hi it's josie and this video is for you jeff jeff asked me
what on the bit means now jeff is a western rider i think he said
so if you're a dressage purist and you're watching this video i am going to keep this concept
very simple because on the bit itself is quite an involved concept but we all have to start
somewhere and i used to hear people say and it is true that when your horse is on the bit
he's working from behind he's coming through he's coming through the bit through the reins and back
to you it's a circle of the aids and i used to just roll my eyes and go well okay but i don't get
that and i just want to tell you now if you don't get it it's okay i didn't get it either i had to
work through some very basic steps and i was very lucky enough to have a coach that would actually
get on my horse get him supple get him through get him working into the bridle and on the bit and
then she'd put me on him and i would have a couple of steps where i got the feel of what that was and
then i lost it because obviously i wasn't able to keep everything going because i didn't understand
it so you don't know what you don't know so don't worry about it you work on it so jeff
as a western rider i don't know i'm quite happy for you to tell me in the comments anyone kindly
if i'm wrong but i don't really think from any of the western riding i have seen done
that the horses are on the bit in the manner that we speak of when we talk about dressage
because when they are on the bit in the dressage sense you actually have quite a contact in your
hand it's elastic it's supple it's a two-way communication between you and the horse what
it looks like to me in most western stuff is that the horse is very soft and giving to the contact
um and there's just i mean i could be wrong but there doesn't appear to be i can't imagine how
a loopy rein could have the conversation that i can have with rebel with a rein that is elastic
and between my hand and his mouth anyway happy to be told i'm wrong tell me in the comments
on the bit so i'm going to tell you what it isn't and then i'm going to show you
what it is and how i get a horse to go on the bit this is going to be very brief okay
and very basic so what on the bit isn't it isn't you fiddling with the reins
it isn't a horse going around behind the vertical can a horse go around behind the vertical and on
the bit probably but it's not correct and you're not using the correct musculature and you're
you're not doing any horse any favors pardon me doesn't mean they don't go behind the vertical
um every now and again because they do and so do my horses there's no two ways about it
turn sideways for me please rebel just turn sorry mate i know you were sleeping there all right so
i'm going to do this i hate doing it i'm going to be not too hard when i do it but you see a
lot of people do this they pick up their reins and then they go that is not on the bit that is
just horrible if you do that take your whip and smack yourself sorry that is absolutely horrible
nothing to do with getting a horse on the bit the horse takes the connection okay the horse
does take the connection it comes from behind it comes up over into the bit
back through your hands and you feel it now you can all do the eye roll because i would
have too but that that's a fact that's the way it happens this sort of stuff is just actually plain
cruelty i i did that subtly then just doing flexion but you see them wiggle the bit in the
horse's mouth when you do that your horse goes around in a frame okay so he's not reaching for
the bit he'll usually have um developed either a big under neck or a dip here in front of the
saddle because he's using all of the wrong muscles to go on the bit so you don't fiddle with the bit
you must have prerequisites to get your horse on the bit quiet still hands and a balanced seat now
be completely honest with yourself if you don't have them that's okay too we all started there
well i did i started there you have to go and work on those things you don't have to be perfect so
don't make yourself perfect because i was far from perfect when i started working on this
so to have a horse on the bit he can't be dawdling along like rebel is now yes he probably looks nice
but he's dawdling along and he's not really going anywhere you need to have your horse
in front of your leg and he and what does that mean it means you don't you need not to be kicking
him every stride now rebels much better kicking him every stride to go he's going of his own
desire to go forward you may need to every every 20 strides remind him to keep going because you
may feel that he's sort of falling behind your leg that's okay um kyra kirkland uses an analogy
of like well i think she used a bobsled i'm not sure but like to me it's a skateboard you
you push it you get it going and then you relax then when it starts to slow down you might give
it one more push and then it goes so that's what you do with your horse he needs to be
in front of you and going forward you need to have quiet hands and you need to follow his mouth
