# For what reason would you use a hanging cheek bit? ... Bitting advice



## Bustalot (30 August 2012)

It has been recommended that i use a hanging cheek bit with my horse. But not sure why that would be, i do not feel it would be beneficial to him. So for what reasons would you use one?

My horse doesn't go along with his head in the air, if anything he is to low. So the poll pressure would not come into effect. He works in an 'outline' already (although does need to learn to use his backend properly - he is only 5) So doesn't need encouragement to keep it. I know this type of bit can keep the mouthpiece steadier in the horses mouth. But if you have a horse that leans on the bit (on the forehand) then surely you want something that is a bit more moveable? 

After trying the NS Verbindend bit last night, which he didn't get on with at all, Made him lean heavier and also chuck his head around alot, something he never normally does!. I am trying the waterford to get him off my hands and onto his backend a bt more. (hopefully!!!)


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## KatB (30 August 2012)

I personally never use a hanging cheek. I dislike the dead feel it can give, but that is a very personal take on it!! Hanging cheeks don't really have any poll pressure, they just sit slightly off the tongue, which can help some horses who have large tongue conformation, or need to take the bridle forward a bit more. 

Is he fussy in his mouth generally? What do you want to achieve from changing his bit? You mention you have changed to a waterford, which can have their purpose, but I wouldn't think are the best bits for a young horse as you want them to learnt to trust the contact and take it forward, which the waterford won't help with!


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## Dizzle (30 August 2012)

They don't apply poll pressure, they lift the bit in the mouth. I use one on my little mare, mainly because she was in one when I bought her, although I believe that this was more due to streering issues. Once I get to know her a bit better I'll work towards a loose ring French link.

I tired my ex-racer in a hanging cheek once, it was possibly one of the worst rides I ever had on him, he hated it, I couldn't touch his mouth at all and it was a bit of a battle to stop him cantering sideways down the road.


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## kirstyhen (30 August 2012)

I use a Hanging Cheek for my mare who hates any pressure on her tongue. I also use a veriband, but she prefers the hanging cheek.


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## Bustalot (30 August 2012)

Is he fussy in his mouth generally? What do you want to achieve from changing his bit? You mention you have changed to a waterford, which can have their purpose, but I wouldn't think are the best bits for a young horse as you want them to learnt to trust the contact and take it forward, which the waterford won't help with!
		
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No not normally fussy. I need to get him off the bit. He takes hold and leans on it. Thus putting himself onto his forehand and defeating the object of our lateral work and suppling work we are trying to acheive. He has been in a NS team up bit to get his contact consistent and encourage him to take the bit down and stretch into the contact. Which he has now done... but maybe a little to far and he is now to low and heavy in my hands. Leans / takes hold and unwilling to flex at the jaw.  So i tried the NS Verbindend as a the 'next step up' from the team up but he obviously did not like it! 

Not sure what else to try other than the waterford. Even if it is only used a few times for him to get the idea you CAN NOT LEAN on the bit. And swapped between the waterford and the team up.


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## KatB (30 August 2012)

Ok, fair enough. 

I'd personally try a slim french link with full cheeks and keepers on, and use loads and loads of transitions, asking for flexion in the halt, and then insisting he comes up in the shoulder in the upwards transitions. As soon as he gets heavy again, downwards transition, flexion, and forward again. A few sessions of LOADS of transitions and flexions to keep the poll soft (always returning to straight before asking forward again) will get him off the forehand in my experience.


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## em_123 (30 August 2012)

If you are changing bit to help with getting him off his forehand then I would forget that idea.

Changing bits will work to a point but they will soon learn they can lean on it and you'll be back to square one again.

If you can stop in the current bit and are otherwise generally happy with it and he is happy with it then I would leave well alone at the front end and turn your attentions to the back end and get it moving more underneath him.

The best exercise for getting them off their forehand is transitions to start with.  Begin with progressive but move onto direct as these are the best for this problem.

Do them around the track at different points, not necessarily at specific letters either so he doesn't start to anticipate what you are asking, but also include them on circles, serpentines, figures of eight etc.  

When you've got him thinking a bit more forward like that then say do halt to trot and stay in trot doing some circles etc to keep him thinking.  As soon as he starts to go heavy again bring him back to halt and try the transition again.  

Then work up to keeping him in trot and when he starts to go heavy push your leg on and give him a little flex on the inside rein.  Keep a light contact but nothing he can sit and lean into.

It's not an issue that can be solved immediately in one session although you should be able to notice a bit of a difference by the end of it.  

