My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
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 […]
Read MoreFor 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, […]
Read MoreToday 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 […]
Read MoreMost people think that snaffles are the mildest bits. for example, you see horses advertised with a “snaffle mouth.” The implication is that these horses have sensitive mouths and don’t require a lot of bit to control them. In truth, a snaffle is any bit with a solid or jointed mouthpiece that has no leverage; […]
Read MoreI 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 […]
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I was sorting through my bit box last week, as I’ve been selling off some of the bits that I’m unlikely to use again. Since I went bitless with my Trakehner, I have a lot of expensive bits that are now gathering dust! It got me thinking about bit sizing. There is a lot of […]
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