Waterford bits

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mole

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hi, im looking to buy a pony who currently has a waterford 3-ring gag in her mouth. i was hoping to school her into something that is less fussy in her mouth as she concentrates on her bit rather than on me. she is strong and is IDx. normally a flash is used with the waterford but she was no different when i removed the flash. anyone got any ideas??

thanks
 
Our strong ID is in a waterford snaffle and goes very well? Not sure if it would work for all but gived her nothing to lean on!
 
I love schooling in my waterford loose ring snaffle. My horse can be very strong and leans on bits whenever he can. The waterford gives him something to play with and not rest on and I get good brakes. I have two but the one with very large loose rings is the better I find. My friend uses a hanging cheek waterford on my pony to school her and she goes brilliantly in that too.
 
have you ever tried out other bits? do you use a flash with it? im riding her on the snaffle bit of the loose ring gag at the moment and shes not strong in it just very pre-occupied. ummm what to do?!
 
Have you got a safe environment where you could try something different? I've got to try a loose ring french link on our girl as need to find something dressage legal by next weekend (nothing like a bit of pressure!). Going to try the french link, in a school first incase she is mega strong in it!!
Maybe you could try something like this, and use the snaffle for schooling and the waterford for things where she might get a bit stronger?
 
My IDx goes really well in a Waterford snaffle, previously he had a tendency to lean on the bit. Since we hope to do some dressage with him we tried him in a Myler comfort snaffle the other day as preparation, and he went really well in it, so that might be worth trying
 
Ooh thats interesting about the myler. They are dressage legal then? (sorry, not that up on what is ok, used a kk ultra for the last 2 years on my horse, so never bothered checking anything else!)
Might try one of those if I can. She is the same, just leans very heavy on your hands really. Can be bl**dy strong out hacking but ok in waterford for my OH - I'd probably need a pelham as only weigh about 1/2 what he does and she is a big strong lass!!
 
i have a school to try other bits in so shouldnt be too difficult to do that. the french link was my first choice of bit to go for, the mlyer ive heard of but not sure of what it does and also someone has suggested a kangaroo bit........ ring any bells?!?
 
My horse has a grackle on with his and the pony wears either a cavesson or flash nose band. The horse in particular is very strong and he just seems very happy in this combination.

I found this out just by trial and error, he just didn't go well in other snaffles.

ETS put Gag instead of grackle which would make no sense!!!
 
the Mylers vary, the one 'with hooks' is not dressage legal, the one without is dressage legal. We used ours in an enclosed school and I am sure it would be fine on a gentle hack out..not totally confident that it would stop him if he was galloping though and you might have to revert to a waterford for faster work.
 
I have just move Bert to a loose ring waterford as he can be strong and snatches. I have found that he really goes wellin this and is alot less strong as he cannot get hold of it.

I have yet to hack him in it, which is when we have real brake issues but will be trying this tomorrow.

x
 
do you find he still goes forward to make contact with the bit? as i feel that the WF gag has been used too much on my pony and has made her fight the bit rather than working on a contact, she feels like she doesnt want to work forward but just rushes around, i know that it'll all come with time and shes very new to be but i wondered if their is a way of making her forward thinking again (hopefully even get her extending) by the use of a different bit. what you think?
 
LOL, if he ever makes contact with the bit I will let you know
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Has been used for happy (or interesting) hacking for 18 months so is not natural in a contact atm. Although there was a brief 10 sec moment of working nicely on the bit in our lesson on Saturday
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He used to snatch, throw his head about and fight me all the time int he eggbutt....so far non of this in the waterford. He definately rushed less and was not motor biking in the corners although he still falls in. (circles circles circles for us)
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x
 
Each horse is different, but if its any help, I used to ride my RID (17.1 and BIG I'm 5'6" and 9 stone...) in a Waterford for just the same reason, - used to bear down on the bit and leg it! I changed to an Ultra kk for schooling and very soon as we found we could actually take our weight on our bottom and not tank about, we happily ditched the Waterford for good. As you say you have used one of these previously, seems like a good place to start.
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