Does Your Horse Have a Hard Mouth or Hard Mind?

 needs to move back and forth and from side to side to chew his food properly. If his teeth are not allowing his jaw to do this, it will cause him pain even though you may not be pulling on him and your equipment is comfortable.

If he has had an injury to his mouth you should be prepared to change how you handle his mouth to help him out. An understanding of how different bits work on different parts of his mouth will help you decide how to make him more comfortable

Often hard mouthed horses will lean on the bit. If you give him nothing to lean on he will stop trying. Soften your “contact” to a “feel” and do not allow him to balance on you.

To make you horse soft you may have to get harder than he is. Your pull can be intense but the duration of your pull must be short. When asking your horse to soften up you must ask him to respond with just a feel. This amounts to holding the reins with your thumb and index finger and picking up the reins until you feel the bit. Your horse does not need to be on the bit, rather you want to just have enough tension that the reins are taut but not tight. If he does not respond to your request then start closing your fingers which increases the tension on the reins. If you still get no response then gently pull back on the reins. And if he is still unwilling to listen, brace your elbows on your side and lean back and use your body to make yourself too strong for him to run through. He must learn that you are offering a better deal. If he does not accept your offer he will also learn that he will run into a wall — the wall being an increased amount of pressure from you. Repeat this process and be very deliberate with each increase in pressure. Give him time to respond, there is a lag time after you offer a cue so do not be too quick to go to the next level of pressure. You need to wait for a commitment from him, either to respond however slightly (reward) or ignore you entirely and keep going (increase pressure).

You will also need to notice and reward a smaller effort. If you feel him respond in the slightest to your offer, make a big deal over it. Once you get an initial try from your horse you should get softer each and every time you ask. When you ask for less with less you will be more aware of a slight response from your horse. You will essentially be more in tune with your horse. Your horse as a result will become more in tune with you.

It does not matter if you are asking for a stop or trying to get him on the bit. If he softens, you soften more. If he resists, you get stronger than he is. You must always be either softer or stronger than he is but never the same.