Tag Archives: bits

Orienting your bit correctly

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bits, Commentary and tagged with , ,
Bit attached backwards

I came upon a bridle last week where the bit was attached the wrong way. With double-jointed snaffles, it's not as obvious as a single-jointed bit so you have to look carefully at the way the mouthpiece curves.

What’s wrong with the picture on the left? The bit is attached backwards so that the orientation of the mouthpiece is wrong.

With some bits, it can be difficult to tell the right way from the wrong way so it’s important to take a good look at it before putting it in your horse’s mouth. If the bit is oriented incorrectly, it can cause your horse pain.

Bit in a horse's mouth from bitbankaustralia.wordpress.com

You can see from this photo how the bit fits into a horse's mouth. Photo from www.bitbankaustralia.wordpress.com.

Think about the shape of a horse’s mouth and how the bit fits into it. For the bit to sit properly it has to be oriented so that the curvature looks like a gentle U. This allows the bit to curve forward — it will drape on the horse’s tongue, not poke him in the palate and rest on the bars.

Bit correctly oriented

Here's a very similar bit that is correctly oriented. You can see how it matches the shape of a horse's mouth.

Here’s another view of the same bit.  In this angle you can see the curvature of the mouthpiece.

Here you can see the curvature in the mouthpiece

Here you can see the curvature of the mouthpiece.

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.

Bits and the anatomy of a horse’s mouth

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

Many people choose a bit because

  1. It’s already in their tack box
  2. Everyone else at the barn rides in one
  3. The bit doesn’t matter — it’s the rider’s hands that matter, or
  4. The horse was ridden in the bit forever, so why change?

Hey, those are the criteria I used for selecting bits for years. My first couple of horses were easy: I rode them in either a loose ring single jointed snaffle or a full cheek snaffle (generally with a single joint).  It took a horse with who had a strong opinion about bitting (Kroni) to make me think about the anatomy of a horse’s mouth — and why some horses do better in a certain type of bit over another. And another horse who has more get up and go than whoa (Freedom) to make me start to think about the need for control and lightness.

I’ve written plenty in this blog about riding bitless — ultimately, that proved to be the best solution for Kroni — but I’m not against bits. They offer the most direct form of communication and that communication can be very subtle. With a horse like Freedom, riding bitless, at least in the hunt field, simply isn’t an option. I suppose that I could use a hackamore, but those exert a tremendous amount of pressure on the horse’s very sensitive nose. I needed to find a bit that could still catch his attention during the adrenalin rush of galloping in the hunt field but which wasn’t so severe that he would curl up behind the bit and not accept contact.

Let’s start with the way that bits work in a horse’s mouth:

This diagram shows the anatomy of a horse's mouth. The areas where a bit can exert pressure include the tongue, the corners of the mouth, the "bars", teeth, palate and chin groove. Which bit you choose depends on how your horse responds to the pressure.

When selecting a bit you need to take into consideration the anatomy of that horse’s mouth. Kroni had a thick tongue and a low palate. This made many bits, especially single jointed bits, uncomfortable for him. He did far better in a mullen mouth bit (no joint) that wasn’t too thick. While thicker bits are generally considered to be milder (in theory they disperse the area over which the horse feels the pressure of the bit) and thin bits to be severe, for him, the thicker bits just didn’t fit well in his mouth and the joint (especially the single joint) was hitting him in the roof of his mouth. Ouch! He seemed more comfortable in double jointed bit designs but even those made him very fussy.

I’ll look more specifically at some of these bits in future posts.

More resources on bits and the anatomy of the horse’s mouth.

Radiographic study of bit position within the horse’s oral cavity, J. Manfredi, HM Clayton and D. Rosenstein, Michigan State University.

Bit by Bit, the Whys and Hows of Bit Science, Emily Esterson

Send your old snaffle bit to India

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Horse breeds, Snaffle bit and tagged with , , , ,

www.friendsofmarwari.org has a goal of collecting 1000 snaffle bits this year to replace the harsh locally made bits.

