Bit butter, Bit gum and honey

[eventer and proud]

Hi all,
was at my local tack shop yesterday and found some bit butter which I have seen before, I always thought this was for making horses accept the bit but was told it was just and expensive vasiline. is it???? They did however have some 'bit gum' you gave your horse a bit just before putting the bridle on and it kinda coated the but (by what i understood anyways) it was supposed to make them more expecting/less tense in the mouth due to the moving their mouth on the bit. One of the staff suggested to try honey on the bit to see if flavouring worked? any experiences with anything? anything to make him softer will be a bonus.

 

[Leo Walker]

I had some bit butter delivered today. I'm not sure what it is, but its not vaseline. Its more liquid than that. Mines apple flavoured and I didnt like the smell but other people on the yard did, so maybe its just me?! Horse seemed to like it. Hes a bit of a stress head sometimes and I am asking a lot more of him so hes been showing tension in his mouth. We've been feeding him pieces of apple etc to get him to relax his jaw and its worked but it makes a mess and hes been tipping his head all over sucking on the apple which defeats the object! So we've gone on to bit butter. Its doing exactly what I want it to

 

[blitznbobs]

Proper bit butter is harder than Vaseline ... it's just grease but omg it smells Devine it's more like the consistency of lip balm and I use it on me as well as the horse... I don't think it makes much difference to the horses way of going but it makes my lips lovely and soft with no sore bits ... did I say it smells fabulousimus...

 

[Casey76]

Proper bit butter is harder than Vaseline ... it's just grease but omg it smells Devine it's more like the consistency of lip balm and I use it on me as well as the horse... I don't think it makes much difference to the horses way of going but it makes my lips lovely and soft with no sore bits ... did I say it smells fabulousimus...

This... bit butter doesn't go on the bit, it goes on the commisures of the lips to prevent cracking/splitting.

 

[KautoStar1]

Save your money and buy Vaseline for your horses lips and sugar lumps to help with bit acceptance

 

[Sussexbythesea]

There was a thread on gumbits the other day. My friend uses them on her advanced medium horse only before doing a test to encourage relaxation and prevent grinding. It seems to work for her horse.

https://forums-secure.horseandhound.co.uk/showthread.php?755208-Gumbits

 

[DabDab]

Proper bit butter is harder than Vaseline ... it's just grease but omg it smells Devine it's more like the consistency of lip balm and I use it on me as well as the horse... I don't think it makes much difference to the horses way of going but it makes my lips lovely and soft with no sore bits ... did I say it smells fabulousimus...

This.

For bit accepting/jaw relaxation etc I just use normal herbal treats. From the day they first have a bit in their mouth they get one every time they're bridled. Subsequently I never really have to put a bit in a horse's mouth, I just hold up the bridle and they reach for the bit. I do spend a lot of time wiping slobber remnants off a drop noseband though

 

[Leo Walker]

Well dunno what I've got then. But its definitely liquid to go on the bit.

 

[DabDab]

Well I think the term 'bit butter' sounds quite appealing and like it should be a good idea, so I wouldn't be surprised if the term doesn't get used in different ways LW. Do you just dip the bit in yours?

 

[Leo Walker]

its in a tube like you would get for hand cream and is roughly that sort of consistency, maybe a bit thinner. I just squeeze a bit on both sides.

 

[eventer and proud]

its in a tube like you would get for hand cream and is roughly that sort of consistency, maybe a bit thinner. I just squeeze a bit on both sides.

The bit butter i saw was like lip balm to keep their lips soft