“Vibrating The Bit To Get The Give”
Horse training, as you know, is not an event.
Horse training is a process.
It has fairly logical steps that go from one to another.
One of the big keys in horse training is getting a horse to “give”.
In other words, when you lift a rein and slightly pull, his head comes the direction
of the pull.
A good give is when you pull the rein,
his head follows and you almost can’t feel the
rein pulling.
In a sense, it’s almost like his head
follows your arm like your shadow follows your
body on a sunny day.
Now THAT’S a give!
In talking to Horse trainer Kenny Scott
during his filming Kenny said this:
“The horse has to
give his chin before
he gives anything else.”
Amen.
Kenny went on to say, “We work from the
chin, through the jaw, up the neck, to his withers.”
This gets the body to arc and gets the
horse broke at the withers.
If you want to know more of Kenny’s
techniques, you can read about them by clicking
the following:
http://horsetrainingresources.
Eventually, Kenny uses that to get the
horse where he no longer uses his head for
balance – instead, his head becomes more like a
hood ornament…meaning he’s collected and balanced
and no longer needs his head for balance.
[Note that with the rider on, the horse’s normal
center of gravity has changed. The head becomes
less of a force than normal. However, if you’ve
ever watched cuttin’ horses you’d see where the
head a neck is still a major force.]
Anyway, since the chin is the place to
start, you may often have trouble getting that
chin.
If you do, here’s little secret.
Vibrate the bit.
Yep…vibrate it.
In other words, as you pull on the
rein a little and he’s not giving his chin,
vibrate the bit by shaking the rein.
You don’t shake it hard.
Just enough to make it uncomfortable.
As you do it, watch for the give.
Sometimes, the give may be so subtle
you’ll miss it.
Try not to miss it because the second
you get a try from your horse…quit.
Then let him think about it for a moment.
As he gets it, you can ask for more.
One of the reasons the vibrating bit
works is because it’s uncomfortable. Horses
don’t like to be uncomfortable. (How human-like!)
They will seek comfort. When they move
the direction you want and you cease vibrating
the bit, there’s the comfort.
Eventually they’ll understand, “Okay…when
I move my chin over here like he wants, then it’s
comfy. That’s what I’ll do.”
The good thing is it’s not painful unless
his teeth are needing help or if the vibrating
bit is too intense.
http://horsetrainingresources.
One thing to be aware of is you must have
patience with this.
DO NOT expect the horse to immediately
understand….
“Oh!…you want me to
move my chin over here?
Okay. I get it.”
You see, just because “YOU” know what
you want doesn’t mean your horse does.
He has to guess.
Give him time.
With some horses, it will seem like it
takes forever. You may think to yourself,
“Dumb horse.”
And sure as death and taxes, the second
you give up thinking it won’t work is the very
second the horse did what you asked…or was just
about to.
http://horsetrainingresources.
OK…That’s it for today. Stay safe out there!
Charlie