While most of us can walk into a tack store and find a plethora of bits for sale, in India, many working horses are subjected to bits that look like medieval torture devices — crude bits that are made locally.

An organization called Friends of Marwari/Kathiawari Horse UK, which was formed in 2008 to promote the welfare of Marwari and Kathiawari horses has started a program to collect donated snaffle bits and offer them to local horse owners in exchange for the bits they have been using. Their goal is to collect and distribute 1,000 bits in 2010.

Marwari and Kathiawari horses are breeds unique to the desert regions of India and are distinguished by their curly touching ears.

This bit bears little resemblance to the snaffle bits used in the the U.S.!

Local bits tend to include spikes and rowels on the mouthpieces. It’s unclear whether this is caused by ignorance or tradition but these are bits that cause the horses pain and injury.

The good news is that the team of five FOMHUK members flew to India in March to distribute the first 200 bits that were collected were well received. The self-funded team travelled by horse safari from just outside Jodhpur heading South West, down the Luni river some 250kms to reach the biblical scene at Balotra, the largest horse fair held in Rajasthan. Members of  team were the only westerners at the Fair. They were guided and greatly assisted by the active involvement of Rawal Devendra Singh Nawalgarh, a major breeder and Rajasthan representative for the Indigenous Horse Society of India and his friend Thakur Durga Singh Mandawa.

There was a large gathering each time bits were being donated. Team members explained the benefits of a kinder bit to the horses’ mouth. Locals were encouraged to exchange a number of the more severe and crude locally made bits for the kinder UK-donated snaffle bits.

FOMHUK requests that horse lovers worldwide keep collecting and donating their surplus bits sized between four to five inches wide. They are also looking for future funding of the two shipments each year which are planned to take place to coincide with the major horse fairs of Rajasthan.

A list of Bit Donation boxes and collection sites throughout the UK can be found on the website: www.friendsofmarwari.org.uk. Or by emailing info@friendsofmarwari.org.uk for details.

Bitting up

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, English Riding, foxhunting, Snaffle bit and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

For several years I rode Freedom in a loose ring, single jointed snaffle.

I have always been a snaffle kind of rider. Partly it’s because I generally have had horses that require more kick than whoa; partly it’s because I use other aids to control speed and rhythm; and partly it’s because I like a horse to take a solid contact with the bit.

Look in my bit box and you’ll see  a wide range of snaffles. Single jointed, double jointed, Mullen mouth, loose ring, egg butt, full cheek;  the ”harshest ” bit is a big twist.

This spring, out in the hunt field, my trusty  box of snaffles proved to not be enough-even with a running martingale my horse was leaning on the bit and running.  This was new for him. Until this year he tended to curl behind the bit. So, even when he got excited more bit wouldn’t have helped; instead it  would have made him back off the bit even more. Mostly I worked at getting him to take a steady contact.

Add to the mix a rotator cuff injury that  makes my shoulder ache when he pulls and I realized a new bit was in order. But, which one? There are an infinite number there! I quickly realized that i don’t know enough about how bits work to make an educated decision.

This series of articles on bitting will cover what I learned about different kits and how they work in a horses mouth. Like most things horse related there is no one right answer; the bit that works for your horse is the one that is comfortable in his mouth and gives you enough control to do your discipline safely. Note – Bree’s comment made me want to amend this statement. I, too, agree that you should always use the mildest bit possible and that often there are holes in training that need to be fixed rather than putting a harsher bit in a horse’s mouth. It’s certainly possible to half halt using your back or your thighs, and Freedom definitely responds to a verbal cue to slow down.

However, I think there are times when a different bit can work better. When out hunting, for example, I like to leave my horse’s mouth alone most of the time and let him figure out the terrain. But — and it’s a big but — there are times when I need an immediate response (say a hound comes out of the woods in front of you) and ultimately, that’s why I chose to change bits this year.

