From: Pat
As christmas is upon us, and my parents have requested a wish list from the Kids, I thought, Hey, I could use a new snaffle bit, something that fits the horses better then the ones we have. (Can never have too many, really.)
So in my searching, I have some across a type of snaffle bit I don't recall seeing five years ago. It's a snaffle bit with very heavy rings. There is one out there called "The Two Pounder". The people selling it claim it's to allow a horse to better feel the bit by it's weight, before receiving the pull on the mouthpeice. One site even claims the bit can lower headset and retrain old head tossers by itself.
I have cause to doubt these claims, so I turn to you. Are these bits legal to show or compete in at breed levels? Do they have a positive or negative effect on the feel and headset? Are they too harsh for everyday training situations?
I appreciate the response. Your advice has been consistently correct since I started subscribing to the newsletter.
There have been a number of new developments in tack and equipment in the last five years - it can be rather difficult to keep up with all the changes! But a long, hard look through a stack of catalogues will show you that both competition and "training" equipment continues to reflect the constant search for more discreet ways to increase the pressure we put on our horses.
In the ads for snaffles with extremely heavy "donut" rings, you may find descriptions like this "will steady the horse's head", "will create the proper head position", etc. Translation: these are designed to create a headset!
You may be wondering, How can you use a bit to create a headset? After all, it just hangs there in the horse's mouth... or is there something else going on?
Here's how.
The weight of the rings keeps the mouthpiece from resting lightly on the horse's tongue and bars - instead, the ring ends of the cannons of the bit are pulled downward by the heavy weight. This puts pressure on the bars, pinches the horse's tongue, and if the horse has a low palate, can push the center joint of the mouthpiece into the horse's palate. All of these sensations are unpleasant at best - and in most cases, "painful" would be a more accurate word.
These "heavy ring" or "heavy donut ring" snaffles are intended to create a headset by teaching the horse that the only escape from the painful pressure is to assume a particular position with its head and neck, and sustain that position no matter what happens. In this, they might appear to be related to the traditional spade bit, with its high port, bit chains, and weighted reins. The difference, though, is that horses were carefully trained for years before they were ready to carry a spade bit, and by that time, their physical development would allow them to maintain the required vertical head position, and their understanding of the rider's cues was already highly developed. The spade was the culmination of years of expert training - and no vaquero capable of producing a finished "bridle horse" would ever have countenanced the use of training equipment that effectively forced any horse - but much less a young, green horse - to assume and hold a fixed head position. The spade bits, as terrifying as they may look, were used by highly skilled horsemen with educated hands - and they were used on highly-educated horses that had been trained and developed and PREPARED slowly and systematically over a period of years.
The heavy-ring snaffles might look more harmless than the spades, but consider who is using them, and how - and on what horses. I'm afraid that today, in our hurry-up culture, "Things take time" and "If it's good, it's worth waiting for" have given way to other principles such as "Never mind the training, I just want the LOOK", and of course the ubiquitous "I want it NOW." You'll probably find these heavy-ring, thin-mouth bits in more than a few tackrooms - wherever you find "trainer wanna-bes" who are ignorant, uncaring, and ambitious. But they are not bits that a horseman would use, and you can be reasonably certain that you won't find any in the tackrooms of real trainers - whether they are vaquero-style trainers or those who produce top reining horses and working cow horses.
The bits work on the same principles that weighted reins work, and are used for the same reasons. With the "heavy ring" bits, the goal is to make the horse assume and hold a headset without any action on the rider's part. With the weighted reins, the goal is a related one: to make every tiny movement of the (slack) reins have such a strong effect on the horse's mouth that the horse will learn to respond to even the tiniest lift or shift of the rider's rein hand.
In both cases, the headset is created by weight and discomfort - the bit rings and/or the reins just below the bit are made so heavy that the horse is forced to drop its head into a vertical position and hold it there - it's the only way to make the headstall carry most of the weight. As soon as the horse's nose comes in front of the vertical, the weight of the rings and/or reins comes to bear on the horse's sensitive tongue and bars. The hardware is different, but the effect on the horse's head position is rather like that created by a cathedral-port! The horse sets its head and keeps it set, regardless of the pain it may cause its jaw, neck, back, and legs - because it is trying to avoid the immediate, instant pain in its mouth.