And if he is naturally built so that he will go on the forehand he will find it difficult to solve it quickly, there is no quick fix with this it is just a case of repetition and consistency with it, but it is very acheivable.

The other thing that will help is if he doesn't already know any start with some lateral work with him, so say teach him leg yield.

When he has the leg yield established you can put this together with a canter transition at the end and you should find he is a lot lighter in the canter after a leg yield.


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## Bustalot (30 August 2012)

Thanks for the advice KatB and Em_123. Very much appreciated  He is happy in his current bit we can stop when asked go when asked  

I do have a habit of getting into a gait then staying there, rather than doing transitions. Which i know i should really be doing as he can sometimes be a little lazy of my leg also. I start the schooling sesion with them and then get wrapped up in something else and forget!  He has started doing lateral work, leg yield and baby shoulder ins. Have been doing leg yield into trot which does lighten his front end but then once in trot he will plough on through to his front end again... But as you say transition back to walk when he does this and start again. 

Thanks guys for the advice... will keep the bit the same and plug away and be more strict with my schooling.  Not sure my hands / arms can hold him up much longer anyway!! LoL


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## Mince Pie (30 August 2012)

If you find yourself doing lots of lateral work then do you transition directly afterwards - IE leg yield in walk on the 3/4 line then trot when you get back to the track, shoulder in down long side to E/B then transition onto a 1/2 circle or 20/10m circle.


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## JJ1987 (30 August 2012)

I ride a horse very similar to how you describe your horse goes. I've ridden in a normal french link snaffle and a loose ring waterford and both of these he has leant on - felt like popeye at the end of a schooling session! Again, I needed to get the back end engaged to lighten the forehand but I still found I needed a bit of help in the bit department.

I now ride him in a french link hanging cheek snaffle. This makes it a lot easier to get rein signals listened to by him and gives him something to play with in his mouth.

As many posters have put, changing the bit will not solve the problem. Within your schooling work make sure you're doing lots of transitions between gaits. Walk to trot and down again is the best transition to do I find but make sure your horse doesn't anticipate and start "leaping" into trot - you want him to push forward from behind but it should still be a smooth transition.

Also, do some transitions within the pace, for example, do some collected trot on the corners of the school and then extend the trot down the long side or across the diagonal, then bring it back again.

As soon as he gets strong in the hand again, do a big half halt to try and lift his frame and if that doesn't work, change down a pace and go back to doing a few transitions again.

If he is only 5, he'll still be learning and building the muscle to carry himself so don't punish him too much - if you get 10 minutes good work from him with him off his forehand and carrying himself then reward him by finishing the session and giving him lots of praise. At his age it doesn't matter if the session is only 15 minutes so long as he's learnt something.

No doubt I'll get shot down in flames for this suggestion but I had a big coloured 5 year old sports horse who struggled to understand how to get off my hands and carry himself. As you can imagine, this was very hard work considering his size and how strong he was! Once or twice a week I used to use draw reins but attached them to the sides of the girth instead of between his legs - similar to side reins but not a fixed point, there was lots of flexibility. This meant that I could do short bursts of riding with the draw reins and he soon learnt that it wasn't fun leaning on himself and really helped me get him lighter in front. I'm not suggesting riding in draw reins at all times but this method meant I could do a few minutes of riding with them and then I went back to just riding off the rein again. I noticed such a difference when they were took off compared to before.

Another suggestion is to do some more groundwork with lunging and possibly long reining. The young horses I've ridden in the past really appreciated having at least one session a week without a rider on so they could just concentrate on themselves and how to carry their own bodies. Doing lunge work over poles will also help and make sure you do transitions such as you would if you were riding.

With regards to lateral work, there's no point doing lots of this until the horse can carry himself a little better otherwise he won't learn correctly. Leg yield on a circle is a very good exercise for getting a horse to use himself. Just ask for a few steps across from a 15m circle to a 20m circle and back in again. Start introducing the beginnings of shoulder in - flexing his head from side to side will just make him think a bit more and is hard to do if he's leaning on your hand. Think then about moving the shoulders across - even if you only get a few steps, stop and go straight and then praise him.

Cookies if you managed to read through all this and good luck with your young horse!


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## sarahhelen1977 (30 August 2012)

I changed my boy from th NS starter to the verbindend this year, and alongside a lot of strengthening work it has helped to get him more uphill - he took a few sessions to get used to the different feeling in his mouth, but he has settled into it nicely


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