I am a "Bit" stumped on what Bit I need!!!

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I am sure it varies locally/regionally/etc but there has been a real swing away from "pull the right rein to turn" type kids' lessons in the past 15 years or so, IMObservation.

The horse doesn't have to neckrein, anyhow -- there are other ways to steer without direct-reining, and that's often what's taught in yer better lessons these days.

You may use a curb but you rarely use a solid mouth piece plus a shank. The standard western curb bit is not used in most english riding.

Actually an awful lot of 'park' type and gaited horses are ridden in unjointed curbs. With or without an additional snaffle on a separate rein. And of course a double bridle has a regular ol' curb just like a western bridle -- it is required in dressage past the lower levels, and also used (less frequently, but still not uncommon) on eventers and field hunters and occasionally jumpers and show hunters. The degree to which people ride on the snaffle vs on the curb when using a double bridle varies WIDELY among people/horses/situations.

Most would agree not to suggest your average rider go get a solid mouth shanked bit to direct rein their horse.

I guess it jsut depends on which "most" you're polling. That is the current fad, yes. However I have been around a whoooole lot of lesson horses and kids' horses over the years (i've done a considerable amount of teaching, tho not real recently), and a significant number of them actually go *best* in a very short-shanked leverage bit, fitted out to minimize but not 100% eliminate the leverage action, with a mild mouthpiece be it solid or jointed. Not a majority of horses, certainly, but a noticeable and nontrivial number. Go figure. But they do.

I prefer to judge according to the horses' reactions, not theory, you know?

Of course I don't know how Bec is planning to teach her kids to ride, but I would *hope* that it involves learning not to rely on the reins for steering (again, this need not involve any neck-reining at all, and can be done on ANY horse, special training is not necessary although obviously the better trained the horse the better it will respond).

(Although I grew up riding at a barn where the only way to turn was to pull one rein, and you know what? There were STILL some horses/ponies that went better in a mullenmouth snaffle, or a kimberwicke, or a pelham with roundings (with loose curb strap), than they ever did in any snaffle. Horses are not great respecters of theory)

I'm sorry to get all longwinded about it, I just get a little irritated by the amount of theory that is spouted about these days (not by you specifically at all, I mean, just "in the world") that does not appear to be based on especially wide experience/observation of the complexities of what actually HAPPENS.

Sorry, rant over, sitting down and shutting up,

(And to Bec -- honestly I don't see any obvious reason not to use the bit you have.)

Pat​

 

[katrinag]

MIKMAR

 

[TMNTCkins]

I agree that I would use what ever bit worked in the past and stick with that or I would use just a plain old snaffle. Snaffles have always worked great in most of our horses.

 

[CountryMom]

Stick with the bit he used before. Get his teeth floated. Give him time to get back into shape. And I wouldn't go with the bigger bit idea period. Yes, kids pull on the mouths of horses. It happens. And horses that are taught to neck rein do not have to have a curb bit in to do so. In fact, all our guys neck rein, stop, and generally ride very well in snaffles and halters. ALL of my children were required to learn to ride a horse in a snaffle. That was my requirement. And as their legs have grown required to learn to use them properly. I hate when a horse gets hard mouthed from all that pulling they tend to do from the start. Now each of them from age 7 to 12 ride in a variety of bits - including my oldest's horse has a cathedral. Mind you this is a cutting horse and this is a VERY LOOSE REIN. The point is, she learned to not lean on a horse to relay to stop and turn them.

No matter the bit, it is always only as harsh or not harsh depending on the rider.

What isn't broke don't try to fix.

Good Luck!

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

D ring or full cheek snaffle would be fine and easy to find...for a little more stop..tom thumb...

 

[BroncoHollow]

Oh please, not a thumb thumb, talk about a nut cracker effect on the horses mouth. Please stay away from any shank to refresh this horse. Any broken mouth piece with a shank is not a snaffle, O-rings, D-rings, etc are snaffles. Please don't try to bridle the horse into a shanked bit, especially since he was working so well in the snaffle you had.
Like someone said if it ain't broke - don't try and fix it.

 

[CountryMom]

A true Tom Thumb is a great wall decoration.

 

[patandchickens]

It doesn't matter what you label a bit. It also doesn't matter what you might *think* its action is. What matters is how the horse ACTS with that bit in its mouth.

Some horses doing lesson type stuff just DO (no matter how this may upset Modern THeories) go more happily in kimberwickes or very short-shanked leverage bits (set up, as I say, with roundings sometimes, and always with loose curb straps or none at all)than with a regular plain single- or double-jointed snaffle in their mouths. Horses like this are a minority, but not *that* rare. The leverage action of the bits I'm describing is near zero, and as much on the poll as on the chin. I don't even know whether the leverage, such as it is, really has anything to do with WHY these horses like these bits... there is no way of knowing. But you gotta trust what the horse is telling you, and if he SEZ the bit works for him, well, there ya go.

If you haven't been around horses enough (or in the right places) to see horses going more happily this way... if you'd rather repeat what currently-popular books and multimedia trainers and certain commercial interests have decreed is The Party Line... then all I can say is, the real world is just a little more complex, and a little less easily predictable, than you might think.

(and before you decide that I'm some gadgety mean bit-monster, let me say that the only bits I own are simple plain snaffles, mostly boucher but a few eggbutt, plus a mullenmouth pelham I used to use for galloping the one TB cross-country... and I am VIVIDLY opposed to strong contact on the bit, draw reins, and martingales (except as used to keep reins organized in the case of a XC fall). Actually for hacking around the field I like a halter with a single leadrope just as emergency whoa, you don't really need a bit for something simple like that at all. But I have taught a lotta lotta kids on a lotta lotta lesson horses, none owned by me, from which comes the above observations.)

Just sayin',

Pat

 

[france]

I say stick with what the horse knows. If he is happy in the snaffle then stick with the snaffle. FYI when my kids ride they use a bitless bridle on my horse.