Pick up a few catalogues from major Western shops - you can buy weighted reins that are relatively lightweight at only 20, 22, or 25 ounces - or you can buy reins that weigh 36, 42, or 48 ounces. Since many trainers like to tinker with the equipment they buy, it's probably safe to assume that there are horses showing at this very moment wearing reins that weigh even more - perhaps considerably more - than 48 ounces.
The show-ring rules, haven't caught up with most of these items yet, although heavy-ring bits with certain extremely thin mouthpieces (e.g., twisted wire, and quarter-inch) aren't allowed in USAE shows. However, they are apparently considered appropriate for "training" - at least by their manufacturers, and by whatever individuals may be moved to purchase them.
The one (self-styled) "trainer" I've met who uses these bits (and whose show bridles have 48-ounce reins!) has horses with rolling eyes, incorrect neck musculature, weak backs, and sore hocks. The horses move stiffly and awkwardly - but with their necks arched and their heads on the vertical, so he is happy, and so are the horses' owners. They will all be lame in a few more months, but that won't matter, because their show careers will be coming to an end then anyway, and after that, they're expendable - in fact, they're disposable.
This man's defense of his training practices and equipment are based on two ideas common to far too many trainer and riders. The first is that "you can't hurt a horse". The second is that OBVIOUSLY the horse cannot be in pain or even uncomfortable, because there's a loop in the reins - how could the horse be uncomfortable when no one is pulling the reins? The horse puts its head onto the vertical and holds it there (with tight lips and anxious eyes) "because it wants to - nobody is forcing it - see, look, nobody is pulling the reins!"
To someone unfamiliar with equine physiology and biomechanics, or to someone who equates direct contact with "pulling" and a looped rein with "gentleness - and no contact!", this might, just possibly, seem to make sense. Yes, it's true, there are no pulleys forcing the horse's head down and in - therefore it must be assuming the position voluntarily, therefore it must be comfortable! Right? Not quite. I could "teach" this trainer to take short steps and to walk with his own toes curled tightly instead of flat - and I wouldn't have to use any force or leverage. All I would need is a handful of tacks - once I'd hammered them into the toes of his shoes, his walking style would change overnight. I wouldn't be hurting him or forcing him - I would merely have created a situation in which he would feel pain from the tacks if he DIDN'T shorten his stride and keep his toes tightly curled. I could then make the (specious) argument that he was curling his toes HIMSELF, that I wasn't forcing him or even touching him, and that since he was doing it on his own, he must be comfortable and he must "want to" walk that way. If I can "teach" a human to walk carefully with toes curled instead of flat, just by hammering a few tacks into the toes of your shoes. This not actually a very logical or sophisticated argument - but, like "Don't make me shoot this dog" - it can be enough to convince a lot of horse-owners who WANT to be able to relax and trust their trainers, and don't really want to think a lot or ask themselves the hard question. And after all, the body parts involved are only their horses' mouths - not their own toes.
End of lecture - and back to the question, and to the issues of heavy rings and weighted reins.
I find the existence of such items very saddening, because they're such a clear reflection of what seems to be the prevailing paradigm in training today. I object very strongly to the current passion for devising increasingly coercive methods and equipment for controlling horses whilst simultaneously denying that the methods are coercive - AND representing them as "training". Stunning a horse with exhaustion or sensory overload is not a legitimate form of training; forcing a horse to assume and hold an unnatural head position through painful mechanical means is not a legitimate form of training. Putting a horse between a rock and a hard place and then announcing that it has voluntarily "chosen" one or the other is not, has never been, and will never be the act of a horseman.
So, "long story short", I'd put something else on my Christmas list if I were you. ;-)
If you want something to add to your collection of snaffles, why not add a good, well-made French-link snaffle? It's a good "default" bit for any number of horses, especially if you purchase a good-quality loose-ring version. The flat, rounded center link of this double-joint snaffle lies flat on the horse's tongue and protects the horse's bars, palate, and tongue from the much more severe "nutcracker" effect of a single-joint snaffle. If you plan to use it on a horse that is very young and green, the eggbutt version might be preferable, but for your other horses, the loose-ring version would be ideal.
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.