Why are very few competition horses in snaffles??

Blu is in a snaffle, and we show-jump. She is in a snaffle for everything (we don't do xc though!), whether we are jumping or going for a blast round the field.
She gets excited and hot headed, but I can still manage her in a snaffle
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That's what suits them, so i'm happy. And i totally agree that a 'stronger' bit is way better than ragging the mouth off a horse in a snaffle. Was just wondering IF people just stuck harsh bits in for a reason or just to save time getting their horse responsive.

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That would be me then - ragging my horses mouth in a snaffle.
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Thing is, I can't find anything else that suits him. I found something I had brakes in (an american gag with 2 rains) but I felt it was effecting his jumping ever so slightly so back to the drawing board!!

I think it's down to each individual horse and rider combination TBH. If horse and rider are happy - does it matter??
 
another thing i used to do with my last mare is change the bit every now and again and it worked well, i also found i could jump her at home or in a lesson in a snaffle with no martingale happily but as soon as she hit a course it was completely different.
Hence why there have been so many bits iv thought have worked a treat then gone out on the day and had a head in my face without me having much of a contact at all.

I am going to try and keen Digby in a snaffle but to be honest i am schooling him all the time (as much as possible for me) and if it becomes that he is too strong in a certain phase in the future then i probably owuld change bit if everyhting else was ok.,
 
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Im unsure why so many dont wear snaffles nowadays.

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I think a lot of it is to do with the fact there is simply more choice around these days. More people are realising that a snaffle is not always the best option for a horse - aside from the control issue, some horses simply prefer other styles of bits. I know none of mine were ever particularly fond of a plain snaffle, they all went better in some form of variation.
 
Quite a lot are, actually. As with everything, it depends on the horse. Tamarillo always goes in a snaffle, can't think of any others offhand, only because i haven't really been looking for it though! i remember Blyth said he didn't ever want to ride anything xc that he couldn't control in a snaffle.
fwiw i've had 2 mares and a gelding who all did everything in a snaffle (incl 2* and 3* xc), but my latest mare would be downright dangerous to jump in one at the moment. perhaps in time, i hope, i'll be able to jump her in one, but for now it's a case of what she needs.
just because the rider's not using a snaffle doesn't always mean they're strong-handed, impatient, or useless... sometimes it's just a case of what the horse needs.
 
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another thing i used to do with my last mare is change the bit every now and again and it worked well, i also found i could jump her at home or in a lesson in a snaffle with no martingale happily but as soon as she hit a course it was completely different.

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Thats just like Badger - if I jump him in lessons etc (with isn't very often) he's a right old dobbin but get him to a show and he's completely different! I think it's just because he enjoys it and he's not the most sensitive of chaps..
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More schooling may improve him but he'd still get excited so I don't see it making dramatic improvements. I think in your case Fran, with a baby if you keep them very disciplined form day one then thats probably the way forward... but then I've never been very good at making my animals behave!
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Thanks starbucks i think you can only do what you can do to be honest!

She didnt get over excited but i woiuld go to check her and i would be like ok...u just go ahead and plough through it then hehe (i can laugh about it now )!!
 
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She didnt get over excited but i woiuld go to check her and i would be like ok...u just go ahead and plough through it then hehe (i can laugh about it now )!!

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lol!! It's when I get a few in a row with Badger - we end up going about 100 miles an hour by the end of the line!
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It doesn't really help that he's got a big long stride either but luckily he's pretty springy!
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Well, both of mine SJ in snaffle's...one in a loose ring french link, the other in a D-Ring copper roller.....and sometimes i swap them over for a change. Often as not a change is as good as anything. I also swap nosebands around...caveson to grackle or flash and back again. If you don't try things how are you supposed to find out what works best !?!?

