Check your Bits for wear and damage

I almost always wear gloves when handling horses. Mainly because my hands have been chewed up over the years, splitting from dryness, being cut, etc., and I always check out my bridles before I put one on a horse, making sure it is still in good working condition. Part of that is running my hand over the bit mouthpiece and swivels. A couple days ago, I happen to grab a bridle with a snaffle bit, to put on my horse Hays, with a bare hand and I felt burrs on the snaffle mouthpiece. This was a snaffle with a solid copper mouthpiece. Copper is a bit softer than steel or sweet iron and I reckon after years of riding in it, it just got a chewed up some. So I changed out the bridle for an almost brand new snaffle bit to ensure my horse's comfort.

When I was running annual arena challenges, I would often get donations from horse tack distributors and every once in awhile, not often, but it happened where I would receive bits that were pretty cheap. Like the snaffles bit that are offered for $20 or $30.  I keep these lower quality items off the prize table and would just donate these bits to a horse rescue with the caveat that these bits were low quality and be careful using them. <br><br>

While some may balk at $120 snaffle bits, it does pay to buy quality gear. This may be more apparent when buying braided rawhide hackamores. Beveled strands of rawhide and tight braids on a quality hackamore (bosal) from well known braiders, and taking care of those works of art, will pay off. You don't want to buy a cheap $60 rawhide bosal with rough parts that would sore up a horse's nose. I realize the many people can't afford really nice gear - I've been there and it's taken me a long time to accumulate really good equipment - but quality tack with usually last a lifetime.

I think my horse Hays was supervising the bridle/bit choice when I discovered the burrs on my decades old snaffle with solid copper mouthpiece.

Going Bitless?

Over the last couple of years I have had several people write me with positive comments about riding in a Hackamore or riding bitless like I am some throwback to the pre-industrial age.  And while I have been accused of being a cave man by my wife,... for the record, I have nothing against bits.  I used to ride my primary horse, Junior, in a broken bit with short shanks that some people call an "Argentinian snaffle" but is really not a snaffle because it had shanks, and of course shanks provide leverage.

Junior will never again be ridden in anything by a Hackamore since he cut his toungue several years ago, and while his toungue is fully healed, I just don't have a need to use anything else with him.  In the picture at top left, I am holding a hackamore on the left and on the right, a bridle with a snaffle bit.  In the picture below, on the left I am holding a broken bit, with shanks - this is what some call the Argentinian Snaffle but it is not really a snaffle at all.  The true Snaffle bit is on the right. 

So I am not going bitless with Junior because I have something against bits. In the past I have used several different types of bits. I think excellent horsemen can actually use the differences in bits, of which some are large differences and some just subtle. I ain't one of them.  Years ago I gave up using a correction bit on a horse when I figured it out that I didn't know what I was trying to correct in the first place.

Bits, even spade bit and sliding gag bits, are not by themselves dangerous. Same as a gun,...just a tool. But any bit in the hands of someone who just doesn't know how to use it or is heavy handed, it can hurt a horse and probably ruin him to a bit, or at least have that horse expecting the worst from people when a piece of metal is shoved into his mouth.

Some people believe, me among them, that horses can get stale riding them in the same bit, so the occassional switch to a hackamore or a different bit can be a good thing, as long as you are fair and judicious in using it.  

If your horse is soft in the bit or rig you ride him in and he does what you ask him to, without bracing or head tossing, then there is nothing to say you ever have to ride him in anything different. Some people can get by in a snaffle bit all their life. Throw in a good hackamore with that and I'm one of those people.

Cathy wrote with me with the following questions: ”My Palomino gelding Jimbo just graduated from the snaffle to a correction bit. His head (or it could be his neck) seems to be stiffer. Should I expect him to perform immediately like he did in the snaffle or is there usually some type of delay in a horse getting use to the new bit.”

I am not going to have much of an answer for you Cathy, but my question would be – if your horse did well in a snaffle why would you want to go to a different bit? To me there is no mandatory path of bit progression where your horse must transition to a correction bit, then possibly into something else. And I have to ask   “what are you trying to correct?”

I am assuming that the correction bit you are trying is a shanked bit with a broken mouthpiece. The mouthpiece probably has a rounded or square port. You are probably using a curb chain on this bit as opposed to the probable curb strap you used on your snaffle. The correction bit, with its sharp corner of the ported mouthpiece, the shanks and the curb chain all will allow much greater leverage than a snaffle bit. Meaning the force (and pain) on the horse’s mouth, given the same amount of pull on the reins by the rider, is much greater. Add in the shanks (being pulled rearwards) tightening up the curb chain under the jaw could all combine to give you a different horse than the one you rode in a snaffle.

I don’t know what you mean by your horse having a stiff neck or head, with the correction bit. He may be bracing against the bit, or maybe his head coming up trying to find a relief from the pressure in his mouth or under his jaw. If your reason for going to a correction bit is to be able to ride one handed with more control better, you may want to try a less severe bit such as a solid bit with a low to medium port, sometimes called a grazing bit.

How you handle the reins, your quickness and force has a lot to do with the horse’s reaction. My wife thinks that before a person rides a horse with a bit in their mouth, they need to carry one in theirs for awhile. Sorry for not being much help. I’m probably the wrong person to ask about the correction bit. I’m pretty happy with a snaffle bit and a hackamore and don’t think I’ll be using anything more severe than that. Good luck and safe journey.