The connection that horses can make with us is wonderful and yet again animals surprise us with their intelligence and sensitivity.

An article in the Guardian covers this subject and states …

"Now the psychological benefits of working with horses are being recognised by growing numbers of therapists who work with autistic children, young people with behavioural problems, adults with depression or celebrities with addictions."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/26/horses-therapists-stress-autism-addiction

Whilst this is good news for us we must spare a thought that horses are not machines and a balance must be found where the benefits to us humans are not achieved to the detriment of this proud animal.

Horse riding takes many varied forms.  Probably the most exotic style is driving which is a category of horse usage where you attach a vehicle with wheels such as a cart or wagon to a horse or pony or even donkeys and mules.  Two of the main categories of driving that we find our customers are doing is Combined driving and Carriage Driving. 

Combined driving which is also known as Horse Driving Trials is a competitive sport where you have one, two or four horses that pull carts or carriages.  The teams must pull the carriage in a dressage event where control and precision are analysed and marked, then a cross country event which requires strategy and stamina and finally Obstacle Cone Driving.  For dessage the driver and his team are assessed on their turnout and general appearance including the cart itself and the tack your are driving your horses in. Dressage movements required from the team includes circles, figures of eight, and crossing the diagonal.  Also work at various paces i.e. working trot, collected trot and extended trot and canter.

The obstacle cone section of combined driving tests the team's accuracy, speed and obedience.  It is somewhat similar to the show jumping section in standard eventing.

What sort of bits come under the category of driving bits ?

The most popular type of driving bit is the liverpool bit. Used for horses in harness, especially when working in teams, the Liverpool driving bit is a curb type bit that works primarily on leverage.  The distinctive cheeks of the Liverpool bit are seen with 2 or 3 slots allowing the rider to attach the reins at different points to give different amounts of leverage. It is also possible to attach the reins to the bit to have it work as a simple snaffle. The cheeks of the Liverpool may be free to rotate although it is possible to purchase fixed cheek Liverpools which work well with horse pairs and reduce chances of pinching when coupling the reins.

There are other types of driving bit apart from the Liverpool.  The Buxton Driving Bit most often used in Carriage Driving disciplines has a very distinctive and elaborate look and is similar in function to the Liverpool but the cheeks are significantly longer and offer a variety of rein options. The "slobber" bar at the bottom connects the cheeks and prevents snagging on the harness. Again similar to the Liverpool when the reins are attached to the top ring it can work like a snaffle.

The Wilson is commonly seen as a driving bit. It has four rings, two attach to the cheeks and two to the reins. The bit works via a squeezing action on the horse's cheeks so must be used with great care and skill. I

A bit popular for driving multiples is the Post Driving Bit.  It has a hanging cheek so applies some poll pressure. The reins can be positioned at different levels with the different loop options and has a curb effect.

Now in Dan's case he drives with Dartmoor Ponies (see the picture he kindly sent us below).

Dan says - "I have 3 ponies each with their own special needs and issues in each of the three phases of the events. Complicating all of this is their physical characteristics - wide shallow mouths and small heads (they are 12.1H tall)"

The horse bit market is characterised by a lot of different types of bit however like cars they tend to be mass produced to fit the most common range of horse sizes and dimensions.  We hear from people who have trouble finding very large bits with good stopping power but also smaller bits where the bit mouth piece may be OK but the rest of it is just not in proportion. 

As Dan then says "Most bits that are wide enough are too bulky to
look right and too thick for their mouths. Smaller bits pinch."

Dan had some quite specific requirements and we worked closely with him to build some bits that worked well for him.  It seems just as we get to a point when we think we have made most bits we can think of, another requirement crosses our path.

"I came to A Bit Special with a request for a Happy Mouth Mullen mouthpiece attached to a 2 slot fixed cheek pony sized liverpool bit. 2 weeks later I had it and it was perfect. Then I asked for the mouthpiece from a Dr. Bristol bit except with the link twisted (a French link lozenge is too bulky) 90 degrees and attached once again to a fixed cheek liverpool in pony size. Once again they came through. I am in the process of ordering 4 more and expect that by the end of this year every Dartmoor driver in the US will have this bit. "

You can see a few more pictures of the Liverpool bit here Fixed Cheek Horizontal Lozenge bit

It is not always easy to get the the right solution when horses are involved but we are always keen to give it our best shot.

The Butterfly Flip Bit is often talked about on horse riding forums due to its quite exotic appearance and people wonder how it works. The form of the butterfly flip makes it a hanging cheek type of bit resembling the top part of a Pelham Bit that has some leverage and works on the horse's poll.

The rings offer three different rein positions allowing you to vary the amount of poll pressure exerted. Of course it is possible to get a variety of different mouth pieces that can add to the functionality of this bit. Jointed mouths are popular with french links or lozenge, or even Waterford mouths which with the multi-jointed aspect will follow the shape of the mouth.

The Swales bit looks like a pelham. The distinctive look of this bit is thanks to the big floating rings which revolve around the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece can also revolve which helps prevent the horse leaning on it. Again other mouth pieces are possible to fit and the action of the jointed mouth piece nutcracker effect or having rollers that stop the horse running with the bit will complement the curb effect of this bit on the bars of the mouth and the curb groove. Unlike the pelham though this bit doesn't apply poll pressure.

Our final unusual bit is the Sam Marsh Pelham or SM Pelham. Cobs and hunters can often be heavy in the hand for some showing riders and this Pelham can lighten the load. As a Pelham the Sam Marsh applies pressure via the poll plus also the chin groove with the curb chain. It also works on the mouth, and this bit has a distinctive flat mouthpiece that exerts pressure on the tongue.

The cheeks work independently of the mouth which helps stop the horse fixing against the bit. These bits give some good examples of the sorts of features and behavior that the rider must be aware of and that can be targeted in getting good riding form with your horse.

Deciding what bit to go for as a replacement for a snaffle is a tricky one.  I have just finished reading this excellent article so I recommend it as an excellent read.  http://www.horse-colic.net/1243/horse-training-with-snaffle-bits-and-curb-bits

Sometimes even our range of pelhams doesn't quite hit the spot for some enquiries we receive.  Only yesterday a visitor from Germany liked our SM Pelham (I didn't know until I asked one of the bigger experts around here that SM stands for Sam Marsh – Note to self – find out more about him (or her)).  Well it was the mouth of the SM that the lady liked but the cheeks just were not right.  Well the ladies solution that she really wanted was to put Weymouth bit cheeks onto the SM Pelham mouth.  No problem we'll give it a go!.  Hopefully will have a picture for you to see shortly.

Remember if you don't see what you want ask us.

The pictures below are not perfect on this blog post but the one on the left is the modified bit where a customer wanted something based on our waterford on the right but with longer cheeks and also with the orientation of the mouth piece segments horizontal rather than vertical.  If you look closely because of this the central link is vertical rather than horizontal.  We also made the mouthpieces edges wider to sit more comfortably on the horses' bars.

So that you can shop with us and get what you need from one place we now supply sewn in cheek pieces for our gag bits for just £30 extra.  It truly makes sense for us to be offering this now so if you are looking for a gag piece we can now offer a high quality leather cheek piece arrangement for you to get up and running with your existing harness straight away.