I heard a nice young man yesterday tell someone to use a treat to solve her bridling problem and go on to describe how to do that.
The trouble is, the horse was scared witless, so a treat is never going to solve the problem. It might paper a thin veneer over the surface of the problem if the timing of her treat is REALLY good and it might make it possible to get the bridle on for a little while, but sooner or later that solution is going to bite her on the butt and it’s never going to solve that particular horse’s problem.
Never…
So how could she solve that horse’s bridling problem?
She has to LISTEN to the horse in the first place. She has to open up to understand the root CAUSE of the problem and solve it there.
And therein lies the answer to every problem, not just bridling.
You have to understand the root cause of a problem and solve it there.
What might that root cause be?
This is not a bitless bridle article, but Cynthia Cooper’s bitless bridle may well be an answer if the bit itself is what’s causing the horse’s issue with the bridle – photo above and link below.
It may be what happens AFTER the bridle goes on, that frightens the crap out of that nice little horse.
It may be that someone has twitched him or grabbed his ear to force him into compliance, so he’s sensitive about his ears and that old stress and tension needs releasing.
Or may be that the first person who put the bridle on wrestled it on, tricked him or otherwise scared the crap out of him and that stress and tension too, wants releasing.
It may be a painful bit. Educating ourselves around bits is worth a series of articles all by itself.
It could be a teeth problem, with the horse needing the dentist.
It may be a poorly fitting bridle that’s pulling on his mouth and hurting before she even picks up the reins. And yes folks if you were taught to have those two wrinkles in the corner of the mouth, then… like me… you were taught a load of crap. We can either discuss that in the comments or make it a topic for another day, because there’s a lot of detail in the “why” we don’t want those wrinkles in the corner of the horses mouth.
And here’s where I get even more blunt, but keep reading to see why I can get away with that. It may be that she has a shit pair of hands and shouldn’t be in a bitted bridle in the first place.
Why can I get away with that? Because … I… used to have a shit pair of hands and I found out how to solve the problem in such a way that not only do I have a beautiful seat and good hands even though I’m old/er now 🙂 and very unathletic, but I know how to find them again every time I get on a horse and I know what I have to do to get them back when I lose them. And you can learn how to find a beautiful riding seat that IS the source of good hands, in some of my on line programs.
Back to the bridling problem
These are only a tiny snapshot of things that might cause a horse to reject his bridle, but can you see why shoving a treat under the horse’s nose, no matter how well timed, isn’t going to solve ANY of those causes of a bridle problem?
One of my favorite sayings is that every problem is an opportunity for a deeper bond with your horse and bridling problems absolutely come into this category. Solving problems with a deeper bond is what we’re all about here.
If solving a bridling problem – indeed any problem – whilst at the same time creating a deeper bond with your horse appeals to you, then have a look at our training programs here. Start with the free lessons the 9 Keys to Happiness with Your Horse if you haven’t had them yet. There’s a few horse problems that you can start solving differently, right in those free lessons. And if you like this gentle and super considerate of the horse approach, then you can expand your skills and knowledge and join this wonderful community of like minded horse people by moving into the paid programs – which start at just $7 and range up to a bucket list type program.
Today’s feature photo is a dressage horse wearing Cynthia Cooper’s bitless bridle. I’m open to recommending others, but it’s the best bitless bridle I’ve come across and what I use at home. You can find more about them here.
Essentially unless your there when the horse goes from being fine one day to not the next, you’ll never be able to get to the root of the problem. It will be all just assumptions and guess work. Sometimes you need to gain trust and deal with the issues at hand.
I agree Sally that gaining trust is everything. It’s how we do that hey? When we gain trust by deep listening and being super considerate of the horse, that’s the way to get to the root of any problem more easily. Whether we ever actually KNOW what caused the problem or not, once we’ve checked for possible physical causes, we work with what presents itself in the moment, feeling into the horse’s needs, never forcing, waiting when we need to, taking the pressure off when we need to. And it’s possible using our techniques here (some of which we talk very basically about in the 9 Keys), to release even old trauma around an old bridling episode. And we can do that even if we don’t ever actually KNOW the original cause. I am guessing that’s what you mean when you talk about never being able to get to the root of the problem? That we can support our horse to let go the root of problem without ever actually KNOWING exactly what caused it??
Sally, I agree 150%.
