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Thomas Ritter: Accepting the Bit
©Thomas Ritter 2009
The term “accepting the bit” is frequently encountered these days. It usually refers to a quiet mouth and steady head and neck carriage. The Old Masters didn’t really mention the “acceptance of the bit” very often – probably because these qualities have very little to do with the bit or the horse’s attitude towards the bit. Instead, they have everything to do with suppleness, balance, and straightness. The rein contact in general is a reflection of the posture of the horse’s entire body. That means that if there is a blocked muscle group in his body, it will usually show up in the rein contact in some way, in the form of resistance or bracing against the rein. This resistance can originate in the poll, the neck, the shoulder, the back, or the hip, for instance. If the horse is balanced and straight, the rein contact will be light, steady, and even.
If the horse is crooked, he will take a stronger contact on the stiffer side. If the horse is on the forehand, he will lean heavily onto the rider’s hands. Crookedness and imbalance can also make the horse invert.
In other words, if the horse is not “accepting the bit”, it can generally not be corrected simply by using the rein and acting on the horse’s mouth, because it confuses the symptom with its root cause. In order to eradicate the problem, the rider has to analyze first where the resistance against the bit originates, i.e. which joint in the horse’s body is not moving with the full range of motion, which muscle group is stiff. Once the source of the problem has been identified, the rider can supple these muscles systematically with specific exercises. When the horse is balanced and the muscles have all become supple, the horse will also accept the bit.
French General Alexis François L’Hotte, écuyer en chef of the Cadre Noir at Saumur during the 19th century, explains this very well: “How often do resistances of the forehand depend upon a lack of submission of the haunches. The reason for this is that there is a solidarity that manifests itself between all muscular contractions, thus causing the resistances to support each other. Due to the mode of rapport between rider and horse, any resistance of the forehand is immediately felt by the rider; his hand indicates this to him as soon as the resistance manifests itself. But he does not always have in his seat the necessary feeling to tell him that there is a resistance emanating from the haunches.
“The impression the rider gets from his hand often fools him and makes him mistake effect for cause, thus making him concentrate his efforts on the jaw and the neck. He should, rather, question the horse’s haunches, ask them to become active, to deviate to the right or to the left, separating themselves with lightness. He will then see how often resistances perceived by the hand, had their source in the inertia of the haunches.”
So, you see that the horse will accept the bit, when his whole body has become supple. If one or more muscle groups stiffen up again for any reason, the “acceptance of the bit” may be lost again, as well.
Unfortunately, a quiet mouth and steady head position don’t necessarily indicate that everything is going well. A horse can superficially appear to be “accepting the bit” without really letting the driving and restraining aids go through his body. That is the case when there is a false bend at the base of the neck or behind C 3, which disconnects the hindquarters from the bit by interrupting the energy flow, so that the poll and the hips can remain blocked, without the rider being able to feel it. This means that in addition to being balanced and supple the horse also has to be steadily connected within his body. Areas of excessive mobility that disrupt the energy transmission have to be eliminated through framing, stabilizing aids. Otherwise, the rider would not be able to feel every part of the horse’s body with his seat and aids.
The term “accepting the bit” is frequently encountered these days. It usually refers to a quiet mouth and steady head and neck carriage. The Old Masters didn’t really mention the “acceptance of the bit” very often – probably because these qualities have very little to do with the bit or the horse’s attitude towards the bit. Instead, they have everything to do with suppleness, balance, and straightness. The rein contact in general is a reflection of the posture of the horse’s entire body. That means that if there is a blocked muscle group in his body, it will usually show up in the rein contact in some way, in the form of resistance or bracing against the rein. This resistance can originate in the poll, the neck, the shoulder, the back, or the hip, for instance. If the horse is balanced and straight, the rein contact will be light, steady, and even.
If the horse is crooked, he will take a stronger contact on the stiffer side. If the horse is on the forehand, he will lean heavily onto the rider’s hands. Crookedness and imbalance can also make the horse invert.
In other words, if the horse is not “accepting the bit”, it can generally not be corrected simply by using the rein and acting on the horse’s mouth, because it confuses the symptom with its root cause. In order to eradicate the problem, the rider has to analyze first where the resistance against the bit originates, i.e. which joint in the horse’s body is not moving with the full range of motion, which muscle group is stiff. Once the source of the problem has been identified, the rider can supple these muscles systematically with specific exercises. When the horse is balanced and the muscles have all become supple, the horse will also accept the bit.
French General Alexis François L’Hotte, écuyer en chef of the Cadre Noir at Saumur during the 19th century, explains this very well: “How often do resistances of the forehand depend upon a lack of submission of the haunches. The reason for this is that there is a solidarity that manifests itself between all muscular contractions, thus causing the resistances to support each other. Due to the mode of rapport between rider and horse, any resistance of the forehand is immediately felt by the rider; his hand indicates this to him as soon as the resistance manifests itself. But he does not always have in his seat the necessary feeling to tell him that there is a resistance emanating from the haunches.
“The impression the rider gets from his hand often fools him and makes him mistake effect for cause, thus making him concentrate his efforts on the jaw and the neck. He should, rather, question the horse’s haunches, ask them to become active, to deviate to the right or to the left, separating themselves with lightness. He will then see how often resistances perceived by the hand, had their source in the inertia of the haunches.”
So, you see that the horse will accept the bit, when his whole body has become supple. If one or more muscle groups stiffen up again for any reason, the “acceptance of the bit” may be lost again, as well.
