Hi Jessica! Thanks for all the great advice and training tips you're
kind enough to give us. As a first time horse owner, I feel much better knowing there's a handy source for answers to my myriad questions. It was wonderful meeting you at the clinic at HAHS this spring. I wish I could've stayed to see you work with the colt. Also, my vet thinks your first aid kit list is SUPER!
On to the reason I'm writing...My two-yr-old Morgan filly, Illusion is very shy about having things touch her mouth. This causes a problem at worming time. I used the "applesauce method" last time and wonder if it will work next time (she did get a taste of wormer, unfortunately). I want to get her used to having a bit in her mouth, but can't get her to take it in her mouth. My sister and I tried last weekend, but she kept throwing her head up and I didn't want it to turn into a fight. I did try putting peppermint-flavored syrup on the bit (an eggbutt french-link snaffle). Can you give me some guidance?
debbie
Hi Debbie! Thanks for the kind words -- and thank your vet for me. ;-) I enjoyed meeting you. The colt was fun -- it helps that I've worked with his mother and had a pretty good idea of what to expect from him. ;-)
It's an odd thing -- the way we schedule the training of young horses, you'd think we WANTED to get in our own way. Horses are often introduced to the bit at age two, which is precisely when they are very busy teething! If there's no urgent reason for your filly to have a bit in her mouth right now, why rush things? Let her grow up a little more, and in the meantime, you can get her used to having her mouth handled. Applesauce in a syringe doesn't have to be JUST for those every-two-month de-wormings; there's nothing wrong with giving her applesauce every day, from both sides, until her reaction to the sight of a big syringe is to put her head down and open her mouth. ;-
Two-year-old fillies can also be horribly ticklish around their muzzles. You can make yourself crazy trying to make a ticklish baby hold still for a bit, or for clippers, when the real solution is to wait six months or a year.
It's a little bit like dealing with the warts that so many two-year-old horses get on their muzzles -- the "treatment" is to wait until the horse is three, and the warts will disappear. ;-)
Your filly won't suffer any ill effects -- on the contrary! -- if you put off the "introduction to the bit" until she's a little more mature. I find that it's quite easy if you introduce longeing toward the end of the two-year-old year. Once the young horse is comfortable wearing a longeing cavesson and has learned to longe nicely on a very large circle for a few minutes in either direction, you can add a simple bit attached to a bradoon carrier, just to teach the horse that it can move forward, etc., whilst CARRYING a bit (no reins attached, of course). But do have your vet look at the horse's mouth FIRST, so that you can be quite certain that there are no edges or points that need floating, no retained caps that need to be popped off, etc. And keep checking the teeth -- every six months if not more often.
Your vet will be able to tell very quickly whether the horse's mouth needs some work, and you'll know immediately if and when your filly develops wolf teeth, which quite a few mares DO develop. Your vet will be able to remove them quickly, and the difference to your young mare's comfort will be considerable.
If you find that your filly has no mouth or tooth problems, and you really want to put a bit in her mouth now, the best way will be to borrow a quick-change headstall, the sort with clips where the bit attaches. Adjust it on her head so that when you DO attach the bit, it will sit comfortably in her mouth, without pulling against her lips or touching any teeth.
(Adjust it a little high at first, so that she won't be tempted to put her tongue over it -- this is the ONLY time when I would recommend a wrinkle (just one!) in the lips.) Then, when you're sure that it will be in the right place, attach it on one side of the headstall, open your filly's mouth (slide your thumb in, just where the bit will go, until you are touching her tongue -- she'll open her mouth), pop the bit in and quickly fasten it on the other side. Then let her wear it for ten minutes or so, and when you're ready to remove it, remove it as you would a normal bridle, holding it steady after you've taken the headstall over her ears, and waiting for her to open her mouth. Quite a few horse-owners get themselves into trouble when they begin to bit their horses, because they are very careful when they put the bit INTO the horse's mouth, but then forget and pull the bridle off quickly and roughly, allowing the bit to bang into the horse's teeth. This will give a horse a VERY bad impression of bits, bitting, and having its head and mouth handled -- don't take the chance. Stand there until the horse opens its mouth, then just lower the hand that's holding the headstall against the horse's forehead, let the bit drop quietly out of the horse's mouth.
For the first few weeks, until your horse becomes accustomed to the feel of a bit in her mouth, she's likely to be moving her mouth quite a lot, and causing the bit to rub against her lips. It's a good idea to smear a tiny bit of vaseline on the corners of her mouth, so that the bit won't cause any chafing.
Good luck -- and take your time! Your filly is only two. There's no hurry -- she will be just fine if she doesn't have a bit in her mouth until she's a three-year-old, or even a four-year-old. After all, you want a horse that will be a pleasure to you and to itself for many, many years to come, and the best way to achieve that is to take all the necessary time at THIS end of the horse's life.
Jessica
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