Snaffle bits and bending at the poll

Question
I have ridden my 11 year old QH in lots of bits, trying to find one he likes: he HATES any ported bit. He will go in a regular snaffle and a tomb tumb, but lifts his head against the pressure,  holding it too high and hollowing his back (he has a horrible bouncing trot anyway, but this makes it unbearable!)He as been known to run through a snaffle (scary!). The one I have found he likes the best is a reining bit, one of those with long, independent shanks, no port, and a large roller to keep him busy and to keep the bit from breaking all the way in half (I think this hurts is teeth?)He bends at the poll a little better in the reining bit, and is super light in the mouth with it. I think he reacts to the leverage before anything else. I would like to do some English riding with him, so I am wondering what type of snaffle he might like best? I have tried a plain O-ring training bit and a Kimberwick with the aforementioned results. What will help me get him bending at the poll so I can build his topline?

Answer
Kimberly,

He probably has a very small mouth, referring to the distance between his tongue and the roof of his mouth.  Get what's called a French mouth snaffle; it's a 3-part mouth, similar in idea to the mouth of the reining bit you are presently useing in that it breaks on both sides of a center piece so nothing pokes the horse in the roof of the mouth.  You could also go the bitless bridle route.  A lot of horses that have issues with bits work wonderfully in bitless bridles.  See if you can borrow one and try him in it.  Unless you are planning on showing English then not using a bit won't be an issue.  If you have to use a bit try the French mouth snaffle on him. Make sure that the parts of the bit are not thick, look for something no thicker than your finger, preferably sweet iron or copper mouthpiece if you can find them.  Horses like them better than steel or chromed metal.  You may also be able to find that type of mouth on other bits as well if he needs a bit more control than the snaffle affords.

Some patient training and teaching him the 1-rein stop will go a long way towards correcting his tendency to run-through the snaffle bit.  

I assume he's getting regular dental care so that his teeth are in good shape, no wolf teeth are present, etc.  This can definately be a problem for horses if the teeth are not properly kept up.  

It can take some horses a long time to learn to properly flex at the poll.  Too many people want to force the horse into the flex with side-reins, martingales, etc. rather than simply spending the time teaching the horse to do it properly.  I start with teaching them from the ground to simply flex and then moving to doing it under saddle.  I do a lot of work over ground poles to get my guys to carry themselves properly along with basic dressage work.  Yeah, I do dressage with endurance horses.  A lot of us do.  It's absolutely critical that a horse learn to carry himself properly, not collected but in a neutral position using his belly muscles to support his back which is why a lot of us do dressage with our mounts.  A horse cannot run 100 mi. in a day with a hollowed back.  

I hope I've given you some helpful suggestions here.  It will take some time, old habits die hard, but getting the bridle issue resolved will help a lot.  How long this will take will depend upon how much time you have available to train him.  But the time you invest fixing the problem will be repaid thousands of times over, trust me.  

Lyn