Hi my name is Carissa. I am the resident certified bit and bridle fitter here at Steadfast Equestrian. I wanted to create a series of simple tips to help equestrians start to recognize bit and bridle discomfort. This is my first installment of that!
A properly fitted bit will allow your horse to move with softness, confidence, and clarity. But when something’s off, whether it’s the bit type, fit, or function, your horse will often try to tell you. One of the most common ways they communicate discomfort? Through their head.
Here are three head movements we often see in horses who aren’t getting along with their current bit:
1. Rooting or Tucking – The Head Goes Low
Rooting, or pushing the bit down and forward, can indicate that your horse is trying to escape tongue or bar pressure. It can be that the horse is rooting the reins away from your hand or that they are reaching through the bit and being heavy on the riders hands.
Tucking their chin "behind the bit" is also an indication that your horse is trying to avoid bit pressure.
You might feel either of these when you're taking up contact. The horse dives or snatches at the reins. The horse pulls its chin towards its chest. These behaviors can be mistaken for laziness or avoidance, but often it's a sign the bit is uncomfortable for your horse. This can be due to tongue pressure, the bit sitting at the wrong height, the bit being the wrong size, etc.
*rooting is often associated as an expression of anxiety in horses, a sign that the riders hands are too strong or inconsistent and this is weighing on the horse, as well as hind limb lameness in some cases.
Here's an excellent image of bit resistance / evasion symptoms from Toklat.
2. Throwing – The Head Goes High
If your horse throws its head up or brings its head up in an exaggerated manner, especially during transitions or when rein contact is introduced, this is a reaction to discomfort. This movement allows the bit to slide back over the tongue, freeing it and re distributing pressure to different areas instead.
The horse is going "above the bit" to evade bit contact. This could be from poll pressure, bar pressure, tongue pressure, or simply too much movement within the mouth. It’s a loud reaction that riders sometimes try to suppress with a martingale, but it's one of the clearest signs that something isn’t working. If your horse does this, we need to determine the root cause of the horse's reaction and find a solution to that.
3. Shaking – Side to Side or Sharp Flicks
When a horse shakes its head rapidly, side to side or in small jarring flicks, it is again, showing discomfort and/or frustration. This could be from pinching due to bit size, pinching from an incorrectly fit bridle, uneven rein tension, or poor placement of the bit within the mouth. Shaking is a behavior that signals the horse can’t find comfort and may be trying to reset the bit’s position themselves.
*If this is a repeated behavior and happens even when the bit and bridle are not present, you may be witnessing Trigeminal Mediated Headshaking, which is caused by hypersensitivity of the trigeminal nerve. This nerve provides sensory information around the eyes, teeth, nostrils, etc. The nerve will respond as if it has encountered a painful stimulus, but it's a nerve misfire rather than a real stimulus. Despite the cause of the misfire not being "real" the pain that the horse is feeling is very real. Poor bit and bridle fit can aggravate this disease immensely.
Disclaimer:
Remember, as always, horses are not one dimensional. Their habits change, and their behaviors can change. There are so many factors when it comes to bit and bridle fitting. Finding the right bit and bridle setup is one piece of many that create these equine puzzles. While many of these behaviors do happen with bit fit issues, they can also be due to training, horse personality, and rider error. I have seen a lot of issues be resolved with a properly fitting bit, but it doesn't mean it's always the cause or the solution.
What You Can Do
If your horse is showing any of these head movements, it might be time for a professional bit fitting. At Steadfast Equestrian, we specialize in helping horses find relief, softness, and improved communication through proper bit selection and fit.
Book a bit fitting appointment or explore our curated bit selection to get started.
Next time, we’ll explore mouth-based signs of discomfort — from chewing to chomping and more.