Cross Country Bit?

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kdoug

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My horse has built up a lot of muscle strength and power over the past few months, and the loose ring snaffle with french link that we currently ride all disciplines in is no longer proving quite enough, 'WHOA' for cross country! Therefore I am looking for recommendations to give me a little more control! He sets his head lower, and leans on the bridle during the gallops between the fences, and just does not back off in time in front of the fences, which would lead me towards a gag to bring his head up slightly, however the contrasting issue is I don't want to encourage his head too high again as I have spent the past year teaching him to chill out, take his head out the sky, and move more forward/ be more bold, and he is very sensitive! Oh, he also has quite a fleshy mouth so already wears a thinner mouth piece! Any recommendations are welcomed please!!
 
I had one in a loop ring or wilkie with french link, it was just enough to allow the rider control when required, taking a pull became more of a half halt, yet not too much to make much difference to how he went generally, it would be the first one I try for most horses when the rider just needs that bit extra.
 
my 7yo does everything in a snaffle or french link bevel which give just a little something extra, i tried her in a universal a few times out hunting but she hated it and was then much better in her bevel next time out. My 4yo however is a little more 'gung ho' when it comes to XC & fast hacks, but she really doesn't like much pressure in the mouth and will only go in a myler mouthpiece atm, so I thought i'd try her in the myler combination and its been a revelation because after the initial movement it transfers the pressure to the nose so she's much happier and I can ride on a tiny contact, she has much more respect for this set up than a standard bit. It looks a bit like some horrible contraption but its actually a very fair kind bit if used correctly!
 
My mare was exactly this, had her in a loose ring then she got muscled & naturally ran with her head low. The Cheltenham just meant that I could ask for that bit of lift when presenting to a fence but ride with totally soft hands the rest of the time rather than panicking that she was going to run all the way into the fence !
 
kdoug said:
My horse has built up a lot of muscle strength and power over the past few months, and the loose ring snaffle with french link that we currently ride all disciplines in is no longer proving quite enough, 'WHOA' for cross country! Therefore I am looking for recommendations to give me a little more control! He sets his head lower, and leans on the bridle during the gallops between the fences, and just does not back off in time in front of the fences, which would lead me towards a gag to bring his head up slightly, however the contrasting issue is I don't want to encourage his head too high again as I have spent the past year teaching him to chill out, take his head out the sky, and move more forward/ be more bold, and he is very sensitive! Oh, he also has quite a fleshy mouth so already wears a thinner mouth piece! Any recommendations are welcomed please!!
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I am i this position and read about the Neule and brought a universal http://nsbits.com/ take your time and check the videos out on the individual bits
 
kassieg said:
My mare was exactly this, had her in a loose ring then she got muscled & naturally ran with her head low. The Cheltenham just meant that I could ask for that bit of lift when presenting to a fence but ride with totally soft hands the rest of the time rather than panicking that she was going to run all the way into the fence !
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Do you ride it with 2 reins?
 
Mine sounds quite similar, and goes well in a wilkie with French link. He's usually just in a jointed loose ring snaffle but now he's muscled up and fit the wilkie just gives me finer tuning :) Good luck :)
 
kdoug said:
Do you ride it with 2 reins?
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I didn't no. Purely because I slip my reins a lot xc & I didn't want the havoc of gathering 4 reins back up rather than just 2 !!

I barely rode with a contact tbh between the fences but it just meant that with a flick of the wrist I could lift her head & let her see the fence & sit back & use my body weight along with a couple of half halts to present then soften the contact to allow her to jump.

In the snaffle I was having to keep such a contact into the fences she couldn't make her shape properly, the last time I xc'd her in the snaffle it was bordering on dangerous & I retired before 1 or both of us got hurt as she was running into things with her head on the floor & just launching from any stride. She was a different horse in the gag :)
 
kassieg said:
I didn't no. Purely because I slip my reins a lot xc & I didn't want the havoc of gathering 4 reins back up rather than just 2 !!

I barely rode with a contact tbh between the fences but it just meant that with a flick of the wrist I could lift her head & let her see the fence & sit back & use my body weight along with a couple of half halts to present then soften the contact to allow her to jump.

In the snaffle I was having to keep such a contact into the fences she couldn't make her shape properly, the last time I xc'd her in the snaffle it was bordering on dangerous & I retired before 1 or both of us got hurt as she was running into things with her head on the floor & just launching from any stride. She was a different horse in the gag :)
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Thank you very much!
 
I used to use a cheltenham gag and a combination noseband which worked well for my mare but I wasn't comfortable using it. I tried riding in 2 sets of reins but I was useless at gathering them back up after drop fences and water jumps where a nightmare. I ended up using one set of reins and a neck strap as my mare can sometimes take an unexpected long one and I didn't like the idea of the bit dragging her head in if I was caught by surprise and couldnt slip my reins quick enough.
I swapped to a myler long shank combination which is a snaffle and works on the whole head, not just the mouth. My mare really respects it and I like the fact that the pressure is spread equally everywhere so only 25% of pressure is ever put on her mouth and the rest is over the poll, nose and underneath the jaw. It also has stoppers on the bit so it can only move so far which is great for the unexpected long ones. I put a fluffy on the noseband so that it can't bruise her as it is made on rawhide so a little hard. If she is getting really keen I will pop on the combination noseband as well but that has only been used once in the last year.
She previously needed an anchor to stop her so the myler has been a god send for us!
 
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