My boy has developed a tongue problem (I think that's what it's called).
When things are getting a little more demanding - like asking for shoulder in or whatever)he starts bobbing his head and out it comes - the tongue. He will just let it hang there for the rest of the workout.
What can I do? He has a hanovrian bridle with french snaffle bit. He had his teeth done in November.

Hey, that sounds like me! When things that a bit demanding for me and I concentrate really hard, my tongue sticks out. Carola, do you remember at the Robert Clinic, he kept telling me to relax my lips!!! :O

Seriously though, I have actually only just read about this in Podhajsky's Complete Training of Horse & Rider. And I just need to go back and review it, and I'll post something about what he said. Stay tuned....

Carola, the horse that Paula rode at Robert's clinics kept dropping his tongue out. Did you take any notes about what Robert said about the tongue. I remember by the end of the third day his tongue was not dropping so much.

Well, (that's one of those things..... )
Generally a tongue problem is considered a submission problem and may be caused by tension.

I believe the cause of a tongue problem might be
a)ill fitting equipment and/or
b)nervousness (tension)in horses that were mentally "over-challenged"
c) playfulness
(If the cause is not dealt with straight away, a habit may develop as the horse will associate pushing out the tongue with relief (painful bit/hands), distraction (demands/fear) or pleasure (it's just fun to fiddle with the bit))

If any of the above was the cause and "pushing out the tongue" brought the desired effect(relief/distraction/fun) to the horse it might have become a habit despite altered conditions.

Yes, Kelley I remember but I can not recall if Robert said anything specific. I guess avoiding the "trigger" would have been the answer. We should ask Shahron, may be she remembers.

I went to a Judges clinic a couple of years ago (with Uwe Spenlen) one of the demo horses had a tongue problem - horse played with his tongue like a yo-yo: in out in out. Quite funny. The interesting part was - and Mr. Spenlen supported this motion: the horse was relaxed and working well and submissive. So the discussion evolved around how to address this on the test sheet. Should the horse be marked down? Mr. Spenlen advised that in THIS particular instance a penalty would not be justified because no tension or resistance was noticable.

However, like Annette, I will do a little more "research on it"....