New Horse

Question
Hey. I've recently acquired a new horse for a trial week to see if I am interested in purchasing him, and he has a few problems that I was hoping you could help me with. The two main problems are
1. Won't take the bit
2. Shakes head when pressure applied when asked to stop/backup

Romeo is ridden in a hackamore, a very simple soft braided rope. Whenever I go near his head, he raises his head up high and shakes it from side to side. The hackamore is hard enough to get on, but the bit is virtually impossible to put on. Would you have any suggestions as to how to overcome this problem?
As for the second problem, he does not like pressure at all when I ask him to stop or back up. He turns fine, but thats about all. His owner said after about an hour of riding, he stops shaking his head and getting irrated at the pressure, but I want him to stop the habit overall. Thank you for your time!

Answer
Hi Marianne...

Let's start by saying that these are human caused problems and the horse is not at fault and not to blame.  The horse is perfect and has LEARNED HOW to save himself from some rough, uncaring treatment.  

You are buying a horse and not a car.  Horses are pure, and just right in their own natural state, if this horse is not responding to what you want it is not the horses fault.  This horse is lacking in his understanding of horse/human communication.  He is lacking in his education and that is the fault of the HUMANS in his life.  

People blame the horse and that just amazes me.  There is no reason a horse should  know what the human wants.  What he is doing is just right for him!  Why should he just reach down and pick up the bit???  It is obvious that he has been bridled badly in the past and he KNOWS that he MUST protect his teeth, tongue, gums.  He has been hurt, and scared and now lacks trust in the clumsy, rough, uncaring humans that jammed a bit in his mouth or tried to and he is SMART enough to know when another rough, clumsy human is coming at him.  

Horses have to be taught good, trusting behavior by an educated human that knows horses and how to "FEEL" to the horse so the horse can learn to "FEEL" back to the person.

These are not big problems.  Someone with good feel would have this fixed up in very short order.  Romeo is getting out of your way because he doesn't want to get hurt again and you are approaching him in the same way that all the other humans have that have created pain, lack of respect and lack of trust.

Everything you are describing is the result of bad horsemanship, not the horse.  You will need to begin a comprehensive education program if you are going to help this horse, and turn this into a meaningful and wonderful partnership.

To start, I would go back to the round pen and work on getting this horse to hook on to you.  I have written quite a lot on this subject, there is a sort description of it on my website as well.  You will also see this VERY clearly in the Ground Work DVD by Buck Brannaman, you can buy it on Amazon.  This is the first step in getting your horse to look at you as a leader he can trust.  You will be presenting yourself in a way that is very different from everything else he has experienced in his life. When you get this horse hooking on to you, you can send him softly both ways in the pen, turn right and left then you can ask him for a little more.  

Getting him to accept something hard and punishing in his mouth will require rebuilding trust.  It starts by getting him to lower his head, keeping it lowered while you softly prepare him and re-introduce a hand being placed on his muzzle.  You will NOT keep your hand there!  You will simply softly brush your hand down his forehead and sweep past the muzzle being VERY careful to take your hand away BEFORE Romeo takes his head away.  This is a huge issue of trust.  Romeo KNOWS that he CAN'T survive if his mouth in injured, nature, instinct tells him that, so be respectful here.  

Depending on your feel and timing this will take some time.  The real problem here is that you are green.  I'm not sure what sort of help you are getting, but riding this horse is something that needs to take a backseat to building in some very basic skills, for both of you.  

The reason he shakes his head when being ridden is that his feet are braced!  There is a brace in his body and he is NOT moving with any sort of quality or freedom.  He is stuck and the energy has to go somewhere, so for now it is just shaking his head, if the issues are not properly addressed, the shaking will quickly turn into rearing and even worse.  Again, not the horses problem, but a human caused one.  The human has not ridden in such a way as to develop softness.  It is simply kick and pull.  A horse should operate just as soft going forward as back.  What this horse is showing is NOT "habit", he is telling you very clearly he has not had quality handling.

There are SO many things missing here.   Way to much to tackle in an e-mail.  If  Romeo is sound and solid physically, a good sport with a nice mind and heart...buy him.  Save him really from what he has had to live with.  This horse has already started you on a path to improve YOUR horsemanship!!!  These are not huge issues, but they need to be solved with QUALITY, what has been done with him in the past will NOT work.  It didn't, hasn't and won't.

Watch Buck's "Ground Work" DVD and teach your horse every last thing you see.  Better yet get on the web look at Buck's clinic schedule and go ride with him.  If you can't get a ride with Buck, then here are some other wonderful folks that will help you:  Bryan Neubert, Joe Wolter, Tom Curtin, Peter Campbell.  Look them up.  Go to a clinic.  This will change things for you forever.

I would be restarting this horse like a colt.  He/you have missed the majority of your primary education.  Be fair to yourself and to him, accept that you have missed some very important things, take about 2 seconds to feel bad about it, then move on!!!

Let me know what you decide.  You may be the difference between a wonderful life and slaughter for this horse.  Sad but true.  If you take him, make the commitment to make a better life for the both of you.  Really, this could be the best horse of your life.  Something brought the two of you together...

Best Wishes and Keep me posted

Denise