Bitting experts - help please!

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sonjafoers

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I know there must be millions of posts like this one so I apologise in advance but I really do need some help with bitting!

My problem is with my 6 year old who has never accepted a contact, she is generally a crotchety face pulling difficult girl so her behaviour with the contact is not out of character but I really would like to make things easier for her. Perhaps I should state here that her teeth, back, tack etc is all regularly checked and there are no problems.

She was ridden for some time in a Sprenger Turnado which I then changed to the KK Ultra as she was opposing the contact so I felt maybe she didn't like the action and the link might help. She was fussy in both of these and one of the bit banks suggested she might like a bit that had less movement in her mouth so I bought a myler mullen barrel with eggbutt cheeks. She seemed to like this initially and would accept the contact for short periods but she is now getting very fussy in it, and my instructor felt this week that she was worse than ever!

I know there is no miracle cure but I was hoping there would be somebody on here who has been in a similar situation that can offer some suggetsions.

Thank you
 
I feel your pain...I have a rising 6 highland gelding who is very fussy with his mouth and contact. He manages to get his tongue over everything...even a myler ported comfort. I have now got him in a NS verbinden (sp?) which is salox gold and curved so theres more room for his tongue. He cannot get his tongue over at all, and is much better generally although now he has teeth issues which aren't helping- EDT coming tomorrow thankfully so hopefully normal service will be resumed.

I put my other horse, who is much more advanced - in the same bit and he is very light in contact now instead of leaning a bit- I would possibly give NS atry.
 
Thank you, that's interesting because I've seen NS mentioned regularly on here. I have tried to phone them but not surprisingly they are at Badminton so I will try again next week.
 
My mare is a bit like yours, and she has settled beautifully in a D ring KK dynamic. It is shaped to fit her mouth, but has enough movement in the links so she doesnt get fixed. She loves it, and picks it up out of my hand when I tack her up :) I love NS bits, but the loose rings were just too fussy for her, and their eggbut isn't shaped, so it gave too much tongue pressure.
 
I'm by no means an expert but a fairly cheap option to try might be a 'magic' bit - it's a loose ring cambridge mouth snaffle that I've found really useful. We put my sister's gelding in one after trying several others and he goes really nicely in it. When we first got him he was very fussy with his mouth - he'd toss his head about and alternate between leaning on the bit, dropping behind it or completely ignoring it! He's really settled and soft in this though and I've used it on a couple of others since with good results. I think a lot of horses like it because it is mild and fairly stable - IMO all the new innovations in bitting are great but often something basic can work just as well (and at 1/4 of the price!).
 
celia said:
I'm by no means an expert but a fairly cheap option to try might be a 'magic' bit - it's a loose ring cambridge mouth snaffle that I've found really useful. We put my sister's gelding in one after trying several others and he goes really nicely in it. When we first got him he was very fussy with his mouth - he'd toss his head about and alternate between leaning on the bit, dropping behind it or completely ignoring it! He's really settled and soft in this though and I've used it on a couple of others since with good results. I think a lot of horses like it because it is mild and fairly stable - IMO all the new innovations in bitting are great but often something basic can work just as well (and at 1/4 of the price!).
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Tried that...no good for us, but I have heard others have had good results with it.
 
I've just been looking these up - what a price range to consider! Martlin, I can't find a Shires schooling snaffle so do you know if it can be called anything else?
 
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