Help With A Pelham

[Possum]

Very small (5'2), light 16-yr-old friend of mine has just bought a pony, who is known to be 'naughty' until sussed out by a new rider. He's a 14.2 New Forest.
His saddle fits, his back and teeth have been checked / done, etc.

He was barging off, and running away in the snaffle, which he's worn for years, so I suggested a pelham, as I know the pony reponds well to one, and is used to one (previous owners are friends of mine, they use a pelham for XC with him).

He is also lazy, and nappy, again until the rider has sussed him out!.

So - she has good hands, and her faults are all excessive kindness - not of severity!.

Anyway - the pelham worked nicely for hacking, and the new owner is becoming confident. Stll needs persuaing to KEEP the pelham, as all interfering friends say 'its harsh' it'll hurt him, you shouldnt use 2 reins if you're not used to it, etc etc.

And worked nicely at the first show - 4th in the Show Jumping.

Its a small port-mouth straight bar pelham.

BUT in the Riding Club Pony class - he got his tongue over the bit (and then went VERY overbent)

So - why would he do this?


Could it be becuase he was scoffing grass just before going in to the ring?

I managed to stick his tongue back into the right place, and he didnt do it again.

The bit does fit.
 

[Heather]

HI Issy,

Could be that he is just trying out a new evasion- sounds like a highly intelligent little monkey who is using every wile he can think of! If he does this again, although preferably not in the ring!- tell her to lift her hands, lightly but quickly, not sharply or roughly in any way, and back it up with theleg to send him forward. This nearly always works, may need repeating a few times. Paul Belasik did this at his clinic, as many of the hroses were working far too deep in a snaffle, never mind a curb, and it iw what i have alwys done with overbent horses, as there didn't seem any other way of preventing it, and reestablishing a correct head carriage.

I am told that if you work the horse through from behind enough, with lots of transitions, eventually the head will come back up to the right place, but this doesn't seem to be very evident in a lot of competition dressage! There are still plenty of them well behind the vertical in pics in H and H every single week! I find that using the lifting hands quickly and backing it up with the leg, works better than anything, and if Paul's clinic was anything to go on, where all horses bar two improved out of all recognition, and that was not his fault- one was a rider who wouldn't listen, the other the horse did not appear to be fully sound.

Heather

[Possum]

Would that get his tondue back under the bit, though? I dont think it WOULD have - it took a bit of persuasion from person on the ground for the tongue to go back.......  

And WHY does the tongue go over anyway - he doesnt NORMALLY do this?
 

[Possum]

Yes - hes a bright little beggar. Can work quite nicely - but after not doing TOO much over the last year, and being rather 'round' - he doesnt really see WHY he should do as he's told (or ANYTHING, come to that)

 

[Sarah]

Tango used to put her tongue over the bit when she got excited, but she soon realised that really is wasn't too comfy and stopped doing it.  It might just be the change in mouthpiece that makes your horse do that and with time he too will realise that there is a more comfy place to put your tongue!

bye!

[Heather]

Hi issy,

I have sometimes founf that horse do put their tongue more easily over a mullen mouth bit, but they usually soon forget about it. I used to makea  big thing about it myself, but once I realised that often they are jsut experimenting with a nwe mouthpiece, tended to leave it and the problem has nearly in every case disappeared the more the horse settled to work.

Heather

[Possum]

oh, thanks. He seems to have only done it the once, at the first ever show, aftyer munching grass.

And the rider is now a LOT more confident - but I thionk I'll make her stick to the pelham for a second month. (shes now owned him 5 weeks)