Category Archives: Bits

From the bit box: Full Cheek Slow Twist

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary, Competition, Cross Country, Tack and tagged with , ,
Full Cheek Slow Twist Snaffle

This Full Cheek Slow Twist snaffle was my first xc bit

This is the oldest bit in my bit box. It is a bit I bought when I started eventing back in the early 1980s.

At the time I was leasing Dudley, a green Hannovarian/TB gelding. We started him over fences and six weeks later took him out Novice at Pleasant Hollow.

Dudley was a horse that I normally rode in a full cheek single jointed snaffle. Neither he — nor I — had ever jumped cross country and I had no idea what he’d be like on course. We’d schooled over a few isolated fences, but this was all new.

My trainer suggested the big twist as she felt it would give me a bit extra control out on course if I needed it . . . but it wasn’t going to back him off the bit too much.

How it works

A full cheek bit is a useful bit for a horse where you might have trouble turning because the cheek pieces of the bit exert pressure on the side of the horse’s mouth to encourage turning. The design of the bit also prevents the rider from pulling the bit through the horse’s mouth. If you use keepers with the bit, this adds even more stability to the bit (and also helps prevent it from catching on things).

Full cheek slow twistLike all single jointed bits, the mouthpiece the mouthpiece puts pressure on the bars of the mouth,  the tongue and roof of the mouth. You can see in the photo to the right that when the bit is bent, the joint moves forward. Some horses don’t like the “nutcracker” action of the single joint but back when I used this bit, there weren’t any double jointed bits and my horse never had any problem with it.

The twist in the metal gives the bit more “teeth” than a smooth bit, but is not considered to be particularly severe. It will impact the lips and the bars. The slow twist may help get your horse’s attention in situations where he might ignore a plain snaffle.

Did it work? It certainly made me feel more in control when riding xc, but I suspect that much of it was in my mind. Dudley wasn’t a strong horse xc and I probably didn’t need it for control, just for security.

Related Posts

Fitting a Full Cheek Snaffle

My bit box

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary, English Riding, Tack and tagged with

My Bit BoxThis morning I took a look at my collection of bits. Believe it or not, this has been vastly reduced over the years.

Some bits I’ve given to friends . . . some bits I sold (they were so expensive!) . . . and others have disappeared.

I try to keep the bits that worked for particular horses. There’s a big twist full cheek that I used on my first event horse, Dudley; the single jointed loose ring snaffle that I bought for Bogie; and several bits that I used for Kroni. Those bits have a lot of memories attached to them. And they are a lot easier to hold onto than saddles!

What’s in your bit box? Do you hold onto the bits from horses you had?

Choosing a bit depends on your horse, not just your hands

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary, Snaffle bit and tagged with , , , ,
Loose ring single jointed snaffle

This loose ring single jointed snaffle was the only bit I had for my horse, Bogie. Although technically it fit Kroni, he would accept a steady contact in it.

For years I heard “people” say that the bit didn’t matter, it was the rider’s hands that made the difference. Although there is some truth to that (poor riding can make even the mildest bit an instrument of torture), it’s not quite that simple.

Okay, sometimes it is.  I bought one bit for my horse, Bogie — a German silver loose ring snaffle. The old kind with a single joint. I rode him in dressage, xc, and stadium in that bit. I hacked in it and galloped in it. I never had any problems.

Then I bought Kroni, my Trakehner. He had some “training” issues when I bought him  that made him reluctant to take contact with the bit. He had been ridden in draw reins and liked to float behind the bit. I tried single jointed snaffles, double jointed snaffles, mullen mouth snaffles, thick bits (supposedly mild), loose rings, fixed rings, Mikmar bits, Myler bits, you name it and I probably tried it. He was always busy in his mouth.

When you hear people complain about how difficult it is to find a saddle for a particular horse? That’s how I felt about bits for Kroni.

Finally, an equine dentist explained to me that he had a low palate and a thick tongue — there wasn’t much room in his mouth for a bit. Armed with that piece of information, I chose a thinner, mullen mouth style bit. He also vastly preferred fixed ring bits like an egg butt or a baucher, which stayed quieter in his mouth. He did okay in those bits but was never great. When I finally tried a bitless bridle (sidepull) he gave a huge sigh of relief and we never looked back. Of course, that worked for me because I stopped competing and started hunting. In the hunt field no one cares what kind of bit you use as long as you can stop.

