Dear Martha,
Hi my name is Kay and I have a 6 year old barrel horse. He has developed a problem of when we go to turn the barrel he wants to shake and sling his head. He does it on the third one the worst. I use a tie down on him and a Hackamore gag bit. I have changed bits and even used a Jim Warner hackamore on him but had no control. I had his teeth floated and had him vet checked and no problems. Would you have any suggestions that I might could try.
Thank you,
Kay
Dear Kay,
If he were mine, I would go back to the basics and refresh his memory. He has forgotten how to respond to your hands and feet, possibly because you are asking too much of him with his present education. Maybe you’ve gone too fast too soon. I would put him back in a ring snaffle and work lots of circles ( big ones, small ones) and lots of transitions until he responds lightly and willingly to your hands. After he listens away from the barrels, then you can go back to the barrels and start out slowly making sure he understands each and every step and performs it perfectly before moving up in speed. Try using a light gag bit and a german martingale instead of a tiedown. That will help him learn to get his head in the proper place himself instead of forcing it into position by tying it down. Let me know how things are going.
Martha Wright
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