[BlingRacer]

How far along in his training do you think a western horse should be before transitioning to from snaffle to curb?

Xander is already way behind as he is 7, almost 8, and has only really been in training for about 3 months. He was broke as a 4yr old, turned out to pasture 2yrs, rode another 30 days lightly, turned out for another year, and then about 3 months ago we started seriously riding him.

Obviously he's too old to show in a snaffle, so I'd like to get him in a curb as soon as possible but I also don't want to rush it. I'd like to do some walk trot classes with him at least in order to get him some show ring exposure. At the moment, I'm limited to taking him to schooling shows that will allow me to ride two handed despite his age (he supposed to go to his first schooling show on Oct 31.)

Do you feel a horse should be pretty closed to "finished out" before making the transition? I don't want to switch too soon and mess him up. He walks and trots very nicely, stops and backs on a loose rein, maintains a level neck and vertical flexion with minimal contact most of the time, sidepasses, turns on his forehand, turns on his hindend (though not perfectly yet), and understands two tracking relatively well. He walks and trots fairly nice circles.

However, he still needs a lot of work at the lope. I didn't lope him much at all until about 6 weeks ago. He's still not 100% solid on leads yet and doesn't have nearly the control or self-carriage at the lope that he does at the walk and trot.

He's a big guy, 16.2 at least, and when we first started loping, he was very discombobulated. Rather than trying to fuss with him about his speed or head position, I really just wanted him to lope a LOT until he figured out what to do with his legs and how to balance himself.

At first, he was very chargey and somewhat high headed, but I didn't fuss with him about that....I just kept loping him for a few weeks, and he sort of slowed down and relaxed all on his own as he got used to carrying himself.

Now he lopes pretty quietly, though he still is keeping his neck a bit too high and not giving me as much flexion through the poll as he does as other gaits. I don't want to mess with his mouth too much though because he's very very soft mouthed and I don't want him to develop any problems with OVER-flexing (which he will do if you are not very soft handed.) I'm hoping that if I just keep loping him a lot he will build up strength, become more comfortable, and then will in turn become more responsive through his jaw than he is now.

Should I wait until his lope is a little more balanced and correct before switching him? Right now, he's in an eggbutt french link snaffle.

ETA: For those who don't know, he's an all around open show prospect....WP, HUS, Trail, horsemanship, etc.

[GottaRide]

It sounds like you are doing everything right so far along.

I also have a project horse that needed to move quickly from snaffle to curb because of his age. I have some videos of our progress on youtube - video playlist. I should really get a new video with our loping work because he is now riding in the curb at w/j/l.

I would put this horse in a curb bit right now. A correction bit or spoon bit is what I normally use. You will probably find that you need to go back & forth between the snaffle & the curb for a while when you first transition (sometimes even within the same work out session). I was at the point where I was doing all of our workouts in the curb but showing in the snaffle (I was lucky because he's a 5 yr old!). Now all of our workouts are still in the curb and he's ready to show in the curb as well.

You can work on your lope in the curb bit just as you would in the snaffle. The only thing to remember is to use your hands differently because of the curb. The rest of the stuff that you work on to finish the lope is the same as if you were using a snaffle.

Don't be afraid to use your hands if you need them. If he's soft mouthed right now, he'll stay soft mouthed. Softness doesn't actually happen in the mouth - it happens in the body. My horse was over-flexing as well, but as he progressed in his training with the curb, he also flattened out his neck. It wasn't something I focused specifically. When they learn to carry themselves properly & gain the strength to do so, the head & neck are no longer an issue.

[Red roan rider1]

My horse will be 9 in January. I still ride him 90% of the time in a twist snaffle. I show in a California Pleasure curb bit. I think it is beneficial to do most training/work sessions in a snaffle and then show in a curb bit. I found that when I was riding mostly in the curb bit I lost some of the softness and suppleness. Plus its just way easier to do the bending, flexing and all of thoes exercises in a snaffle.

[BlingRacer]

Thanks for the advice. I walked/trotted him in a short shank correction bit a couple of day ago and he seemed ok with it, but I didn't want to push my luck by asking for the lope. Maybe I'll give it a try again next time.

[GotaDunQH]

I think he's definitely ready for a shanked bit....and I too, like the correction bits. I show my horse in a correction and every now and then a spoon. I use a different bit every time I ride my horse....I switch between a twisted wire snaffle, medium port grazer, correction, and spoon mouth. Ride him a few times a week in the bit you mentioned....two handed, then go back to the snaffle and so on. And don't be afraid to lope him in that shanked bit...keeping in mind that you now have shanks and a curb strap, so the feel will be different to him.

Jennifer


Jennifer