Myths and Lies About Bits

Debunking Common Misconceptions for Riders

By Anneliese Gillett

One of the most common pieces of advice given to riders struggling with their horse, is to "change the bit". The bit manufacturers love to hear this. "Just change the bit and your horse will be easier to control, easier to stop, easier to force into frame, bend, turn, collect, etc, etc..."

Sadly, this is the furthest from the truth. While there are indeed a few horses that have physical mouth issues (e.g. parrot mouth) and perhaps need a more specialised bit, in general, most horses take perfectly well to a normal, single-jointed snaffle. The old adage that a harsher bit will help improve or control a "difficult" horse is quite simply, a lie.

The misconception that a different bit will improve performance comes from a total lack of understanding as to how a bit actually works. If a horse stands in his stable with a correctly fitted bit in his mouth, he does not react to it at all. It is only once being ridden, with the rider's hands in control of the bit, that he responds to it, either positively or negatively.

A single-jointed snaffle either works on the corners of the mouth, or on the tongue and bars of the mouth, depending on what the rider's hands do.

Used in the corners of the mouth, the bit causes little harm (at the most it's a slight annoyance to the horse) but used with low hands and/or a backwards pulling action (also known as a "sawing" action) it acts directly on the tongue (a very sensitive organ) and on the bars of the mouth, causing a lot of pain. Just because horses do not yelp when in pain the way dogs do, does not mean that it is not painful.

The horse's immediate reaction to this downward, backward action on the tongue causes the horse to stiffen his jaw in resistance in order to avoid the pain. Added to that, the horse will then either A - raise his head, B - lower it behind the vertical, or C - lean heavily onto the bit with a very tightly clenched jaw. All of this "resistance" is a reaction to avoid pain.

It is this resistance in the jaw that the rider then perceives and labels as a "hard mouth". The same horse with a "hard mouth" is perfectly capable of having an extremely soft mouth in the hands of a more experience rider, using correct hand actions in conjunction with a nice soft snaffle. This has been proven repeatedly without fail, and I myself have experienced this countless times with new clients and their so-called "hard mouthed" horses.

So we have to come to the conclusion that our great masters are indeed correct, that any fault with the horse is due solely to a fault with the rider, and the equipment he chooses to use. A more harsh bit does not a better rider make.

To quote the great Philippe Karl, "It is the riders hands that need to be educated, not the horse's mouth". Saying that the bit is at fault is the same as saying that a road is dangerous and is the cause of accidents. Dangerous driving causes accidents, not the road.