical, but you don't have an honest connection from back to front.

The only part of your horse's body that you can affect by wiggling or sawing is his jaw. Moving the bit in his mouth encourages him to chew. When he chews, he flexes in the jaw.

So, if all you do is play with the bit, all you have control over is a flexed jaw. You can't control the rest of your horse's body.

Also, if you just flex his jaw, your horse will "come off the bit" when you ask him to do anything different like a transition from gait to gait, a change of bend, a transition within a gait, or a transition from riding on a single track to doing lateral movements.

The reason he "comes off the bit" is that he was never on the bit to begin with. All you had control over was a flexed jaw.

But don't despair. It's actually quite simple to put your horse on the bit if you know the combination of aids to do it. Basically, all you have to do is combine your driving aids, your bending aids, and your rein of opposition (the outside rein) for the length of time it takes you to inhale and exhale. That's about three seconds.

So, to put your horse honestly on the bit, close both legs to add power from behind as if you're doing a lengthening. When your horse "arrives" at your outside hand, close that hand in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle the power back to the hind legs. Do this for 3 full seconds.

THEN, lastly you can vibrate or squeeze on the inside rein for two reasons:

1. To keep his neck straight (so it doesn't bend to the outside).
2. To move the bit, and ask him to flex in the jaw.

So the point is that you should never do with two hands what you can do with one hand (move the bit). And you have the other hand left over for the more important job of recycling power back to the hind legs.

Think of it as driving your horse forward first and then patting your head and rubbing your stomach. Create energy and then do something different with each hand.

About the Author:
Jane Savoie was the reserve rider for the US Olympic Dressage Team in 1992. She has coached at 3 Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens. Jane has written 6 books on training and sports psychology. Go here to learn more about how to put your horse on the bit



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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