Pelhams - jointed or mullen?

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sfward

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Hi, just been looking into Pelhams as a possible XC bit. Can anyone explain to me the differences in action between a jointed/french link Pelham and a normal mullen mouthed one? How do you know which one to choose to suit a particular horse? I'm very confused...!

In general any comments on the pros/cons of Pelhams would be welcome - I expect this topics been done to death before but I can't seem to access any of the old threads! Would be interested to know of any good/bad experiences people have had with these bits; I haven't used one since I was 8 and on a 12.2...
Thanks in advance
 
Jointed ones are good for horses which would otherwise lean, I use one on my big gelding for jumping and hacking. They work on horses who have a high head carriage into the fence - the bit encourages them to drop their head and tuck their nose in, making control easier! Waterford pelhams also help with horses who lean.

The right choice of bit depends on what your horse is doing which you want to counteract - I was using a waterford dutch gag but he stuck his head in the air and ran through my hands. Now he is polite in a pelham and I can therefore be much softer.
 
Thank you spottedcat - She doesn't have a particularly high head carriage into a fence normally, just sometimes she tows me in, (particularly down related distances) and cross country I can struggle to get her back in front of a fence. I tried a dutch gag (well a universal with 3 rings actually) and like yours she stuck her head in the air and ran through my hands. obviously hated it as she even napped which is very unlike her usually.
Show jumping she has improved no end and mostly I feel confident in a snaffle now, but XC I don't quite feel I can stop and turn as quickly as I'd like to...!
 
Well, you'll need to try it, but I love the pelham, it is my saviour! I now have control, can get him back in front of a fence and have steering (which was always a bit wooly in the gag).

I rang Heather on the neue schule bit line (which I keep harping on about) and she was brilliant - no pressure to buy from them. She recommended a waterford pelham, but the one I ordered never arrived so I bought a jointed from the local country store - not looked back!
 
Yes I've spoken to Heather before, she is very helpful isn't she?
I've never really considered a pelham before as my mum is always so anti-them - she says they're really numb, but I've never managed to get to the bottom of exactly why she thinks this, and seeing as the gag seems so unsuitable I'm having to think about other options!
Good to know you really like yours anyway...:)
 
A jointed pelham is apparently harsher than a straight bar and it can to varying degrees negate the action of the curb rein I believe, so if you are looking at the pelham because of the curb action, you are probably better trying a straight bar type or ported mouth piece.

Having said that I have a mare who goes nicely and is controllable in all situations in her KK ultra snaffle, but needed to use a pelham with double reins for showing. She absolutely loathes straight bar bits of any kind, so I put her in a jointed rugby pelham and she goes lovely in it, so it really is horses for courses, but then I didn't need to use the curb rein, so it didn't matter to me that the joint may interfere with its effectiveness.

A good site for information on pelhams is Heather Moffat's Enlightened Equitation forum - they have a sub section in Saddles for bits and as HM advocates the use of pelhams over snaffles in many cases, there is usually a huge amount of discussion going on about pelhams.
 
My two penneth is to use a lozenge pelham rather than a single joint.

Just avoids pinching the tongue so much and stabbing in the roof of the mouth if the horse has a low palate.
 
That's great thanks very much, I have seen that website before but not really looked at teh forum properly so will go and check it out. I rode mine in a straight bar once and she wasn't too keen on it hence why i was wondering about the jointed, but it was only a snaffle and only the once so can't really say it was a proper test!
 
my lad leans on a mullen mouth pelham so we have just changed him into a french link & he seems to be better
 
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