My experience with him made me much more curious about how different bits work in a horse’s mouth. Which ones have more tongue pressure, or bar pressure. Why double jointed bits have become the rage. And how certain bits work to address specific issues. Over the next few months I’ll go through my bit box (which has a lot more in it these days than my loose ring snaffle!) and talk about why I bought it and how it worked.

I’d love to hear from all of you about what bits you use and why.

A good place to start understanding bitting, is a series of videos from Dale Myler, of Myler bits. I certainly learned a lot from watching.

Here’s the first in the series.

It’s hard to hunt without your bridle

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, bridles, Commentary, foxhunting and tagged with , , ,
Freedom in his borrowed bridle

Freedom looked sharp in his borrowed bridle.

I’m usually very organized during hunt season. I keep essentials in my trailer and I have spares of most of the truly important things.

This morning, I broke with my routine and paid the price. When I looked in my trailer tack room this morning I found that my bit wasn’t clean enough. So, I took it down to the tackroom, cleaned it, and left it hanging on the hook. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up at the hunt (after an hour’s drive) to discover it was missing in action!

I did actually have a spare bridle, of sorts, in the trailer. However it wasn’t ideal — the bit was an old Myler ported snaffle that I’d bought to try on Kroni, the bridle had no cavesson and it was far from clean.

Luckily, when I went begging I found someone whBlessing of the houndso had not one, but two, extra bridles. She thought she was driving two people to the hunt and had loaded their tack before discovering they couldn’t make it. One of them fit Freedom perfectly and I was saved.

Tthe great open fields

The great open fields are a big attraction of this territory.

Of course, it’s been awhile since I’ve hunted him in a plain snaffle and with no rein stops my martingale was out of the question, but we managed fine. In situations like this I always have to remind myself that I can, and indeed, ride my horse. That I ride in a snaffle most of the time anyway, and that if I can’t ride without a martingale I have larger problems. He knew right away that I had marginal stopping power but he was a good boy and we never really got rolling.

It wasn’t a hunt I wanted to miss – it was our annual Blessing of the Hounds in a beautiful open territory that where we ride infrequently.

Riding through the Apple Orchard

The hunt ended with a ride through an apple orchard.

It wasn’t a fast hunt but it was so pleasant riding through the open territoryWell deserved treats! It was a “blessing” to be out there because this area suffered tremendous damage from the Nor’easter storm and hunt members and volunteers put in a ton of work to make the

trails accessible. Trail maintenance is one of the often overlooked benefits of having a hunt in your area. Old North Bridge Hounds invests a lot of time keeping the trails cleared and the jumps maintained and safe.

Loose ring or fixed ring: which should you use?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary and tagged with , , , , ,

Today I changed Freedom’s bit. I had been riding him in a full cheek snaffle with a jointed quarter moon mouthpiece but he was very fussy when I rode him yesterday, not accepting the bit and getting very busy in his mouth.

I went back to a bit that I used a year or so ago: a simple single-jointed loose ring snaffle. My ride today was much better. He stopped trying to evade the bit and was reaching into the contact with a quiet mouth.

So, was it the change of bit? or was he just in a better mood? To a certain extent it’s just hard to tell but the two bits do act very differently in a horse’s mouth and they could well have made a difference. While the mouthpieces certainly are a consideration, today I’m just going to discuss how a fixed ring and a loose ring work.

Fixed Ring Bits

Boucher

The boucher bit stays very quiet in the horse's mouth because the bit attaches to the cheek piece and the ring where the reins attach is solid.

With a fixed ring bit like an eggbutt, a D ring, Full Cheek or Boucher, the mouthpiece is attached to a fixed, non-moving cheek piece.

Features:

  • The bit stays centered in the horse’s mouth.
  • Bits such as a full cheek or a D ring can help with turning aids by providing lateral pressure on the side of the horse’s mouth when rein pressure is applied.
  • full cheek bit with keepers

    The full cheek bit stays stable in the horse's mouth and provides pressure on the sides to aid in turning. When used with keepers it concentrates pressure on the bars and tongue.

    The bit stays quiet in the horse’s mouth and is not as susceptible to extra movement (especially good if your hands are not as quiet as they should be).

  • The orientation of the mouthpiece in the horse’s mouth is constant even when there is rein pressure.

Fixed ring bits are traditionally used in the hunter ring. D ring bits have migrated there from the racetrack where they are commonly used to start horses.

