Greedy horse out hacking

[olderyetwider]

Nell, our Belgian Draught mare, is the perfect ride for my novice husband; she's safe, sensible, confident, not too forward going but responsive etc, she's a real confidence giver in every respect and I also love riding her, except for one thing.

She is such a greedy horse and will get her head down to graze if she gets the chance. She also snatches mouthfulls from hedges etc as she passes (she can do it at canter, which is quite impressive!) It means that your arms and shoulders get pulled quite baddly, and she's very strong. She also sometimes stops dead when something especially tasty appears.

When I ride I try to anticipate what will tempt her and push forward and she's better with me than DH, but we're both fed up with it.

I have thought about putting a drop noseband on her so she can't open her mouth. Do you think this would cure the behaviour, or make her resentful and cause worse behaviour?

Any thoughts or other suggestions gratefully received!

[Callisto]

A flash noseband would be better at keeping her mouth closed and would also give you better brakes.

To me she doesn't sound at all perfect and personally, this would really piss me off (especially the stopping dead to eat - a cardinal sin in my world) so I would carry a whip and give her a wallop whenever she does it. It should sort her out pretty quickly.

[olderyetwider]

She does get a wallop when she does it, and gives up quite readily when you push her forward. I'm thinking flash (was what I meant, one of those adaptor things and a strap) so she can't eat, backed up with a whack to reinforce, so she might decide it's not worth trying.

Apart from this she is lovely, if we ride on the road with no foliage in reach she is heaven, the stopping dead isn't that frequent, and it is teaching DH to concentrate and anticipate when riding! He loves her very, very dearly so it would be lovely to get it sorted.

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

DD used to ride her pony in a grazing muzzle! Worth a try?

[olderyetwider]

at grazing muzzle! maybe if flash doesn't work!

[LowRegNumber]

I have not yet met a horse that cannot eat with a flash on. Thet can't really be tightened enough to stop eating witout being painful and restricting breathing. They may stop them having a good old chew but it won't stop a horse getting a mouthful in teh first place.

[frostyfingers]

You could try grass reins - I fashioned some for naughty pony out of thin dog leads which worked fine.

[Callisto]

I disagree LowRegNumber. Most of the horses I ride have flash nosebands and they certainly can't get a mounthful of food in. The only way the flash would restrict breathing is if the cavasson noseband is too low, which would be uncomfortable and incorrectly fitted.

I think it is far more humane to use a correctly fitted flash with snaffle than a massive piece of metal with a plain cavasson.

Older - what sort of whip do you use? The wide, flat racing whips are really effective because they make a good wallop noise as well as giving a bit of pain. Do you swear and get cross? You also might consider spurs? Only if you feel you won't be jabbing her in the sides at every pace though (and not for your novice husband).

[LowRegNumber]

Callisto, actually I agree about breathing, I was being a bit dramatic possibly. However in order for them not to get a sneaky mouthful the flash would have to be very tight under the chin and would be uncomfortable. Certainly all of ours who have them fitted stand and grab a mouthful when they are waiting at gates or in a stable waiting to be ridden etc. A flash is not designed to stop eating it is designed to stop a horse avoiding the bit.
I was not implying that a flash was inhumane or that I would use a stronger bit in place of a flash, why do you think I was?

Op, it is worth a try but I would not expect miracles is all I am saying.

[Earthdog]

I use a net muzzle, you can get them from Rideaway I think?. Stops my horses grabbing mouthfuls of tree when I ride in the woods..

[Earwigging]

Grass reins will help with the grass eating, won't stop him eating hedges though!

You can use baler twine, it goes through the d rings on the front of the sadde, along the neck, down through the browband and each end ties onto the bit rings on each side iyswim?

[MitchiestInge]

I think we need a thread to celebrate the many uses of baling twine, it's as if there is literally NOTHING it can't solve!

[olderyetwider]

Callisto, big flat eventing 'bat' for her and I growl at her as well (not allowed to swear as village v. posh and DH would also be offended on her behalf) Couldn't use spurs as never have and too old to learn now. I think we'll try the grass reins idea, snatching from hedges isn't too bad as she rarely breaks stride for that

Baler twine is the business, We've just made a great rug rail with bailer twine and drainpipe hung from rafters of stable!

[Callisto]

I totally love baler twine, though I draw the line at using it as a belt...

Sorry Lowreg - I didn't mean to imply that you thought flash nosebands were inhumane. My hatred of people shoving half a ton of metal in their horse's mouth instead of riding correctly kind of spilt over in to this convo without me noticing.

[LowRegNumber]

no worries! I was just concerned as I feel similar to you. Having just tried out a small tack shop of bits for our new horse and come back to "loose ring snaffle and more leg" as the solution to his problems I would be upset if people thought I was a "shove a gag in" type!

Also a fan of baler twine - except when it is hanging around a bale and stopping me getting flaps off properly (because the bales have been placed with the knots underneath [grr])

[olderyetwider]

Daisy rein worked a treat! She was a bit puzzled when she couldn't get her head down, but not really trying it much after a few attempts.

Just need a more elegant solution than baler twine now.

[frostyfingers]

Naughty pony worked out that if he yanked hard he could pull the saddle forward and still reach the ground - he's very wide and has a flat wither so small child would be teetering on the edge! Problem solved by using a crupper - that really foxed him!

Thin dog leads worked or you could look at these....

www.rideaway.co.uk/shires-daisy-rein/default.aspx