sticking out her tounge

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sams

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just to clairify, im talking about a big horse, but a horse is a horse any help would be great. One of the school horses where i work has a very cute habit of sticking out her tounge while she is being ridden. The problem comes at showes as she is penalized points for this in the dressage ring. anyone have and suggestions on how to stop this. also it is not a n ew thing, she has been doing it for some time.
 
to know how to stop it, you have to know why she does it.

We had one who did it because she had a gigantic overbite, so we couldn't blame her
 
she is a very high strung mare, and from what i can see it looks like it started out of stress and has now just become a habit, but still moreso when she is doing harder stuff.
 
By now it probably is a lot "habit" -- but, is she putting her tongue over the bit?

Obviously ck for bridle fit, mouth issues, etc. If habit, it will be extremely difficult to stop.
 
In the Morgan World we would tie the tongues of the driving horses so that they could not do that.

You can also make sure that the cavason is tight, it makes it harder for her to stick out the tongue. Another trick is to give her some pickle juice ot viniger just before she goes into the ring. She will spend the time sucking her bit rather than sticking out her tongue.
 
My mini gelding does it. I notice it the most when he doesnt quite understand what I am asking of him. But i have been told it can be a type of cribbing. They stick out their tongue and chew on it and get the same rush as when they are sucking on a pipe. Not the gas thank heavens.
 
if she does it when she has to do harder stuff I still think something is anoing her.... check the mouth, teeth, bit, bridle, saddle, back, everything.

A horse isn't doing this for fun, and there should be friendlier ways to solve it instead of tying the tongue, put viniger on the tongue, tie the noseband some more and things like that...

It's a horse, not a machine....
 
It is done with lots of breeds, the tieing down of tongues. Had a QH Stallion that stuck his tongue out when showing in halter, just when the judge came up to check him out. He looked so silly, and it was kind of funny, but we die tie down his tongue, and it helped his placings! After awhile, we didn't have to tie it down anymore. It seemed it was just a bad habit, or a way to make you give him more attention.
 
I dont' beleive tongue tieing is legal for dressage... you might want to check the rulebook before doing that option. Does the horse get ridden with a flash noseband? that may help. if it's a habbit then she will need to be trained not to do it anymore but if it's pain or something else that will need to be addressed first.
 
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Since it's a riding horse, one more thing to try might be a bit with something on it for him to "play with" with his tongue. Roller etc.
 
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again..make sure and read your rulebook before competing in bits because dressage is very strict on what they allow and don't. all good advice though if your not competeing.
 
Actually, many horses do just that with the tongue, it is just FOR FUN, or boredum.

One should always check to make sure that nothing is hurting the horse before you try other methods. As someone else said, tying of the toungue is VERY common in other horse breeds, many tongues are tied in a manner that is not noticeable to the judge. There are Miniature horse trainters who tie tongues.

I had a driving horse who used to open his mouth all of the time.(really bad habbit learned from other trainers) So I used a drop noseband to close the mouth. So then he started hanging his tongue out the side of his mouth. I started working him with his tongue tied and a tight nose band. At shows I used pickle juice and vinigar to keep the tongue in during classes. (I did not tie the tongue for the classes) It worked really well. He seemed happy and began to understand that I wanted the tongue inside the mouth. Now I no longer have to do anything, he caught on and is now a good boy.
 
I've seen a lot of horses in my life, with all kinds of breeds, and as I said, only one put her tongue out and that was because of her bite.

I don't believe in tying the tongue except for race horses to prevend them chocking....

There are other ways.

There are horses that put their tongue out as a sign of relaxment, whell, let the tongue be out then... I don't care if it doesn't look so nice, tying the tongue is NOT giving any comfort for the horse, even as vinigar and a thight noseband...
 
There are other ways.
Such as? I think it is easy to condemn when you are not dealing with the horses involved and do not know those particular circumstances...

The therapeutic riding program I volunteer with was given a huge grey Warmblood gelding - schooled to the max - a dressage star. Why was he donated? Because he likes to trail his tongue out the left side of his mouth when he is ridden. His bite is perfect. He has no pain - not in his back, his mouth - anywhere. He has been examined and worked with to find a way to keep that tongue in or a reason for him to play with it... if there was a way to make it happen, they would have found it. But no - he just likes it. And as it is not a pretty picture in the dressage ring, he came to the program to be an incredible schoolmaster - albeit one with a slurpy tongue! He even does it in a sidepull... so it is not a bitting issue.

And at the riding center's horse show this weekend, no one will care if that tongue is waving at them as he does his half-pass...
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My gelding (miniature) use to do it ALL the time in the show ring or just tied up, or just in his stall loose at home (wish I knew where that pic of him doing it was..). Anyway, since he did it regardless of situation I don't really think it was stress, probably just boredom. Someone's opinion once was that some horses might possibly get in that habit if their weaned too early. *shrug*

When he'd do it in halter we'd pinch his tongue he'd put it back in his mouth for a minute and not long later would have it out again. But he use to LOVE sticking his tongue out when we were in the line-up for Showmanship, talk about not looking good since showmanship is about perfection of detail! And I couldn't do anything about it since I couldn't touch him. GRRR!!

Sorry no suggestions though. But maybe just another story to make you feel better that its not an unusual problem.
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