# Chomping the bit



## Keith_Beef (18 February 2019)

On Sunday morning, I rode a particular horse for the first time. This gelding has been at the yard for a while, maybe six months, but for some reason or another he's never been allocated to me for a lesson.

I went into his stable to tack him up: well mannered, stood still for brushing, lifted his hooves nicely, but when I went to put the pad and saddle on his back, he started chomping at the air near me, but without making any real attempt to bite me. So I thought that this was going to be a sod of a horse to get tacked up. Once the saddle was on, and the girth buckled up enough to hold it in place (but still leaving one hole to be pulled up before mounting), I got the bridle off the loop on the wall where I'd hung it. I slipped the loop of the reins over his head and was just about to put my arm over his poll, when he pushed his head forwards, found the bit with his lips and took it into his mouth. I think that if his ears had been down, the headpiece would have fallen into place without my help. It was as if he'd put on the bridle himself.

Then he started to really chomp and chew on the bit, and continued doing this all the time I was leading him out to middle of the arena to take up the last hole on the girth and then mount up.

The instructor tells me that this might be his way of dealing with stress (like a human chewing gum) or that he might have something uncomfortable around his teeth and gets some relief from chewing like this.

For the whole of the morning lesson, and again in the afternoon doing some dressage and jumping, he was calm, obedient, very easy, except for sometimes being a bit slow or dropping back to trot from canter if I didn't remind him what he was supposed to be doing

Any ideas about the bit-chomping, what could cause it, in anything I need to think about when riding a horse that has this habit?


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## Pearlsasinger (18 February 2019)

If the instructor recognises that the horse may have issues with his teeth, why on earth hasn't the RS had them sorted by now?


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## The Trooper (18 February 2019)

Just a thought, but could it be a case that he just enjoys chomping the bit? I know some have sweet iron/copper etc to make them more inviting, maybe this individual wants the bit as he enjoys it?

I could be well off the mark as I am not a particularly experiences equestrianer.


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## Leo Walker (18 February 2019)

IT can be a sign of tension. Mine will do it for a few seconds if something worries her. But that doesn't sound like the case in this instance, and I'd be suspecting a pain issue somewhere.


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## Keith_Beef (18 February 2019)

Pearlsasinger said:



			If the instructor recognises that the horse may have issues with his teeth, why on earth hasn't the RS had them sorted by now?
		
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She doesn't know this horse all that well, and usually works at the other yard run by the same group (she's been covering at our yard while the main manager was in hospital with 'flu that turned nasty).

When I get the chance, I'll ask my regular instructor and the manager.


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## Pearlsasinger (18 February 2019)

Keith_Beef said:



			She doesn't know this horse all that well, and usually works at the other yard run by the same group (she's been covering at our yard while the main manager was in hospital with 'flu that turned nasty).

When I get the chance, I'll ask my regular instructor and the manager.
		
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Well, tbh, any reasonably experienced sensible RI would have picked the issue up when they first got him


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## Keith_Beef (18 February 2019)

Pearlsasinger said:



			Well, tbh, any reasonably experienced sensible RI would have picked the issue up when they first got him
		
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I suppose it's possible that the question of teeth has already been addressed by the manager and those instructors who are on site all the time, and it's just that this particular instructor hasn't been kept in the loop, and is just speculating on what the cause may be.


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## Cortez (18 February 2019)

Sounds like a bit of stress relief to me; how was he in the bridle when you rode him?


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## Keith_Beef (18 February 2019)

Cortez said:



			Sounds like a bit of stress relief to me; how was he in the bridle when you rode him?
		
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He was fine; calm and obedient, although occasionally a little bit apt to slowing down from a canter to a trot, if I didn't remind him what we were supposed to be doing.


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## dreamcometrue (18 February 2019)

My horse does the same.  She canâ€™t wait to get the bit in her mouth and practically puts the bridle on herself.  She likes to suck her bit too as she is ridden.  I think she likes the taste and she is definitely not stressed.


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