But, more on that later!

On the Bit(less) Bridle: A Comparison

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Bitless bridle, Commentary, equestrian, equine, horses, Reviews, Tack and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

I have nothing against riding a horse in a bit. In fact, until recently, it wasn’t even an issue. I’ve ridden all my horses in some form of snaffle and never thought much about it.

For my Trakehener gelding, bits have always been an issue. During the 12 years that I’ve owned this horse, I’ve yet to find a bit that really worked for him. Part of the problem is that he has a thick tongue and a low palate, which doesn’t leave much room for a bit. He is also uber sensitive and needs rock-steady hands (and of course his expressive movement makes that more difficult to achieve).

Every ride he would spend a good part of the time fussing with his mouth. Keeping his attention was difficult. I had reasonably good success with bits that stayed stable in his mouth: Happy Mouth Mullen Mouth with either eggbutt or D cheekpieces, Baucher with a french link, Myler Full Cheek Triple Barrel Mullen, for example, but none really addressed this issue. Yes, focusing on energizing his hind end helped, but he still fussed with his mouth. I’m not a big fan of using a crank noseband, flash or figure-8 to keep a horse’s mouth shut; to me that is addressing the symptom rather than the cause.

My first foray into bitless riding was with the Dr. Cook’s Bitless Bridle. I’ve read excellent reviews about this design, which seems to work for many horses. Here’s how it’s described on their Website:

The Bitless Bridle™ . . . allows the rider to communicate by painless pressure that is distributed around the whole of the head. Whereas a bit often applies harsh pressure to the mouth, over a small area, The Bitless Bridle™ distributes its gentle pressure to far less sensitive tissues and distributes even this amount of pressure over a wide area. It does this through two loops, one over the poll and one over the nose. Essentially, it gives the rider an inoffensive and benevolent method of communication by applying a nudge to one half of the head (for steering) or a hug to the whole of the head (for stopping).

Here’s a diagram, also from their site, on how the bridle works:

Dr. Cook’s Bitless Bridle

Unfortunately, this design didn’t suit my horse, probably because of the poll pressure. His reaction to even the slightest pressure from the bridle was to try and rear. Instead of taking any kind of “contact” he sucked back and avoided any pressure from the bridle, no matter how much leg I put on. I tried this for a few weeks, and then moved on. I don’t think that it’s a bad design, just not appropriate for this horse.

Next, I tried a jumping hackamore, which is similar to riding in a halter. The result was okay, but not ideal. I did not feel that I had a lot of control, but felt fine for going out on hacks.

Last year I became intrigued by the LG Bridle because it operates in a completely different way, using pressure across the nose, and in some positions pressure from a curb chain, rather than poll pressure, and uses the more traditional approach of a direct rein aid — to turn left, you use your left rein (the Dr. Cook’s bridle, due to its cross under design “pushes” on the opposite side of the horse’s head to achieve a turn). It also can be calibrated in its effect with milder and stronger settings. I’ve posted a review here on the bridle, but in short, it’s a great solution for my horse. With this bridle, my horse will take contact. He doesn’t lean and isn’t heavy in my hands, but is steady and consistent. After schooling him in the traditional position, which has a mild mechanical action.

I still find that I have to be careful to calibrate the strength of the bridle to the task. For most ring work or trails, I attach the reins in a side pull position. For more exciting events such as foxhunting or hunter paces, I revert to the conventional configuration. I have not ever tried attaching shanks to the bridle which would make it a conventional hackamore.

LG Bridle

Next, I’m interested in trying the Micklem Multibridle which has a more conventional appearance, can be used with or without a bit, and which also allows different levels of control. I also like the way it’s been anatomically designed so that it fits a horse’s head more effectively. One of the complaints that I have with the LG Bridle is that the cheekpieces tend to creep up toward my horse’s eye. More on that design to follow soon!

Miklem Multibridle