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Tales from the Horse's Mouth: Part Two - Page 3

© Sally White

The first time, I leave the bridle on with the bit in for about half an hour, staying close and making a fuss of the horse. You will find that he will toss his head, open his mouth wide, stick his tongue out, try to bite the bit - in fact everything he can to let you know that this is a really strange thing in his mouth! Don't worry - he will get used to it and settle down in time. After half an hour, even if he is still fooling around with it, slip the bridle off gently and without fuss, taking especial care to avoid the bit hitting his teeth on the way out.

Some feed the horse with the bit in as a way of associating pleasant experiences with having the bridle and bit on. Well - it may work for some, but I've found that not only does it mean you are trying to put bridle and bit in while the horse is waiting for his feed (never a good time to do anything new, in my experience) - but also the feed gets stuck in between bit, teeth, rings and lips, making it far more difficult for the bit to rest easily and comfortably in the horse's mouth.

I usually repeat this process about three times a week, until the horse is happily accepting the bit and staying calm. This usually takes a couple of weeks: then you can start putting on the bridle with the bit attached on both sides, as for an adult horse, followed by adding the browband and noseband. Your horse should now be accepting this as a normal part of his routine.

With good preparation and care, you will have a horse who will happily accept bit and bridle every day of his life, without complaint, trusting you and willing to go forward with you to the next step. And you can't ask for a much better start to a business partnership than that!

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The first article in this series, Tales from the Horse's Mouth: Part One, deals with preparing your horse for accepting the bit for the first time.

A bit is your horse's first encounter with tack

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