What bit for a small mouthed thoroughbred?

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mudmonkey17

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Have just bought a new throughbred who is only 3 and has a small mouth. Wondering what bit people suggest for doing groundwork and a bit of light riding in. He is backed and very light in the mouth. Old owner had french link snaffle in him so was thinking getting one of these?
Borrowed a single link bit and he wasnt keen on it.

What are peoples thoughts on things like happy mouths or neue schule starter bits?
 
Not TB, but my Arab youngster had a very small mouth. I kept him with a small in hand bit until he was being ridden, and then a thin French link once he was starting to be ridden. Once his ridden work was up and running a bit, I got a loose ring French link - again looked for as thin as I could find.

I did try a happy mouth for him, but he was not happy in that at all and it did look really to chunky in his mouth, Similarly single joint wasn't great. I mainly looked for as thin and as light as I could find. A NS double jointed snaffle was going to be my next port of call for him, once I knew he wasn't going to kill me while riding him lol. But we never got that far.
 
I personally wouldn't go for a happymouth - have yet to find a horse that really likes them! Also, they can get quite sharp if the horse chews them, so not really ideal for a baby, imo.

My TB has a sweet iron loose ring snaffle with a copper lozenge in the middle, and a full-cheeked lozenged bit. I think I'm going to try him in a NS verbinend or similar now he's a bit more established, as a lot of horses go nicely in them, but they're expensive so I'm waiting till the student loan comes through :p
 
Mine has a small mouth (as you can see) and a big tongue. Dentist commented how little room there was in there.

Neue Schule starter or team up works well for him but in the thinner mouthpiece size. Also a Myler comfort snaffle. All Ebay purchases so not as expensive as they might have been.

Frankie-1.jpg
 
I have a 17.2 tb with a small mouth. Tried loads of bits. And the one he like the most was a eggbutt french link bradoon.
 
just to add the neue schule comes up small, he takes a 5 3/4 but the myler is 5 1/2. Mouthpiece probably 12mm or 14mm thickness.

You still pay £25/£30 secondhand but they keep their value and you could resell if they don't work.
 
another vote for a bit of a double jointed thinner mouthpiece variety

My TB has a very small bottom jaw, and a large tongue and I found she goes nice in either a thin french link or one of those rotary bits.

Lord knows what I am going to do when she eventually graduates to a double bridle.
 
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