Too much pressure.

[magic13]

Hi, can I please have a 'bit' of advice?

My mare has issues, more of the temperamental nature. After being broken, she was ridden in a plain eggbut snaffle. This was fine for the first few months, as her work load was still at the basics. Once I introduced her to a heavier work load, and her fitness improved, she became much stronger and I put her in a bubble bit, using the middle ring. There was always a problem with her poll, and touching around her ears on the off side, (even when ridden in the snaffle) she has plenty of vets/experts/dentists - x rays, scans, cameras - come to see her, and each told me there was nothing physically wrong with her poll area, and it was a training issue. Her bad side is the left rein, which is also the same side she struggles to be touched on. Now we are at the point in her training where I want to take her to the next level, but her flat work is difficult to manage. She believes she can't do what I ask her, and so she powers forward and moves to quickly, and as she has so much power, I struggle with just my legs controlling the speed. We have now put her in a straight bar Pelham in an attempt at reducing the poll pressure from the bubble bit. She seems to agree with the vulcanised straight bar bit, but I feel that the Pelham is probably a bit harsher than I would like. In a perfect world, she would school well and compete well in a straight rubber snaffle. But in the real world, I am stuck, and not to educated in the bit field!!!

[Kaliska]

Might be worth calling the Bit Bank if they are still going - they used to be great to give advice on bitting.

Thing you might find with bitless is that most still use poll pressure, so if it's her poll she struggles with, that may not help. However, Dr Cooks do a trial where you can try one of their bitless bridles.