15th May - Snaffle

I've been having an email correspondence with Bento on a couple of points.  One of which is snaffles versus double bridles.  I sent him this email:

1. Snaffle vs Double Bridle

Xaile appears to really dislike snaffles.  As soon as I put the bridle on he starts fiddling with the bit, he tilts his head from side to side and lowers and raises his head.  It’s almost like he is trying to get a grip on the bit.  He is very difficult to ride in a snaffle.  It’s like he can’t think about anything else other than the bit.  He’s constantly chewing on it and changing the angle of his head.  He also becomes very spooky and nervous.

When I went to try him at Pedro Farto’s yard he was in a double bridle.  And whilst his head carriage was far from consistent or stable it wasn’t awful.  I tend to ride him in a double now because he seems so much more relaxed and happy in one.

However, in England the culture is very much against using anything other than snaffles.  Also if I want to compete at the lower levels of dressage he obviously has to go in a snaffle.

So I was wondering what your opinion is?  Should I persist with trying to get him happy with a snaffle (I’ve tried many different ones and have failed to find one he likes)?  Or should I stick with the double bridle and wait to compete till he is ready to compete at elementary?  If I try to get him used to the snaffle are there any things I could do to make him happier?

This was his reply:

About your questions, I only can give my opinion and I do not feel at all as an expert. I am just what I am with my single experience...

1. Snaffle vs double:

I could never really know what is better as bit for the horses I have to train. Often I find the solution as an accident (the horse's bridle needs reppair and I have to try another). Often the most confortable situation for the horse is not what we tend to think it will be...

If he feels better with the double, just keep it!!

As he gets  better by the traning process, you should become able to get the same easyness with anything (simple snaffle or double).

Ususaly I tend to keep only the snaffle until having the flying changes, half-passes and the beggining of piaff / passage.

When I ride with double, even advanced horses, at least once in the week I use only the snaffle to confirm submission. Details will be "naked" with just the snaffle, those issues, the double will help me to fix the following days.

My rather waffly reply:

Thank you so much for your reply.  Your answers are very interesting.  On the subject of bridles, I am glad that you feel that as he gets better he'll accept a snaffle.  (Incidentally I think he's getting better surprisingly quickly.  A dressage riding friend of mine (who has tried and failed to help me and Xaile in the past) came by to see him on Saturday.  She thinks that you are a magician!)  You have sort of confirmed something that I have thought for a while, but not wanted to admit.  The double is masking things, especially his lack of submission.  I think I shall do as you say, and continue with the double for a while. Maybe Marcia will be able to advise me when it would be wise to try the snaffle again?  Mind you, maybe trying it once a week anyway would be a good plan as it might show me how we are progressing!

In return:

I would really go once in the week with just snaffle!

So today I decided to ride him in a snaffle.  I thought long and hard about the actual snaffle I'd use.  In the end I went for the hanging cheek Myler.  I chose it because I feel he really dislikes the nutcracker action of a normal snaffle and it seems the most similar to the mouth piece of a weymouth (though it doesn't have a port).  I also went against years of snobbish aversion to flash nosebands.  I'd always thought that if he was truly submitting it shouldn't take a noseband to keep his mouth shut.  I still think this, but I'm very conscious that he feels safer and braver in the double so I want to replicate the feeling as much as possible and I felt that the flash might feel a bit like a curb chain.

 It might have been a bad choice to ride in a snaffle after yesterday's slightly difficult day but as I'd resolved the problem yesterday I thought it would be ok.  Sidney was due to have his shoes off at lunch time so I brought both of them in together to give Xaile half an hour or so in a stable to deflate.  He hated this and got very wound up.  He got even more furious when I turned Sid back out.  So I decided to lunge him before riding, I thought this would give him a chance to get used to the new bridle too.  He walked purposefully but calmly to the school which was most encouraging.  He lunged quietly and rather lazily, but did seem a bit stiff through his neck and jaw on his right side.  

As he was so sensible I got on quite quickly.  He was back to his normal quiet self to mount.  He walked off quietly but with his ears pricked, this is normally a bad sign as it tends to mean he's thinking about things other than schooling.  But today it didn't seem to be in a bad way, they were soft and he looked happy rather than manic. 

We started off with some flexions on a very loose rein.  He relaxed quickly and worked very nicely.  In fact he was very similar to how he is in his double.  I don't know if it means that the schooling is working, or that the flash was a genius idea, but he was great.

I worked on yesterday's problem that he interpreted a flexion as an aid for trot and this improved.   I did lots of transitions between and within paces and changes of rein to keep him listening and soft.

I discovered that if he became tight and hollow it was generally because I was fiddling with my hands rather than thinking about my position.  So I concentrated very hard on keeping my hands still and my position.  The more I concentrated on me the better he went.

The non-mirror end of the school still seemed to be a problem in his mind.  Initially I could only get him to approach it in shoulder in and struggled to stop him hollowing and rushing away from it.  So to start with I avoided it and worked in his comfort zone to get him soft and listening.  Then I worked towards it in a series of circles. Then coming away from it I halted in the top corner and walked away, halting frequently and doing lots of 10 m circles.  After repeating this a few times I found I could trot straight up to the end, admittedly it was a tense trot but it was straight; and walk away without having to halt or circle.

I only did a small amount of canter work but the first transition was surprisingly good- he didn't leap at all.  He was a bit stiff on the right rein and seemed more inclined to bend his neck from the whithers and the poll rather than smoothly.

Generally I was thrilled with him and didn't want to get off.  Good boy.  Oh, and he looks really handsome in the flash... I meant to take a photo but it started raining again and I forgot.

I need to ask either Marcia or Bento (or both) whether I should carry on with the snaffle or go back to the double tomorrow.