Eggbutts and Loose Rings..

[ChestnutHunter]

Bill usually has a loose ring french link bit,and i have just bought him a new bridle so I needed another.
Having said that,as soon as i got to the shop,ofcourse I forgot which one he had and bought an Eggbut...clever me

I rode him in it today,and he seemed fine with it, Im just wondering if theres any major differnce in them? He doesnt lean on the bit,so he seems to be fine with both..
just wondering what the difference is really?

 

[kerilli]

you get more movement with the loose ring, but it can also pinch in the corners. if he's happy in the eggbutt, i'd keep going with that.

 

[Shilasdair]

As Kerilli says, loose rings have the advantage that they move, so can encourage a horse to mouth and play with, the bit. The disadvantage is that some horses manage to get their lips pinched between the ring and the bit, if you see what I mean.
Eggbutt snaffles on the other hand, encourage a stiller, quieter mouth, but the horse can't nip his lips in them.
I'd usually prefer the Eggbutt, but it depends on whether you want to encourage him to move the bit in his mouth or not.
S

 

[Tinker_Belle]

As above really. If you did want to carry on with the loose ring you can obviously get rubber bit guards that help stop the pinching but I personally prefer an eggbutt.

 

[Rocky01]

what about for starting a horse, loose-ring or egg-butt? He likes to play with the bit, especially flipping it over in his mouth (I have no idea how he does it). Thanks

 

[Thistle]

For starting a horse I prefer a french link with cheeks to help the get the idea of steering.

 

[Tinker_Belle]

If he enjoys playing with his bit then I'd use one that has 'keys' . I'm sure you can get snaffles with links in them that encourage the horse to mouth the bit. Something like this; http://www.shop4bits.com/item--Full-Chee...IT-PLAYERS.html

might be worth thinking about as it has the cheeks as well as the keys for him to mouth with.

Personally I wouldn't use a loose ring on a horse, even with guards as they can still pinch & the last thing you want is a young horse having bad experiences with bitting.
My mare was broken in using a loose ring bit that came with her when I bought her & it pinched her a lot, it got to the point where she'd natch her head away when you went to bridle her. She is now fine but thats what I mean when I say it can lead to bad memories for babies. Much prefer 'fixed' rings/cheeks.

Full cheek bits are a good idea because it also stops the bit being pulled through the horses mouth & like Thistle said, encourages the idea of steering without being too harsh.

 

[kerilli]

for mouthing and early ridden work, definitely full-cheek, with keepers, either a myler 02 mouthpiece if you can find one, or a good-quality single-joint one where the two sides are virtually symmetrical (cheap ones tend not to be).

 

[ChestnutHunter]

Thankyou

 

[Maia]

[ QUOTE ]
what about for starting a horse, loose-ring or egg-butt? He likes to play with the bit, especially flipping it over in his mouth (I have no idea how he does it). Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

I have mine in one of these - it literally is the best of both worlds! I found with mine that full cheeks and eggbutts were too fixed, a frenchlink she hated along with a single joint and a straight bar whereas she loves a lozenge, really mouths nicely and is soft and relaxed. I ideally wanted a loosering fulmer lozenge as the loose ring alone offers just a wee bit too much play and I was lacking steering slightly (so needed just a little pressure on the sides of her mouth) but apparently such a bit doesn't exist!! So I tried this and its perfect