BITS

["John B.Ayers" <ayers@plainfield.bypass.com>]

Linda:

What do you mean by:

>Moreover, I would agree that people who ride English style and
who want to have more control with just one rein, but who
can't quite bring themselves to go for a curb might do well
to check out all these new jumper bits that *are* very similar
to bits originally developed, in more recent times, as western
training bits.<

Is this a hackamore similar to the Enghish?

I would like a *little* more control than I get with a full cheek snaffle
when riding my 8YO Arab gelding in CTR.

What might be the mildest curb?

Thanks, John

-----Original Message-----
From: Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com <Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Thursday, June 03, 1999 10:54 AM
Subject: RC: Re: Snaffle Snaffoo


>
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>
>
>
>
>Jasmine Cave <toppere@siu.edu> said:
>
>> ...Miller's carries richard shrake bits that are
>> made of black iron, including snaffles...
>
>I don't dispute that you can find sweet iron snaffles. I see
>them in western catalogs all the time.  But does Miller's
>show them in their *english* catalog?  The point I am
>making here is that there seems to be a kind of cultural
>segregation on sweet iron.  The English-style folks seem
>to have gravitated instead to all the various "German silver"
>blends.
>
>(Richard Shrake, by the way, is a marvelous
>lecturer.  I heard him at the Northeast Horseman's Conference
>this past February and he had many, many interesting
>insights on bit action useful to all disciplines.)
>
>> I ride in a double bridle for
>> dressage so I have a aurigan single jointed loose ring bradoon and a
>> stainless steel medium port sliding cheek weymouth which is a true curb.
>> When on trails I use an "s" hackamore. When doing saddle seat I use a
>port
>> pelham which has loose rings for the snaffle rein.
>
>You should really try using your dressage weymouth (or whatever
>combinations of snaffle and curb bits in a full bridle rigging)
>when you ride saddleseat. Trying to use a pelham to set up a
>horse is like trying to do surgery with a butter knife.  The
>ability to use the sensitive actions of the bits independently
>is critical.  In a pelham, it's like my horse feels he has
>to choose to respond to either the curb or the snaffle action.
>With a full bridle, I get very distinctly different reactions
>with each bit and can blend them very subtley to create just
>the effect needed.  In comparison, using a pelham when doing
>serious work feels like trying to play a piano in mittens!
>And a pelham is *never* acceptable in the show ring.
>
>> All good western
>> trainers start a horse in either a snaffle or a bosal, then graduating
>the
>> horse to a short shanked curb that also has a snaffle ring, then to a
>> "true" curb, than hopefully to a spade. The snaffle has always been used
>on
>> the western set and most english bits like elevators, gags, and pelhams
>> came from western designs.
>
>I am going to have to disagree here, on two points.  Although
>it is now common practise to start a western horse on a snaffle,
>I do not believe that this was "always" so.  I might be wrong,
>but I think that this is something that has grown up over the
>last 30 years.
>
>That most English bits like elevators, gags, and pelhams came
>from western designs is simply not true.  I might be convinced
>on the elevator:  this is a design that I have only recently
>seen come into use on English bits, and then only on jumpers.
>But gags and pelhams have been around, in use, on "english style"
>horses since at least before the turn of the century.
>
>I would, however, concede entirely that the english-style
>hackamore was taken entirely from western designs.
>
>Moreover, I would agree that people who ride English style and
>who want to have more control with just one rein, but who
>can't quite bring themselves to go for a curb might do well
>to check out all these new jumper bits that *are* very similar
>to bits originally developed, in more recent times, as western
>training bits.
>
>Linda B. Merims
>lbm@ici.net
>Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
>Massachusetts, USA
>
>
>
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Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
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