How Severe Is Your Bit Really?

Opinions on how severe bits are differ. Just recently, someone said that French link snaffles and Waterford chains are very mild; meanwhile his opponent was gasping for breath and calling him a horse abuser! As with everything, bits are only as severe as the hand that uses them but some bits really do look like torture devices. Some horses will need very thin bits, as they have a large tongue and are unable to accommodate larger bits. Other horses have short lips and can only tolerate a thin bit, as it does not clank against his teeth. Some horses just like any random bits while others will take ages to accept one they like. But unless you can somehow communicate with your horse through telepathy, you probably will never know how harsh a bit actually is. Or can you?

You can! We had heaps of fun trying different bits on ourselves and discovered that some so called mild bits were really just the opposite and some awesome super bits did not live up to expectations. To start with, take your entire bit collection into the house and clean them thoroughly to avoid grass and slobber stains on you. Remove your socks and roll your pants up. Get yourself in a sitting position and loosely tie the bit against your shinbone or ask someone to hold it in place. Place as much pressure on the rain as you would when riding. Do half halts, turns and stops. You will soon realise which bits are the more severe ones. If you are riding with curb bits, place the bit either on your foot and tighten the curb chain underneath or place the bit on your shinbone and tighten the curb chain around your calf. Pull. Yep, it's not nice, is it?

Our results were as follows:

Simple loose ring snaffles:

• Nutcracker effect barely noticeable unless used with down force.
• Hardly any pinching at joint, that would be without the horse's tongue, you can simulate a tongue using three fingers between the bit and your shinbone.
• Clear left and right action.

Double jointed bits (French link, Dr Bristol, half moon etc):

• The joint did put some force on the bone and pinched slightly.
• Good left and right action.
• The Dr Bristol and French link can be very uncomfortable.
• Half moons are nice on the shinbone, but might squeeze tongue though.

Waterford snaffle:

• It wraps around your shinbone nicely but the links pinch.
• No significant left or right action, might be confusing.

Mullen mouths:

• Centred pressure.
• No significant left or right action, no good for bending.

Rubber bits (happy mouth):

• The mullen mouth is more flexible, therefore gives slight left and right action.
• The loose ring snaffle and peanut bit have no different actions than their metal cousins so it must be the taste or structure that some horses like.

Dutch gags:

• Are very comfortable as the pulling action lifts the bit and doesn't put too much pressure on the bone.
• We found the third ring to be slightly over the top.

Kimblewick and Pelhams:

• Surprisingly, straight bar Kimblewicks and Pelhams are much more severe on your leg and can hurt quite a bit.
• The jointed version is much softer.
• A padded curb chain does feel nice!

Myler bits

• Curved nicely around the leg shape.
• It puts pressure on bone when pulled, as it seems to come directly on the "tongue".
• No significant left or right action unless you own the model that has lifters for reins and cheek pieces.

KK Sprenger Bits

• You gotta love the fancy look of them!
• Some of them were okay, but really no different from ordinary ones once tested, so I guess the horse will have to tell you how it feels.
• What was astonishing though, was the new Bemelmann's Weymouth from Sprenger, it hardly hurt at all when tightened and we loved the gentle pressure.

Hackamores and Crossunders:

• Fleece hackamores hardly do anything - no left/right action and odd handling.
• Western hackamores were more direct and had adequate left and right handling.
• Crossunders didn't really work on our legs, but they seemed to work well although it put pressure on the left side of the poll when you used the right rein. We weren't sure whether that was due to the fact that we used human legs instead of horses heads....

Always remember that you are dealing with a horse's mouth. The readers that have been with us for a while might remember the article about bitless bridles, where we discovered that a horse's lower jaw bone is sharp enough to cut an apple on it! So beware of how you use your bit, and if in doubt, get advice from more than one respected instructor or friend. Opinions may vary! Don't forget to ask your horse though, he may be very opinionated himself.

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