CAN ANY1 HELP WITH MY VERY EAR SHY HORSE......

[jeremy]

Hi,

I am hoping some1 may have some advise for me about a horse that I rescued last year.
He is a 5yr old 17hh thoroughbred that came to me in horrific condition. He was extremely underweight, dehydrated, full of worms and basically on his last legs!!!
I could not touch him without him flinching and caused him too much trauma putting his head collar on so decided to let him follow the other horses when turning them out and bringing them back in. After a lot of TLC he has now come round and lets me do almost everything with him, lead him, groom him, stroke him, even long reign him, lunge him and I have now backed him.
The problem is the tips of his ears!!! I can touch at the top of his mane, in between his ears and although I can tell he is not keen,, he does let me. He is fine to put his head collar on now but when it comes to the bridle he is quite dangerous. When I try to put his ears through the bridle he goes ballistic, head shaking and nearly knocking me unconscious! I have solved the problem by taking the brow band off the bridle completely and when I put the bridle on I undo one of the cheek pieces, put the head piece over his head, bit in his mouth then fasten the cheek piece back up.
I would be grateful if any1 had any tips or ideas that you think might help.

Thanx

Gemma

[damsel]

Well i have the same problem with my WB he is 17hh and too bloody tall for me to fight with him over a bridle. I know i am going to sound like a clicker training freak but it really works, just start by touching his ears with your hands and go from there. Erik(my WB) hated his ear being touched as he had most of it ripped off when he was a baby and it is badly scared but he is now fine when i rub it and scratch the outside. Try it and see if it worksx

[jeremy]

Thanks for the advise, i will definately give it a go.
I will try anything at all to get him to let me put his bridle on safely. Its such a shame that he trusts me in every other way but this.
Although,, he is such a good boy to have let me get this far with him.
I think he has been baddly beated and maybe tied down in the past so any progress at all is a big bonus.
Thanks again

[Cruiseonamiro]

Undo the cheek piece on one side. Basically, you don't put the bit in first. The bit is hanging from one cheek piece, you put the head piece over their ears like a headcollar, and then you put the bit in, and do the cheek piece up. My horse has fungus in his ears and always had to be bridled like this. It's a bit compliacted to start with but becomes habit pretty quickly, until I got to the stage where I had to lern how to put a bridle on normally again!

[LauraBR]

I haven't any advice as I had a horse on loan with view to buy who was the same with the bridle and I did the same as you- gradually added bits of bridle!

Sounds like you have done a wonderful job with him

[Cop-Pop]

My TBx was like that - I used to piece the bridle together round her head!! She just got used to it over time and is a star now. My ponio is also a bit head shy but bribery with polos works with her - she only gets a treat when the bridle goes on and off and it seems to be working. Both are rescue cases but are so different with their issues!!

[kanter]

Personally I wouldnt make a big issue of touching his ears - does it really matter if you can't? I would carry on putting the bridle on as you are. You should be able to have a brow band though - just thread the head piece through after it is on. If he gets a bit better you may get to the point where you can get the head piece, browband, and noseband on in one piece by pulling the browband down as far as it will go, and putting the bridle on from above (might need a stool!) without the bit attached. if you get a bridle with clips to the bit for working at home you can then just clip the bit on . I used to ride an event horse with fungus ears (as we called them) and he was always bridled up like this. Funnily enough you could take the bridle off in one piece and he didnt seem to mind his ears being touched then!

[Bossanova]

I agree with Kanter- you more you push it, the paranoid they get so remove the stress from it and always undo the bridle

[jumpthemoon]

One of my horses is like this - I couldn't get a headcollar on her when I first got her. I still have to be careful when I put her bridle on but after two years of patience I don't have to take it apart any more! You can't rush them when they are like that - the calmer you can keep them when the bridle goes on, the quicker it will become easier to do

[Stoxx]

My horse also used to be like this. I continued to piece the bridle together on him for over a year and then started to see if he would accept me putting it on normally. If he got worried I'd walk away let him calm down and go back and put it on in pieces again. Gradually he learnt nothing dreadful was going to happen and was fine with it.