I usually use a full cheek snaffle with green horses as they aid in turning. Read more about this type of fixed bit at Fitting a Full Cheek Snaffle.

Loose Ring Bits

With a loose ring bit the mouthpiece moves freely around the side piece rings.

Features:

Loose ring bit

With a loose ring bit the mouthpiece rotates on the rings. It's important to buy one that's long enough; otherwise it can pinch the horse's lips.

  • Because the bit moves around the rings the motion makes it more difficult for a horse to lean on the bit.
  • The loose ring bit is more sensitive to the rider’s hands and gives more “warning” of any corrections. This works for you and against you. If you have a horse that hates motion in its mouth, then the noise created by the loose ring bit can be a distraction.
  • The mouthpiece moves so that it is always 180 degrees from the rein pressure. Some horses like the consistence of the position.
  • If a loose ring bit is fitted too small, the action of the rings rotating can pinch the horse’s lips. Some people use a bit guard to prevent that. I’ve found that as long as you buy a bit that’s about 1/2″ larger than you’d buy for a fixed ring, it’s not a problem (see fitting a loose ring snaffle).
  • Because the side rings are not fixed it’s pretty easy to pull the bit through the horse’s mouth. It’s important to keep contact on both sides of the horse’s mouth and help keep the bit centered.

Loose ring bits are very common in dressage. In fact, most dressage horses are ridden in a loose ring snaffle unless they have a problem with them.

Conclusions

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what type of bit a horse will respond to best. Sometimes it changes. Kroni, my Trakehner, never liked a loose ring bit. I tried several times to introduce them to him. Bogie, my QH, loved his single jointed loose ring snaffle. Freedom? Sometimes it’s hard to tell!

Fitting a Full Cheek Snaffle

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary, Snaffle bit and tagged with ,
Full Cheek Snaffle

The Full Cheek snaffle features long cheek pieces.

The full cheek snaffle is one of my “go to” bits — I’ve used it on almost all my horses and currently it’s my non-hunting bit for Freedom. For a moment, let’s forget about the mouthpiece and focus on the function of the cheek pieces.

Full cheek snaffles are direct action bits like all snaffles. They have cheek pieces that extend above and below the bit. These serve a couple of purposes:

  • They keep the bit from sliding through the horse’s mouth (a problem that can occur with a loose ring snaffle). By not allowing the mouthpiece to slide back and forth across the tongue and bars it reduces friction.
  • They add lateral pressure to the side of the horse’s head, which can help make the turning aids clearer to a green horse.
  • When used with keepers, the bit stays very quiet in the horse’s mouth, which some horses prefer.

Are keepers necessary?

Full Cheek Snaffle with keepers

Here's a full cheek snaffle with keepers. You can see that by attaching the top cheek piece to the bridle, the bit is stabilized in the horse's mouth.

When I was growing up you never, ever saw a full cheek snaffle without keepers.

As mentioned before, the keepers stabilize the bit in the horse’s mouth. People also use them because they help prevent the cheek pieces from catching on objects (that’s one of the objections that people have to this bit — if a horse rubs up against something it’s easy for the bit to get caught).

More recently I’ve seen Full Cheeks used without the keepers. My first assumption was that it was from ignorance or laziness (and it might well be the case). However, the keepers change how the mouthpiece is positioned in the horse’s mouth. Take a look at the images below and you can clearly see the difference.

Some horses prefer the bit in one position versus the other. Of course, how it works in your horse’s mouth also depends on what type of mouthpiece you use. The bit below has a quarter moon mouthpiece, as opposed to the bit at the top of the page, which has a French Link mouthpiece (but more about them in another post).

Full cheeck snaffle with keepers stays upright

With keepers the bit stays upright in the horse's mouth which keeps the mouthpiece in a fixed position.

Full cheek snaffle without keepers

Without keepers you can see that the mouthpiece falls into a very different position. Some horses like this better. It's not as stable and it will act differently on the bars and tongue.

Full Cheek Snaffles are NOT Leverage Bits

One misconception that I’ve read about the Full Cheek snaffle is that by adding the keepers pressure on the rein will apply pressure to the poll. Nice idea, but it’s not true.

For a bit to apply poll pressure you need to have a curb chain to balance out the action of the shanks. While it looks like a Full Cheek has shanks, the reins are attached to the ring, and the pressure from pulling on it is direct. To have leverage, the rein would need to be attached below the mouthpiece and you would need a curb strap.

Perhaps it works because people think they have poll pressure?