ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Vosals...& Bits, etc.

Re: Vosals...& Bits, etc.

Mike Sofen (miksof7@gte.net)
Sat, 9 Aug 1997 20:32:13 -0700

Well this thread has certainly punched some buttons out there in horseland.
Rightly or wrongly, almost every horseperson will defend their opinion
especially when they weigh it against their experience, or the experience
of their neighbor, or the latest article in Reader's Digest. Is this bad?
Nope. Have I called anyone bad or wrong? Nope. Have I told people to
stop using curb bits? Nope. This isn't a judging contest, this is a
discussion of appropriate bitting and technique.

So what's the story here? It seems like we have half a world that believes
in bits, and the other half that doesn't. Both halves have working horses,
so both sides are based on "facts", and both are right. Right?

Why are so many people so fearful of "losing" their bits?

Here's my Opinion of The Way the World Works According to the HORSE:

- All bits eventually cause me pain when my rider pulls hard enough.
- Pain is supposed to "catch" my attention (like whipping) so that I
behave "correctly". I might be having a bad mane day and that extra pain
my rider just delivered simply pissed me off. Now when he asks me to
change gaits I'm going to either stop dead in tracks and hope he goes
sailing over my head, or I'm going to buck 3 times. I'll decide which when
he cues me.
- If I don't react to a certain pain threshold, then my rider increases
the pain until I do react. Unfortunately, as an instinctive creature, I
can't always tell what I'll do when I react. Since I really do prefer NOT
hurting my rider, I may do something self-destructive instead, like running
head first into a wall. At least I'll get some stall time for a while.
- My rider is confident that I am under control when I have a bit in
mouth. In reality, I'm behaving because it usually takes less energy. My
rider's illusion of control is a byproduct of their fear of me. My
positive behaviour (aka control) is reflection of my own desire to have a
human partner.
- I can run through any bit they can stick in my mouth, if I wanted to or
needed to. However, I really hate going in circles. (oops, that one
slipped out).
- My favorite rider is the one who listens to what I'm trying to tell them
- when I'm scared, when I'm bold, when I'm proud to be in the lead, when
that tree stump jumped up out of nowhere, when I'm tired (really tired and
not faking tired). My favorite rider understands that I'm not a machine
with gear shifts, but a living creature with a will and an intelligence of
my own. I am unpredictable and will sometimes behave rather poorly. That
is the risk my rider takes when he sits on me. In return for this risk, I
offer to selected riders the highest animal/human partnership available on
the planet.

Happy Sunday, Ridecamp.

Mike Sofen

----------
From: Sullys Maze <Sully@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: Re: Vosals...& Bits, etc.
Date: Saturday, August 09, 1997 10:12 PM

REPLY TO 08/09/97 17:45 FROM ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Vosals...& Bits,
etc.

Mike Sofen writes:

A curb bit without a strap/chain has no leverage, so using it will generate
no more pressure than a snaffle, but I don't think it provides as an
effective tool to control the horse as a snaffle when things go wrong.
With a snaffle, I can easily turn the horse's head to the left or right to
spin him and get a whoa. With a curb, when you pull only on one side, the
opposite side actually lifts UP and hits the top of the horses mouth ( it
has to - it's a solid bar being levered off the gums of the pulled side).
While probably not painful, it can't be presenting a clear signal to the
horse.

*Mike, I have a couple of comments here, based on my experiences.
Your comparison here is wrong, becuase you do not rein a horse with
a curb bit like you do a snaffle. Curb bits are designed (in my
opinion) to be used for neckreining, at least that is what I do with
my horses. I would not try to direct rein with one unless it was
an emergency. Since you can still bend the head clear around, if
the
other rein is loose, I feel like this is certainly a clear signal!

And I'll go a slight step further. I just returned from watching the
semi-finals of the "open" hunter/jumper championships (up to 5 foot fences)
at a regional event here in town. Of the 10 horses that made it to the
final round today, EIGHT had serious bit control problems, SEVEN knocked
down bars because the horse was still fighting the bit when they were
supposed to be setting up for the jump. Enough said.

*But it isn't necessarly enough said! How can you "judge" how a
horse goes and is bitted if you aren't riding THAT horse!? I'm
sorry, but nobody has a right to judge how I ride MY horses, unless
they care to do it themselves, or do the training themselves!!
I have 3 horses that all are ridden in curbs, for various reasons.
Our preferable way to ride is with either the reins dropped on the
neck, or held very loosely. I trust my horses to balance and carry
themselves without being ridden "on contact." I do not care to ride
them this way on the trail. While all 3 can be ridden in the arena
in halters or snaffles, I feel the curb bit is a "safer" bit on the
trail, and I feel that they "respect" this bit. I consider it far
more humane to ride them in curbs on a loose rein, than constantly
tugging on a snaffle, which unfortunately I see far too often.
Two that I own did not respect snaffles and were basically give-away
horses because they bolted in snaffles. I have known many people
over the years that rode with snaffles that got run away with. Yes,
it
is a training issue, and I am not against snaffle bits! Or halters,
or vosals. I tried a vosal on one ofmy mares and did not like the
way it fit at all. It contacted the bridge of the nose in two small
places, and looked very uncomfortable. All 3 of my horses came to
me with certain problems, and possibly were not started right, so
this has some bearing. One mare was ridden for 4 years on the trail
in a mild curb. She was then sold and "retrained" to do English
pleasure andjumping. In a snaffle. She learned that she could
"run through" the snaffle and bolt with riders. This was after a
year with a professional trainer. NObody wanted to deal with
her, so I ended up with her When
I got the horse and put her
back in the curb, she was a lot happier, and probably more secure.
But I sure would be resentful of anyone that tried to judge ME
because I ride her in a curb, not knowing her background and the
2 years of hard work I have put into her that turned her into a
dependable trail horse instead of one that bucked, bolted and
spooked at every thing.

*If you can ride your horses in a snaffle, or halter or neck rope,
or by telepathic communication, that's great! But unless I am out
there on the trail endangering you from my lack of control, you have
no business judging what works for me and my horses.

*Karen
Mike Sofen
Seattle, WA

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