My horse is very nervous & fights her bit!

Question
thank you so much for your answer and is it possible if you give me a couple of pointers to desensitization.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Well to cut a long story short, i have a horse called missy she is a 14.3 cob. She is an extremely nervous horse, and needs help in bringing herself out. I understand that in her past, jumping poles have given her quite a fright! And now if she hears a loud noise (poles dropping, stirrup catching on metal beams) she loses control freaks out and just canters around and around the school. Most people have her wrong, they think that when she canters off she is just simply being stubborn and naughty, but if you are not riding and you watch her you can see it in her eye that she is actually quite scared. Now she is an absolutely lovely horse, she has not a single bad bone in her body, and wouldn't hurt a soul.

But for me to be able  to help her, when she runs away i need to have some control, which at the moment i don't have. At the moment she is in just a normal eggbutt snaffle, and no noseband! (i no it docent help). When she runs off she lifts her head right up, and its like the bit becomes invisible to her, but when she is calm she is extremely responsive to her eggbutt snaffle.

Now i already know she needs a martingale, but im trying to find a better bit, to put her in.
Do you have any ideas in how to help me gain control when she runs off?

Many thanks
Hollie


-----Answer-----
Hollie,

Rather than trying to control a horse that is scared to death (think of yourself in a situation where you are in a near panic) why not work on re-training her so that she overcomes her fear?  Do you have access to a round pen?  If not possibly you could use a small pen.  Not as safe as a round pen because of the corners but can work.  If you are not familiar with working with a horse to desensitize them let me know and I'll try to give you a crash course.  But take her in the pen, loose, and do the desensitization in there.  Let her run around and around.  But, if you are familiar with round pen work you will make her work rather than just blindly run.  If you don't know about round pen work get one of the books or videos by John Lyons, Pat Parelli, Richard Shrake, Kurt Pate, there are a number of different ones out there.  The methods may vary but the general premise is the same and works with any horse.  Takes some patience but you'll be well rewarded in the end.  I suspect this won't take a really long time, probably several sessions once you figure out what you're doing, but will "fix" her once and for all.

Let me know how this goes.

Lyn

Answer
Hollie,

Take her into a round pen and play some Parelli games with her to get her thinking and paying attention.  Get a video, if possible, and watch it so you know what I'm talking about.  Then, start adding the noises that she's bothered by.  Clang some stirrup irons together to start.  Work on up to the poles.  Drop them, make noise but keep her focused on what she's supposed to be doing.  This takes patience and you have to "read" her responses to decide what the next step is and when she's ready for it.  

Like I said, if you've got her focused on what she's supposed to be doing she'll quit reacting to it.  She's smart but I suspect she's got some other issues here too.  Why don't you look into some herbs for her to help with the nervous issue.  I sort of suspect she could have some stomach issues, i.e. ulcers, that can contribute to the temperament issues.  Given her nature it's nearly certain even though she evinces no recognized symptoms.  I've learned a great deal about them in recent years and have seen some amazing behavioral improvement.  Anyhow, look at some herbal blends for nervous mares.  You just add them to the feed every day.  Takes a while for them to work, I give each mix I try 20 days to evaluate the efficacy of the mix.  There are commercial blends; I use an equine herbalist who's also a long-time friend who has some amazing blends and will customize when needed.  She's very conscientious about the quality of the herbs she gets using only the best.  Anyhow, let me know if you want Loryhl's email.  Also try adding 5 oz. each of aloe vera juice and papaya juice to her feed twice a day.  Both are inexpensive juices, Sam's Club, BJ's, Wal-Mart and Kmart have carried the aloe vera by the gallon for about $6.  Papaya I pick up at the grocery store or have even made my own.  The stuff tastes good and the horses eat it right up.  You can even syringe it into them.  

Let me know how you do and what you decide to try with her.  You probably got more information and issues you never even thought about addressed here.  I tend to address all the parts of an issue I can think of.  This is going to be a big adventure for both of you from which I think you will both learn a great deal.  I love watching horses blossom!

Lyn