My horse will only listen from the ground

Question
Dear Cheri,
 I own a 13 year old quarter horse mare that i've had for about a year now. She is a really sweet horse and I love her, but she has some problems. Every since i got her i've been riding western and using a tom thumb bit, and she was doing fine with it. But it seems like the longer i have her and ride the worse she gets. At first she was energetic and kept wanting to trot and canter, now i can't get her to go. She bulk and pins her ears if i ask for a trot, and if she does trot then if i ask her to speed up she grunt, kicks out to the side, throw her behind up in the air, then slows to a walk. She also does this sometimes when i ask for a trot to begin with.
If i'm on the ground lunging her she is fine and will pick up the pace, but it is like she doesn't respect me in the saddle. Her not going isn't the only problems she has, but I fugured i'd better get her listening to me then before i work with her on anything else. There is the one problem though that she is getting a hard mouth, even though i try to give soft signals, she is still starting to resist the bit. The only other ones i have besides the tom thumb are a straight curb bit, and a bit the has a solid inner peice, but swiveling sides and longer shanks. Would one of those be better? I'd really appreciate any help or advice you can give me.
                               Thanks,
                                  Erin

Answer
Hi Erin.  Mares!  You have the poster horse for mares.  They have stubborn streaks.  You said she does okay on the lunge line...are you using a lunge whip to keep her going?  

You didn't mention whether you use spurs or a crop when riding.  Some horse do not do well with spurs and carrying a little flapper bat (a huntseat riding crop) is best.  If she bulks at taking a cue, give her a smack on the shoulder with a verbal warning to knock it off.

The biggest thing you need to be careful of is that when the horse is speeding up to another gait....  make sure your hands are not bouncing or that you have inadvertantly pulled back while asking for forward motion.  Some people's hands bounce and this is very annoying to the horse and will eventually lead to the horse refusing to speed up or stopping once they have sped up.  Keep your hands very still.  Lay your hands on the saddle front to ensure that you are not causing the problem.  

If you are sure that you are not causing the horse discomfort...then smack her in the shoulder and let her know that being lazy is not the answer.

As for being hard mouthed.....is she laying on your hands? If she is, just keep letting rein out.  Ride in an enclose area....  and when she leans don't fight back.  JUst give more rein.  She wants you to carry her head around for her.  Then she numbs her mouth by laying on the bit and you can pull all day and she won't have to listen to the pressure.  Refuse to let her have that bit.......she'll quit leaning because she has nothing to lean on.

If it is only once in awhile and she more tries to yank the reins....give her a quit short jerk with one rein.  A snap like motion.  Pop her one.  Everytime she jerks on you, jerk back.  Just once...don't get crazy and jerk and jerk.  Just pop her one and then kick her and keep moving on.  Her bad action must be met with an equally bad reaction.  She'll get the drift.

Try not to use the reins any more then you have to.  Use leg, use leaning, use voice commands.  Use the bit only when necessary.  Also....when you do use the bit....use long pulsating pressure.  Don't pull your horse's head....give and take, give and take, give and take.  If you are turning to the right, pull on the right side, let go, pull, let go, pull let go.  Don't just pull her head around.  She doesn't have to turn right now in a small circle.  She just has to turn and show an effort.  If you do not pull steady on the rein, she can't get a hold of it and pull back.  This will throw her plan of pulling back on you to the wind and she will start to turn just to get you to quit applying pressure off and on off and on.  

Sounds to me like you have a nice horse that is testing you and may have picked up a few tricks of her own.  The attitude thing needs to be met with some attitude back.  Make sure you are not causing the horse discomfort with sloppy hands though.  The bit laying thing...well use the pulsating pressure technique and never a straight pressure and always give the horse more rein so she can't lean.  She'll get over it in just a few lessons.  You might be "rein happy" and relying too much on the rein for everything and she is getting tired of being pulled on and has found a way to resist.

If you have more questions or have more info for me...please feel free to write me at Adante3053@aol.com

Happy to help, Cheri