hello it's josie and today i'd like to talk to you about putting your bridle on your horse and
i'm going to go through the method i use when i teach a horse from scratch a horse that i'm
starting under saddle how to have a bridle put on and i teach them from the beginning how i'd like
them to be in the end spiders is just looking for a little bit of attention so i have a method and
the method works whether the horse is good bad or otherwise basically but what i'm here to tell you
is there's no shortcuts there's no shortcuts in horse training shortcuts will come back and
bite you in the bum there is just some basic foundations that you should put on your horse
one of those foundational things that you need to learn is that we need to
break our training for our horse down into the smallest possible piece and then teach
the horses those pieces individually before we put them together so if you think logically about
what you want to do i actually want to get this contraption on his head so what is the best way
for us to do that well for me the best way is firstly he needs to stand still then he needs to
i was going to say bring his head down but not put his head up let's put it that way his head
needs to be where i have access to it because i'm only as tall as i am and he's taller than me
he needs to allow me to basically touch his mouth because i would like to help put the bit in so
i don't bang him in the teeth he needs to allow the bridle to go up over his ears that's it in a
bit of a nutshell but there's quite a few steps in that if you think about breaking it down to
individual steps firstly he needs to stand still and my horses can clearly stand still if your
horse can't stand still then you need to do some work on that before you even bother to think about
putting a halter on a horse now when i do it i pop my reins over my horse's head when i'm starting a
very green horse i start with a bridle with no noseband it's literally just a bridle with a
with a brow band and a bit on it so that things don't get in the way but it doesn't matter what
you're putting on their head the principles remain the same so the horse needs to stand still
if their spider's size who is just a whisker under 17 hands he needs to bring his head down
i've done a video about some ground work in teaching your horse to give to pressure
and remember the principles is the same here the horse learns from the release of the pressure so
if i want his head down i just put a bit down with pressure and as when his head comes down i let go
of it so he has to stand still he has to have his head where i have access to it i need to be
able to put my finger in his mouth now the thing i'm about to teach you is also something you need
to remember if things go a bit pear-shaped go right back to the beginning and start
from the beginning and work your way up so if you go to pull the horse's head down and he walks off
well then you need to go back to the beginning make sure he'll stand still you are required to
have a lot of patience for this okay patience is what gets you everywhere with your horses
so he's standing still he's dropped his head i need to be able to put a finger in his mouth
my horses obviously are used to that so i can pop my finger in his mouth and take it out
if it were a young green horse that i was starting or your horse may do this if he hasn't had these
foundations foundations put on him sorry you put your finger in his mouth and he throws his head
up in the air what you need to do is try to keep your finger in his mouth while his head's up there
because remember he learns of the release of the pressure so if you take the finger out while his
head's up you've inadvertently taught him when you put your finger in his mouth he lifts it up
because then you take the pressure away sometimes that happens because the horse moves away as well
don't beat yourself up if that happens just start again happens to the best of us so pop your finger
in his mouth he throws his head up you go up with your finger then you ask him to drop his
head because he already knows that and the minute his head is down here i don't care if you just get
it there and then you pull your finger out and you may need to spend a day or a week teaching
that to a horse it takes the time it takes and every horse is different and it depends if it's
been inadvertently taught some bad what we call habits it's usually because they've learned
what makes the pressure go away you just have to work through that that's your job as his trainer
and to do it with kindness and patience so he has to stand still he has to have his head where i can
get to it he needs to allow me to put a finger in his mouth so that i can get him to open up
and i don't bang him in the teeth with the bit so if you're having trouble with your horse putting
his head up in the air while you're doing this do some training with the halter on so you've
got something to give some pressure with but once he's pretty good at that bit which is why i start
training with a um bridle with no noseband so i can actually put it on over the top of a halter
but once i don't want my halter anymore i have my reins over there because that gives me some
control of my horse so if his head goes up i can use the reins to ask it to come down if he goes
to walk off that way i've got something to hang on to him a little bit with and say excuse me
come back here when i put the bit in my horse's mouth i hang on to a certain way sorry spidey
let's get everything out the way i lay it across the palm of my hand i have my little finger and
ring finger on that side and this thumb and index finger on this side so i can guide it in
so my horse brings his head down good boy it's um if you've got a little horse you can probably go
over the poll i can't until i get the bridle on because i'm short and i've got big horses
and my horses i used to actually see spider will actually take that himself
that's just part of how i've trained them along the line so i've popped that one on i'm going to
go back and show you again i want you to think about under here under here is the poll it's
a soft spot on the top of their skull between their neck and their head i like to make sure
hang on just come forward spides good boy head down i like to make sure that my mane
is not bunched up underneath that personally i hate bridle paths so i don't actually um clip
them there but some people do but i will always make sure that my hair is brushed and it's flat
and it's sitting under that quite flatly so let's do that as if he didn't accept the bit himself
so i would take the crown the headpiece in the in my right hand spidey is supposed to not take this
so that people can see i'm going to get this stuff up out of the way so that you can see
i would hold the bit in my hand how i showed you i would come to here i would put my finger
in the corner of his mouth and when he opened his mouth i would pull the bit up into his mouth
then i drop everything this is how i do it and then i ask the horse to drop his head for me
so that i can see what i'm doing and i tuck the ear in and tuck the ear in
and then i do the bridle up from there if you're going to put the bit in the mouth and the horse
throws his head up and you're right up here with the bit still in your hand and not in his mouth
and his head up here abort putting the bit in his mouth and get him to bring his head back
down when you get down to the bottom and he's um down where you can do it again
take the bridle away don't go ahead and put the bit in take the pressure off of him
because you want him to know that here is where you want his head when you do it so you're going
to put the bridle on you get it to here the horse in your hand still the horse throws his head up
try to go up with him hold yourself up there you can use this hand that's on top to push and ask
him to drop when he drops his head even if he drops it an inch in the beginning because you
can't get him to lower down take take the bridle away from the horse and tell him he's a good boy
remember to release the pressure when he's doing what you want and remember you might need to go
right back to the beginning which is what we did in that scenario because if you got his head down
here and then you put the bride or put the bit in his mouth you haven't rewarded him for the
behaviour that you wanted which was to get his head here you have gone further on with your
training i really hope that helps you any questions leave them in the comments for me
and i'll answer them for you see you later do you reckon spider did we remember
everything