contact/ bit issues for a horse with small mouth and fleshy tongue. suggestions?

charlie76

charlie76

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Our young horse has contact issues. He locks against your hand and crosses his jaw. We have tried several bits and nose bands to know avail. He has a small mouth and a very thick tongue. So much so that after riding his tushes can leave marks on his tongue! He has had the Dentist.
any suggestions for bits/ nose bands? We are currently using a drop or grackle with a thin snaffle it kk ported training bit.
If we use a cavesson you cannot steer!
Help!?
 
I ride a pony with a similar problem. We are trying the bomber loose ring tongue relief bit with a drop noseband :) She has lots of tongue and nowhere for it to go bless.

I find she resists against flashes, so have taken it off her bridles until the drop arrives.
 
Thank you for the suggestions. Definitely worth looking into. I have never seen a horse with such a fat tongue!
 
I really like my Myler french link- it's lightweight and thin, I've had several horses take to it very well when I've struggled to find anything else they like
 
I ride Mally in a Bomber Happy Tongue bit at home, however they aren't Dressage Legal, so I also have a NS Veriband for competition which is the only thing I could find that she liked and was Dressage Legal.
The Bomber Bit is quite fat though, not sure if it would suit a horse that didn't have much room in it's mouth - Mally hasn't got a particularly fat tongue or a small mouth, she just intensely dislikes tongue pressure.
 
We are having bitting issues ourselves. Currently have NS Verbindend on trial and so far ............... drum rolll .................. we seem happier in it than anything else so far to date. And we have tried a lot! Also trialled Happy Tongue Bomber bit, but didn't do much for us. I think in our case we have low palate and fat tongue and fleshy lips (not sounding hugely attractive1) and not much room for anything but very thin bit.
 
Had the same problem, just ended up in NS loose ring snaffle and that worked. I worked mine at home with no flash and only put it on for competitons. Played around to find where he was comfortable with the flash then didnt really use it. Had to balance a thinner bit with it becoming more severe,
 
We have found the NS verbindent does the trick - in the 12mm (bradoon) mouthpiece so that it takes up as little space as possible.
Have also found that leaving the bit a little lower in her mouth helps her relax with it and not try to fiddle and have her tongue over, along with a caverson she has learnt to chill with the bit and not struggle with feeling constrained by it. It did of course mean that we went through rather a gawping phase but she has chilled out alot with it now she doesn't feel trapped by it and so works really comfortably and happily into the contact - an enormous move forwards! A big thumbs up for the verbindent from us!!
 
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