So what’s with bits these days? Back in my Pony Club days in upstate NY we had the snaffle. When you got to more advanced work in dressage there was the double bridle and if four reins were just a little too tough to handle, you could always cheat and use a Pelham bit with a “rounding” to join the curb and snaffle reins into one, thus giving you only two reins to work with.

As far as the snaffle went, there seemed to be only a few types we worked with, such as the Dee-cheek, the loose ring varieties, the Fulmer (or Full Cheek) and the Eggbutt. Most had the jointed mouthpiece but occasionally you’d see a Mullen mouthpiece although we typically liked the jointed variety. And as far as I can remember, we had “kind of thick” and “kind of thin-ish” mouthpieces, none of this “twisted wire” stuff or mouthpieces with weird little doodads hanging from funny looking center pieces. Okay, maybe you’d see a central spatula but that was about it! The reason for this simplicity in bits was the belief that the bit didn’t make a horse perform well, “good riding” made a horse perform well!

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Nowadays I hear people talk about using this kind of bit, or that kind of bit to get a horse to do “this or that”. Can’t control your horse’s head placement? Use a gag bit with its various ornery-looking contraptions of head and nose gear to exert pressure in specific spots. Horse gets away from you? Use a bit with long shanks and a high port – that ought to stop him! Whatever happened to actually “training” your horse?

My horse Hershey is nine years old now. I’ve ridden him most of his life in one kind of bit…a snaffle! I played around with the variety of snaffle I used but finally settled on a medium thickness, full cheek kind. For a while there he started getting heavy on the bit. He discovered that while going at a faster clip, he could get away with not listening to my slow down cues because all the mild snaffle did was exert a little pressure on the sides of his mouth, especially if he lifted his head up high. In my exasperation, desire to have instant results and perhaps laziness (because I didn’t try seeking out a “training solution”) I switched bits. I moved him on to a Mylar, high port, pivoting arm action, Kimberwick Pelham. It was a strong bit and seemed to make him slow down and pay attention for a bit (no pun intended) but then some other behaviors started to creep in. He started to “root” his nose to get away from the pressure or drop his shoulder or toss his head or finally just started having hissy fits while using this bit. It dawned on me that all I had done was treat his symptom – being heavy on the snaffle and not listening to slow down cues – by using a stronger force…which over time caused him to use a stronger force to try to evade the action I originally intended to cure by using a “stronger” bit! What needed to happen was training! Training him (or retraining in this case) to be respectful to the bit, my seat, my hands and my leg aids. I needed to modify behavior not bits.

I’m now back to riding him most of the time in that medium-thick full cheek snaffle. So what did I do? I worked for many days (and still enforce these lessons periodically) on a system of “not listening = harder work” – “listening = easy work or reward”. Here’s a short version of how it went. In the arena, I’d ask Hershey to trot and leave my reins loose. The minute he increased his speed beyond the speed I asked for, I’d grab up one rein and spin him tight a few times. On the last spin I’d make him lift his shoulders back onto the track (working off his hind end) and we’d set off right into the trot again – loose rein. He’d speed up? We’d do it again. Same thing for the canter (just be careful in spinning that you don’t tip your horse over…make sure you keep a balanced seat). We did this over and over again. Pretty soon Hershey got darn tired and decided that he’d wait for my cue to speed up and he’d listen to the bit and my cues to slow down because he didn’t like all that hard work of spinning if he didn’t listen. Once he was more respectful of the bit and me, I could start working on other things like setting him back on his hind end with half-halts to help him round his back and so on. I still do a lot of work using one rein while I’m riding to move his hip back and forth. Working on this helps me to think about how I control his hind end and it keeps him supple. He can do a beautiful haunches-in circle at the trot and a lovely canter on the diagonal. It also helps with our lead changes as I can shift his weight over to the appropriate hind leg when asking for the switch.

But back to bits…there is one other bit I use, especially when trail riding, and that’s the Weymouth Copper Roller or Pelham with a copper roller. I like this because essentially I can use it as a snaffle if I attach my reins to the upper ring or can use it as a mild curb using the lower ring. The curb action gives me a little more precision control on the trail when there can be a lot of commotion (with other horses) or stimuli that might cause my horse to lose focus on me. My horse is beautifully neck-rein broke and this bit, used with a nice, heavy leather rein, makes for a very clear turning cue. Not that I couldn’t neck rein him in the snaffle, I just get a little more response from my horse on the trail with a leverage bit, especially if I have to ask him to lift his shoulders, spin around in a tight spot or move quickly to the side.

The point about bits is that they should enhance the training already on the horse. They should add perhaps a finer level of precision control to the horse’s action. They should not be used as a training substitute. Your horse should first be respectful of the mildest bit you can possibly use. Once he’s submissive and responsive to that mild bit then he can be put in a leverage type bit for fine tuning his movement.

There are a lot of choices out there with bits. Most well-known trainers even have their own line of bits that have some custom design or modification to them. You have lots of detailing choices for razzle-dazzle looks. But the bottom line is there are really only two main types of bits…the snaffle with its direct rein pressure at the sides and on the bars of the horse’s mouth and the leverage bit with a more downward and back pressure on the bars of the horse’s mouth. All bits are variations on these two types – just add “fluff”.

Is there a particular bit you like to use? If so, why and how does it help to enhance the training of your horse?