How to get your horse on the bit softly. 

thank you so much for making a realistic video on getting the horse on the bit. Many videos show perfectly bred, well trained horses that don't need much encouragement to go on the bit, but this one really helped :)

Oh my goodness! Finally a video showing a "normal" horse and the "normal" struggles us "normal" riders have! Thank you so much! ❤

This was probably the best video of how to get a horse round that I’ve seen. Thank you for showing this with a horse that isn’t perfect yet. This was really helpful!

I have gone through so many videos on how to get my horse on the bit nicely without yanking and pulling on his mouth and I am so happy to have found this video! Great demonstration and excellent descriptions! It also great that you used a horse that gave some resistance rather than a thoroughly trained dressage horse since most people looking for this information don't have a well trained dressage horse! Thank you so much!

This was so helpful! This horse looks so much like mine, I'm excited to try this with him.

So glad I’ve finally found a video which isn’t about yanking in the horses face! This will be really helpful on my head tossy mare hopefully! Thanks for this:)

So wonderful to see a horse green on the issue used to help the rider understand!

I think this is the first time I've found a good explanation on how not to TAKE the bit, and what it means to ride them to it. It explains a lot! Thank you!

this is probably the best explanation I’ve seen cant wait to try it

BEST EXPLANATION AND TUTURIOL I HAVE EVER SEEN I HAVE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER RU-vid FOR THIS

FANTASTIC break down of the steps of how to get better contact and love the idea of pushing them into a wall, rather than pulling them back! Thank you so much!

Like always super helpful clear easy instruction that actually makes sense awesome thank you and you always have the best tips love your videos

Omg squeeze him into the contact makes so much since. I've been squeezing my hands and legs to get my house for years but the way you explained it just changed the way I think about it. I can't wait to get back home to work this with my boy. The biggest difference in my horsemanship have always come with changing the way I think about a thing. Thanks so much!

wow you explained it in a way i can finally understand! im going to try this today

You are legit a lifesaver! I ha e never heard of anyone say about pushing into a wall but it made so much sense to me! Thank you so much! Xx

So glad I found your videos. Your explanations allow me to understand off the horse what my excellent trainer is saying while I am on the horse. As a visual learner, these videos are a way I can visualize what she is saying.

I feel that your Account is so underrated. Your videos have helped in a variety of ways!!! Thank you for making these amazing videos!!

I tried it on my horse who has a hard mouth and whole new horse from trying this thank you for explaining it the way you did!

WOW!!! I've watched alot of videos on how to get the horse on he bit, but this was by far the best! thank you SO much.

This is absolutely amazing really helped me help my youngster without me feeling like I’m beaning mean ❤

Excellent video thank you!

Thanks great vid Dale is going beautifully now with a more bouncer forward canter and rounder. 😀

Really lovely explanation. Thank you so much, I subbed! :)

This is very helpful thankyou

This is amazing thank you so much

Very good explination on how to use your hands!

I love the way you think!

Lovely clear explanation - a big thank you - now off to practice. Xo

My pony goes to the contact by the bend of his body but he dosen't like a steady contact in the reins sso i'm thinking about using this tecnique thank you for the video !

I can see how much your horse is enjoying this lesson by how much he is throwing his head around.

As a very beginner rider, I found this video Super helpful! Thanks for the vid. Only suggestion is the audio is a little bit unclear and hard to hear what your saying. Hope you can improve that :)

This video is very clean and I think I finally understood how to get the horse on the bit, now I just need to try it out. How long sessions do you recommend for a horse that hasn't done anything like this before?

Hi Kirstin! I have just started watching your videos to reintroduce my horse to some of the fundamentals after a long break. They are lovely and well explained! I did have a question if you have time to answer. My mare is a welsh pony and is very intelligent but almost to a fault. For example, I was taught to use this "push into a wall" method in the past, and it is certainly successful for her for a while, but it also seems to begin to annoy her and she deadens to the pressure and decides to slow down instead. (She is rather lazy by nature and I have watched your getting your horse forward video as well and am going to be working on that prior to trying to get her on the bit). Let's assume I get past her laziness as I had managed to do that in the past prior to her long break. When I had tried "pushing" her onto the bit I always felt as though by keeping my rein length short and only releasing a small amount (i.e. squeezing your pinkie and releasing the pinkie) the horse isn't released enough to actually feel like they had done something correctly? I know at least with my horse I will squeeze the pinkie, apply some soft even leg pressure and she would start doing the sort of do I walk do I stand dance and then soften and drop her head a bit. I would release the pinkie pressure and leg pressure immediately but she would still continue to sort of bob her head as though she hadn't found the release spot. So instead to get the point across I thought well I need to lengthen my reins or release more rein but then you get into that tricky constantly changing rein length and losing contact to reward the horse. With your experience, what do you think the issue might be? One other follow-on. If I do manage to get her to soften (when standing) and I release the pressure she obviously will just lift her head again. How persistent and quickly should you be about making them soften for longer periods of time? The horse in this video seemed to go from halt to walk to trot all in one session and progressively hold his head for longer and longer but I don't think my mare would do that. I think by the time I got to a trot she would want to keep her head up more rather than hold it in a soft spot. Is this an issue with conditioning or me not asking her frequently enough? Is there a timetable you generally see horses follow until they learn to hold their head softly with the contact? Thank you for any thoughts/answers you may have

Hi!! I watched this and absolutely loved the way you taught and went and tried it on my horse. As i was doing it at the halt he just kept fighting the bit more and more and throwing his head up and moving backwards. He does have a tendency to be dramatic, but i am wondering if i didnt quite understand right what to do with my hands and am doing it wrong?? I dont want to cause him discomfort, which based on his reaction i felt as though i was. Any advice?

Thank you for the video. What is the correct way of backing up a horse?

this helped a lot! thank you! do you squeeze both ring fingers or only the inside ring finger?

Hello, wonderful video! However, I take lessons and I need improvements I can make as a rider about get the horse on the bit on the place, basically I’m requesting a video of that 😄

Good video! Wish the sound wasn't so muffled.

Whenever I’m riding I have my fingers and hands positioned right. But I’m trying not to pull the horse’s mouth too hard and the horse keeps throwing his head up (like earlier in the video) making me lose the reins a little bit and my grip. Would this help solve that?

Hello , when the horse pulling the bit after jump , what we do ? He is putting his head down and he pull the bit

What can I do when my horse moves backwards in halt?

I don’t understand. Last year I could do this easy. The horse I was riding the most was sensitive and a bit stressful, but she would go in such nice frame and stay super calm even when I was jumping. Now, I really have lost it. All the horses I before could get on the bit I now can’t, and when I ride the same horse it feels and looks so much worse. She is going much faster and is being so stressed. I could do it in all the gaits with many horses. Now, I can’t do it with any horse or gait? It has made me lost interest in riding because I’m just being worse than before. I don’t now what I have started to do wrong?

Horses love bits this video is proof see how much hes shaking his head thats cause hes happy. This horse is in so much pain.

Can’t hear a word, just mumb,es. Sorry.

this video is hard to watch! you are trying to teach on the bit but the horse at the stand still is so unhappy its not funny!