Will a french link encourage a leaner to lean?

[gable]

Just been doing some research and in a couple of place I read NOT to put a horse that leans in a french link.

My horse leans and is in a french link!

Have you heard this before? And if so could you recomende me a bit that will not encourage him to lean?

Thanks in advance

 

[frazzled]

I know nothing about bitting but my daughter was having trouble with her pony leaning. He was n a neue schule snaffle with a lozenge. A friend rode him and suggested we put him in happy mouth loose ring jointed snaffle. Straight away the leaning stopped and he is going much better.

 

[eggs]

It depends on what you mean by leaning. A lot of horses that are described as being strong or leaning are actually not in balance. If they are ridden more from the hind leg to the hand and up off their forehand they will feel quite different.

Having said that there is a bit I used on a previous horse for x-country called a "magic bit" which was like a straight bar snaffle but with a small port and very small rings. It used to work wonders on my horse who got heavy in the hand.

 

[ncarter]

My pony leans a bit on the left rein and I switched to a bit with a french link in and he seems to lean less??!!

 

[BFG]

I always thought that the French link part doesn’t affect the leaning just uses more tongue pressure but stops the bit hitting the roof of the mouth like a normal nutcracker snaffle.

They say that a loose ring is better for a horse that leans rather than a fixed ring.

 

[ThePony]

My mare leant in a french link, though it was because she has a large fleshy tongue and so the french link was putting uncomfortable pressure on her which caused her to lean. She was also on the forehand so this didn't help either! It is said that a loose ring is better, but I must say that both my mares are happyer in a shaped mouthpiece with eggbutt cheeks as they prefer the stillness in their mouth so they can settle into a contact. The ones from cotswold sport are a good cheaper alternative to the neue schule ones (although the neue shule bits are really fab, as is their advice). http://cotswoldsport.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=467
French link ones with a lozenge tend to be more comfy on the tongue too http://cotswoldsport.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=196