myler combination bits - anyone tried them?

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Yes, I ride in one. My horse was fussy in the mouth so upon a bitting professionals advice we switched to this and it's made him much lighter and less fussy.
 
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I had one in a D that had a broken jaw which left a scar tissue lump on the bar of the mouth- one with a very shaped mouthpiece to lift it off the inside of the bar where his lump is- and after a summer of rather tenuous control in a havkampre while the ulcer that was over the scar tissue healed. I tightened the nose slightly to ensure pressure there first and then added big furry sheepskin padding to the nose band as I don't like rawhide against the skin.
 
Yes we use on a western trained horse, I recommend buying from the bit bank or similar so you can send it back if not suitable :)
 
They seem to be marmite bits - either the horse hate them or love them. The mouthpieces are quite nice but I think the design of it is very strong on the horse (both nose and the poll) - mine certainly wouldn't go forward on it. He felt very light but it was only when I went to jump that I found he was going nowhere. Definitely hire one first.
 
Yip, a short shank. Horse loves it, I can switch between bitless and the myler easily now with no fighting at all depending on what we're doing. Tend to hack bitless then school in the myler. She use to fight everything she was asked to do and nap terribly. Goes like an angel now.
 
I ride my horse in one. He loves it. I put it in him when we had serious napping issues when he was a big, strong, bolshy 6 year old. It stopped our spinning issues immediately. He's happiest in it now even though he doesn't need it any more. Worth every penny in my eyes.
 
I used one on a horse who was very fussy in the mouth, and it worked really well. Before I tried one I actually rode him bitless for a while, but needed a little more for the fun stuff!
 
We put one very strong horse in the long shank version - it was as effective as riding in a headcollar. Our horse was a 17.2 WB x TB with a fairly numb mouth and I hoped it would work as he was very responsive to a rope over the nose when he was being led. Sadly not!
 
Our super sensitive ISH went really well in it - for about 2 months. We go back to it on and off but just can't seem to make it work for him. Annoying as they are so expensive!
 
I've used it on my warmblood who can be a tank, it did work but he is quite clever and managed to get his tongue over it, so I had to ride with a drop noseband as well in order to keep his mouth shut. A bit of a faff but the only way to have brakes!
 
I had a bitting advisor out and she got me to try my boy in it. I never considered mylers and thought the combination bits were only for very strong horses which my boy isn't. But I tried it and I was blown away: he became instantly light and flexible and was truly working over his back, it was quite a surprise. If I didn't do dressage and showing I would have bought one but it was too much money for a hacking and playing bit. I wouldn't try one out without experienced supervision though as I can see how they could quickly cause massive problems if not fitted and used correctly.
 
I've not used the combination bit but have used other mylers. I really like them, the only problem I found was because of the nicely shaped mouth piece my horse learnt to put his tongue over it very easily!
 
Interesting that a couple of people are finding the horse puts its tongue over... I would have thought that the port would have given tongue relief instead?

I've just had a very helpful email chat with Dale Myler about what might work for my horse, I do like the non-collapsing mouthpieces on the Mylers but I'm unsure about the combination, I think it might be overkill for my boy.

Any other opinions on them?
 
I have one, in fact I have two but one isn't useable as horse refuses the high port. The other has the low port mouthpiece and short shanks. Before moving to the Micklem, it worked very well for fast work without tanking. I don't find it a severe bit at all.
 
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