Hi Jenny,
While I agree that the first thing to do is check that the horse is OK healthwise, that the bridle fits, etc. etc., I have to disagree about the first sentences of this blog article.
My own horse hated to be bridled because of his former owner turning him out with his halter on, halter caught on a feeder and horse freaked out. It also seems he was used to having the bit bang his teeth and hurt him in the process.
Anyway… I use a lot of clicker-training with my horses. By thin-slicing the whole bridling process and – yes – using treats to teach it, I taught it all again and my horse is perfectly happy to be bridled now. He actually perks up when the bridle comes out of the trunk of the car.
It’s not about treats or no treats, it’s about what you’re trying to do and how. Treats can be very useful to implement a desensitization/counter-conditioning protocol.
There is indeed a risk in using treats with a frightened animal because the animal might start to do the behavior to get the treat and realize all of a sudden they’ve jumped into the deep end and freak out.
That said, a very frightened horse will NOT take food. So, if the horse you are talking about traded off bridling for a treat, it probably means he wasn’t beside himself with fear in the first place. 🙂
I have been more and more lately loving differences of opinion Francois – so I welcome our difference! You must have a lovely set of hands, for your horse to be perking up when the bridle comes out. 🙂 I see you recognise the risks of freaking out happening with treating a frightened animal, so how do you manage the more subtle “something is still Not Quite Right” with the clicker?
It is not about my having a lovely set of hands ( thanks anyway), it is about successfully applying a desensitisation/counterconditioning protocol – which is certainly not about “a treat solving the problem” – give me a break and do try to not reduce the use of food in training to “treat-giving”! Think classical conditioning (plus operant conditioning when the horse actually learns to bridle himself, as does mine now).
As for making sure the horse is not getting over threshold, the point is to closely monitor his body language and act accordingly. This is true for ALL “methods” bar none. Mediocre trainers won’t do it right, whatever they believe in in the first place. And mediocre trainers will ruin horses, whether they use negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, punishment or whatever.
I certainly do not mind differences but I do find it hugely sad that people still can’t accept the fact that there are several ways to achieve things. Putting down other viewpoints as in “they won’t get you anywhere” does not sound very open-minded to me.
I agree 100% with Ian Dunbar, one of my favorite dog trainers – oops, he uses food for counterconditioning although he doesn’t use clicker-training, could it be that he is so dumb that his 50-year experience has not shown him he wasn’t getting anywhere? Anyway, what he says is that a very good trainer, whatever method they work with, will always be a better choice than a mediocre one. So let’s work together at getting better instead of criticizing other people.
I think we have crossed wires somewhere Francoise – I said “I have been more and more lately loving differences of opinion Francoise – so I welcome our difference”. I had to go back and re-read my article to see what offended you so much Francoise? And I still can’t see it? We have a few very senior clicker trainer / teachers of clicker training, on Fast Track. With our method, my horses work off my thoughts quite often and always have the chance to do so, before I asked in a physical way, so although I don’t use clicker myself and don’t see myself needing it – at the moment anyway – never say never though. I am certainly not anti clicker.
Back to this horse in the article. It was terrified and from what I’ve seen, without addressing that fear properly, that fear would be waiting to bite someone on the butt later. WHY was it terrified? Fix that, is what I’m saying. And that’s easy to do. I hear you, we don’t need to KNOW what happened, but when we’re sensitive to the horse’s communication (which I know you are from previous communication), we can see at what stage the tension starts to rise and solve that tension at each baby step. When we use our Feel to notice the tension, instead of our eyes, we’ll be solving each step of the problem earlier and that will make it possible to help a horse a lot faster. In my experience it is completely possible to reverse an old trauma that has caused such terror in a horse and reverse it in such a way that it is as if it never existed. Gosh I’ve got on my soapbox and I didn’t mean to, I’m so passionate about the possibilities in trauma release and my observation was that this little horse was traumatised.
Thanks for your unsolicited endorsement of my LightRider Bitless Bridle Jenny.
And for your frank words that it’s rarely (although sometimes can be) about the equipment we use.
It’s the relationship we have with our horses that counts and your programs are a wonderful place to start and continue to build those relationships.
Had a little chuckle here Cynthia! It certainly can be about the equipment we use, hey? And THAT’s not going to be fixed by a treat either! <3