Pondering bits

When I started lessons with KT, she saw my bit and was displeased. She took my French link and put it around my hand and pulled the rings together, and told me that crushing effect works on the horse's jaw. I disagreed - the horse's jaw is not simliar to my finger bones. Pondering this, I wondered in what situation would a rider be able to exert that type of pressure, how would one crush a part of the horse due to the extreme flexibility of a French link?





Aha. I've got it. From the ground. Stand next to the horse, take a rein in each hand, and cross your hands so the reins make an X under the muzzle of the horse. Then pull the reins in opposite directions, pulling your fists apart. That there might crush something. I think that might be a good example of a nutcracker effect. A nutcracker effect is when two or more pieces exert pressure toward each other with a piece of the horse in between them, at least, that's my definition. But it's impossible from the saddle to exert this kind of pressure.

I saw a guy on YouTube actually crack a walnut using a snaffle bit. To do so, he needed to bring the rings together. How would you bring the rings together while mounted?

I recently read that the only way a single jointed snaffle can poke the roof a horse's mouth is when both reins are pulled straight down while leading the horse on the ground. KT said recent studies showed the movement of a single-jointed snaffle in the mouth, the joint moves forward on the tongue, not up or down, when the rider pulls both reins. So, in my mind, both types of snaffles are still mild, even if they work equally off the tongue and the bars.



My trainer told me to go back to my 1988 model single jointed snaffle (shown above), a bit I bought before I owned a horse. Hm.

I tried an imitation Myler comfort snaffle recently and Mara thought it was even milder than the french link. After the whole Legerete thing where they insisted that any bit that puts pressure on the tongue is the devil, well, I started thinking about that.

Reading the Myler site, they are adamant that a horse cannot swallow with a bit that puts pressure on the tongue. But wait, how is it that horses can drink with various bits then? If they can't swallow, they cannot drink, right? Or, while drinking, if you pull the reins does the horse have to spit out the water because it won't go down?

I talked to KT again and she said, "Better to ride with a mullen mouth than a jointed bit. Or better to find an imitation Myler because you're just paying 100Euros for the name."

Below is my favorite Myler, because it has the two rein settings for customizing it from a regular snaffle to a leverage bit. You can even put a curb chain on if you feel you need it. So many options, I like options. But too expensive, and I cannot find one used that fits my horse's tiny mouth.




Below is an interesting Myler, hmmmm...this seems very familiar: )




A Myler Kimberwick? (Actually it is Kimblewick after the town where it was first produced.) I like it, except for the little inner rings that look like you have less choice about where to put your reins. I think the beauty of the Myler is the semi-flexible joint, so the two halves of the bit can move independently of each other, and if you do that on-the-ground-pull-straight-down-on-both-reins thing, you get only a minimal nutcracker effect.

Here is an article with radiographs showing how some bits lie in the mouth. It doesn't answer many questions though.

I found a used Kimberwick on ebay (1/10th the price of a Myler) and figure it can't hurt to try it and see what the horse thinks. Supposedly the low port offers some sort of tongue relief (this is hard for me to imagine). Interestingly, it's called a "Springkandare" in German, which means "jumping curb bit" or "unbroken leverage bit."





My whole life I've thought they were ugly. OK I'm still alive and I still do.

There are three levels of adjustment for a Kimberwick. Obviously the lower rein slot makes this a leverage bit. Aarene tells me the upper rein slot makes it a minimal leverage bit. And using neither slot, just attaching the rein to the D, there should be no leverage at all. And then there's the option of leaving the chain off.



It should arrive in a few days, I'll let you know what the horse thinks.