BTW Bo has gone from loose ring snaffle,to 3 ring gag, to mullen mouth pelham to copper roller and back to frech link snaffle in the past 2.5 years...they all served a purpose at the time
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4 out of my 5 ponies will go in a snaffle for everything including xc. (i put them in pelhams for showing as it is correct, but i could ride them in a snaffle in the ring if i had to)
the 5th is snaffle mouthed for every thing except xc (again with the showing thing), get him xc and he turns into a demon pony from hell and if i dont have his pelham in he gets so excited that we go at every jump at a flat out gallop and thats a sure fire way to end up in a rotational fall. So he goes in his pelham so that i can at least begin to set him up for a jump and semi control that abbundance of enthusiasm without pulling his back teeth out!
 
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Personally I think PC should try to recommend more chilled out bits. WAY too many little kids are on NOT strong ponies in dutch gags on the bottom ring! I think it just makes the parents happier
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I disagree!

Oliver has been ridden in nothing but a loose ring single jointed snaffle since we had him, Tweenie is in a hanging cheek, single jointed snaffle.

Oliver has actually been dropped down to a french link snaffle and goes very well in it. However, he started taking off for the gate when he'd decided the schooling session was over. Hannah being 9 (as she was then, she's now just turned 10) could not stop him. She's not strong enough in her arms to do the "hauling" that you see some adults do on the reins when they've lost control and more to the point....she shouldn't need to.

The upshot is that he would run for the gate and she'd kick him on away from it. He'd then panic and start darting and turning. Eventually he would unseat her out of the side door with the way he'd whip around. She lost confidence so we turned him away.

He's now back in work and going very nicely in his french link for the instructor who is riding him. She wants me to put him in a french link, three ring gag though for when Hannah gets back on board. NOT because it makes me happy and certainly not for any long term reasons.

The reason is purely so that Hannah CAN stop him when she asks. Clearly it's not safe for her to be sat on a pony that occasionally decides he's taking charge and is off for the gate...not stopping until she falls off! We all realise that over time, with schooling this will stop, but in the interim it's a safety and confidence building measure for her and a way of trying to instil respect for her lighter rein aids into Oliver.

Put it this way, leaving him in his french link at the moment would be like asking any of us drivers to get in a sports car with a powerful engine that has a dodgy brake pedal and a steering wheel that sticks sometimes. Would you drive it?
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I am a crap rider also. I jump in a pelham. The difference between jumping in a pelham and a snaffle is vast and I have scored 75% doing dressage so do not think its lack of schooling either.

It is a totally ridiculous statement to make saying that the horses clearly need more schooling. Good horsemanship is about being open to ideas and knowing what is best for each horse on an individual basis.
 
I prefer riding in my gag as I don't have to work as hard.....

My horse could pop out and score 65-70% affiliated novice (in a snaffle obviously) without really breaking into a sweat, (maybe a couple of weeks tuning) and was placed at HOYS due solely to her manners and rideability so I don't believe I have an unschooled horse.

She loves her gag and sits nicely & slightly off the bit, I can steer with my weight & legs & pretend to be a cowboy. love it.
 
My ponies are by no means well schooled, but to jump Ginga I put him in a Kimblewick. In a snaffle I can't change the length of his stride, and he rushes into jumps and then stops, in the kinblewick I have full comtol of everything. Pip has a snaffle for riding, and he does take a hold fairly often, but in any otehr bit the slightest bit of pressure and he absolutely hates it, stoppinfg very dramatically!

For driving, both P+G have butterfly bits, which have almost the same action as a slotted Kinblewick on top slot, and harly used the curb. Both boys go well in it, but ginga particularly can be strong. I wouldn't like to drive them in a snaffle, as I don't think I'd have as precise steerring and 'emergancy' brakes.

The whole team have kimblewicks, bar fred who has a liverpool on first bar(quite like a bottom slot of a kimblewick). They were 2nd in the marathon in the world championships with this, and are the team with the 'lightest' bits in england. I think when you are driving so many, you can't apply 4 times as much pressure down the reins, so need slightly stonger bits. Also with the 4 when you need to stop, you need to stop as you are simalar in size to an artic lorry.
 
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