Unfortunately, a quiet mouth and steady head position don’t necessarily indicate that everything is going well. A horse can superficially appear to be “accepting the bit” without really letting the driving and restraining aids go through his body. That is the case when there is a false bend at the base of the neck or behind C 3, which disconnects the hindquarters from the bit by interrupting the energy flow, so that the poll and the hips can remain blocked, without the rider being able to feel it. This means that in addition to being balanced and supple the horse also has to be steadily connected within his body. Areas of excessive mobility that disrupt the energy transmission have to be eliminated through framing, stabilizing aids. Otherwise, the rider would not be able to feel every part of the horse’s body with his seat and aids.
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Comment
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Comment by Kinni P on November 17, 2009 at 9:23am
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Funny you should mention the weight overload on the left legs. The past couple of days I've been experimenting with different weight distributions. I've found that I can get a left bend much easier if I ride a little to the outside. We spent a good bit of time yesterday on the turn on the forehand. He loosened up a good bit, then had a temper tantrum. I couldn't find any sore spots after the ride. I think he just needs some more convincing that this is all good for him.
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Comment by Thomas Ritter on November 16, 2009 at 1:07pm
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The key to lateral movements is to teach the horse to follow the rotation of the rider's pelvis. The hands and legs explain the details to the horse, while the seat conveys the big picture. Your description sounds like your horse may be falling over the outside shoulder. If that's the case, you may have to connect your elbows more to your side, engage the core muscles more, and frame the shoulders with the reins and knees. If the horse doesn't understand, it is often helpful to stop and move the hips or shoulders at the halt, and then walk on again.
If your horse bends easily to the right, but not to the left, he is probably overloading his left pair of legs. If you shift your weight more to the right, he will be able to stop bracing on the left, and the bending rein aid can come through.
When you run into problems, think about which part of the exercise does the horse not understand. Then try to find a way of explaining it to the horse. Break it down into the elementary component parts. Give the horse enough time to feel the aid, think about it, and execute it. Sometimes all they need is more time.
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Comment by Amanda Burden on November 15, 2009 at 6:31pm
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A very interesting article. We are always being asked to ride from the back of the horse to the front..we sometimes forget or are unaware of the intricacies of what is happening to the horse's body inbetween. All influenced by the rider!
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I've been trying out your suggestions with mixed results. He doesn't have a good grasp of lateral movements just yet, and still wants to turn and walk off. I tried putting an obstacle in front of him and asking for the turn on the forehand. He almost got it right. I'll keep plugging away at him. He gets overfaced very quickly, so I it could take some time. The good news is, he's loose as a goose to the right. The flexions really seem to be helping that side. His bend travelling on the right rein is super. I've actually gotten a few steps of shoulder-in. Thanks for your help.
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It could be that your horse is trying to protect the left hock by falling over the right shoulder. As the shoulder drifts to the right, the body mass gets farther away from the left hind leg. It could be that he does it because he still remembers the left hind leg hurting, and he still expects it to hurt when he puts weight on it.
Shifting the weight to the left with your pelvis and nudging with the right thigh/knee and rein can help to turn the shoulder to the left. Leg yields towards the left, shoulder-in in both directions, turns on the haunches to the left, turns on the forehand in motion from the right leg, and full passes to the left should help to raise his awareness of your right leg and rein aids, as well as shift the body mass towards the left side of the body.
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I was flexing left. He was leaning into the supporting, right rein. His neck was bent, but his jaw was stiff. I was aiming for a bend in the poll, which I got easily when flexing to the right.
I'll try the corrections you suggested and let you know what happens. This kind of evasion isn't new for him. When we work on the left rein, even going large, he'll choose a spot facing the exit, lean into his right shoulder(hard) and just plow through the aids on his way to the door. I usually open the rein to the left, put as much weight into my left stirrup as I can, and apply as much right leg as I can given my already precarious position. This turns him around, but makes my lower back ache (it also bears no resemblance to dressage). He was showing a lot of improvement in that department before his accident. Now we're back at square one. I'm hoping the flexions will help him relax a little. I really wish I knew more of his history, but he's been passed around too many times and through too many auctions to trace anything. He does have a large scar on his left hock that suggests surgery at some point. He also has a Jockey Club tat. Neither I nor the vet can find pain through palpation. I suspect this is the result of an old injury and years of tension and worry surrounding it.
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On the left rein, were you flexing left or right? Was he leaning into the flexing rein or into the supporting one?
When a horse leans heavily on one rein, it generally means that he is leaning onto that shoulder. You may have to move him a step laterally to the other side, so that he takes the weight off the overloaded shoulder. Use the leg on the stiffer side at the same time to engage the hind leg, which will help to relieve the front leg.
If he goes forward, through your seat and rein, stop him with a half halt on the side towards which you are moving him.
Sometimes horses try to avoid yielding to the bending rein by moving the haunches away from this rein. If that happens, keep him straight with your seat and with the calf on the side opposite the bending rein.
Some horses will move the shoulders towards the side of the bending rein, again in an attempt to avoid having to yield to the rein with their neck and poll. In that case, shift your weight away from the bending rein and use your thigh and knee on the side of the bending rein to prevent the shoulder from moving in this direction.
You can try to do the flexions at different times in the workout session to find out what works best for the horse. It's probably a good idea to warm him up a little first, before you do the more difficult flexions.
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For the edification of others, I'll post here. The exercise worked easily on the right. On the left rein, he resisted for a long time. I just held steady pressure on the rein in addition to the weight aid. I did add a little leg finally, and he still just stood there leaning into the outside rein. He did finally move, but he went forward, then turned. Would you recommend doing this exercise before, after or during the main workout? I suspect it may be more beneficial after a little work, at least for this horse at this time.
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Sure. Feel free to e-mail me or post a question here.
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Thanks so much. That was very helpful! The pop thing frightens me a little, but at least I'm forewarned. I look forward to your future posts. Should I have difficulty with the this exercise, may I message you?
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