so the very first step before you can ever get a horse on the bit he needs to accept it now i don't
know if you've um heard of that but he has to accept the bit in his mouth in a quiet way so if
your hands are doing this when you're riding him it's not a snowflakes chance in hell he's going to
be happy about you then shortening the rein up and connecting with the piece of metal in his mouth
i've done a video on rebel actually it was a really early on video it is about a 20 minute one
but it's a complete training session i know it was early in his training because i was still riding
in my half breed which was probably 10 to 15 ride i get out of that and into a dressage saddle
but i show you how i go about getting a horse to accept the contact it's called i'll link
that up here at the end and i'll pop it in the in the description if you want to watch that
so what happens i'll give you a little brief one so you don't if you don't want to go and watch it
you know what goes on so when you're riding your horse i'm just going to have to be a little bit
mean to rebel and get his head when their heads going everywhere you need to be following his head
feeling the bit and having a contact with it as if you had a cotton thread between your finger
and that bit so you have to follow him because if i keep my hand here and he reaches forward
and i don't go with that cotton thread it will snap when the when you do that so that's and
that requires you to have good core and a good seat to be balanced when you can do that the
horse will actually accept the bit and you'll know he'll accept it because all of a sudden
wherever he's going he stops sending his head everywhere and he just keeps it still
while you hold the bit like rebel's doing now i have a connection is rebel on the bit no
he's not i'm telling you he's not but i have a connection with his mouth i can feel his mouth
he can feel me i can bend him to that yeah see that's just my ring fingers because i have a
connection with the bit so how do we then get him on the bit once he has accepted the bit i'm going
to do this in trot because for you it's in the beginning when you're learning this as long as
you've got a good trot seat it's much easier with a horse that's really traveling forward
so you should be able to go around in trot i'm gonna see if i can show you and just have
a connection so it rebel wants to go down there i follow him i'm just gonna see if i can and if
he wants to come up here sorry mate i follow him until we find that we have a spot here
where he's happy i'm happy he is accepting the bit he's not on the bit guys he's accepting it
i can touch it he doesn't snatch throw his head in the air
or anything i'd like you just to take a note of my hands if you can can you see
that i'm carrying them out there so if i didn't have the rein i'm carrying my hand sorry mate
so then to get the horse up onto the bit what you need to do is you ask a little more with your leg
like as if you were saying go forward but then i just close my ring finger and say but listen
go forward but not forward let's uh because i want him to bring the hind leg through and start
to step into the bridle and you literally feel your horse on each rein i can feel the hind leg
and what i feel the best analogy i can give you for that is if you are hang on just stop good boy
if you are standing on a stream standing on a bridge going over a stream and you've got a paper
boat with a string attached and that part that the stream's going that way and the paper boat's there
and you're hanging onto it just imagine that you had it between your ring finger and your
little finger and the stream was taking out and it hit the end of the stream it would go tug tug
at the end of the rope pardon me and it would go tug-tug-tug that's the feeling tiny not big okay
it's not a big hoit that if they're pulling on the reins then they're actually leaning on your hands
so now i have asked rebel to come on the bit i have got his nose closer to the vertical
hopefully not behind it one of my pet hates but i still do it occasionally whoops he's
losing his rhythm there he was did you see that he that's it now we got it back
so he's on the bit i can feel his steps in my hands through his mouth how else do i know
well i should be able to ask him to chew the reins out of my hands
and you can tell he's whoops he's lost his balance there twice now
because how do i know that because his rhythms got faster so that's now rider
error for me next time because before i get to that spot here's a little tip for you those who
stayed watching before i get to b i'm actually going to slow him more so he doesn't run
run again so horses do things always usually in the same place that's much better
good
boy so i know that's a very brief and a very basic run through of what on the bit is
i hope it helps you try and understand those little concepts and then you build on them
until you understand when they say yes and the hind end of the horse comes through and
it steps through into the rider's hand as it becomes a circle of aids and you
won't roll your eyes you'll go yep i know what that is thanks for watching