As you can imagine, most horses are less than thrilled about the idea of taking the bit. Would you be excited about the prospect of lodging a piece of metal in your mouth so another person could easily direct the motion of your head?

Therefore, when applying a horse training bit, it’s a good idea to use a commonly known molasses trick. Start by placing some sweet molasses on the horse’s lips and letting him/her get into the moment; most horses will love this.

Next, add some molasses to the horse training bit and work it slowly into the horses mouth. Do this for a while and finally leave the bit in loosely so it doesn’t cause any pain.

This exercise creates a pleasurable experience and causes the horse to associate the bit with molasses. Therefore, he/she will actually look forward to accepting the bit.

Over time, your animal will come to accept the bit without any trouble, and you’ll be able to easily move past this initially awkward phase in your relationship.

Originally posted 2008-05-22 01:19:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Snaffle Bits
The snaffle bits are the kind of reining device that is direct. It lies across the tongue of the horse through which your horse is guided directly or reined directly. This kind of bit is primarily used for lateral control of your horse.

Gag Bits
The gag bits are a bit similar with the snaffles except that your horse would lean into the gag bit. This kind of bit is used for racing. Since it is somewhat similar to the snaffles, it is highly possible that through your improper use of the snaffle, you could turn it into a gag and would encourage your horse to run away.

Leverage Bits
The leverage bits are reining devices that are not directly attached to the horses’ mouthpiece. It is connected to the shanks that hang down from your horse’s mouth. By pulling the reins, it causes the bit to be a compound leverage device which applies some pressure to the horse’s jaw at a ratio that is higher than that of the actual pulling force which is applied to the reins by the rider.

Now, horses have different mouth shapes that are why you need to select the right bitting device to use. Just remember that the mouthpiece should be long enough to be able to fit in your horse’s mouth without pinching the lips yet not overly long that it can shift back and forth excessively.

Originally posted 2009-04-09 16:20:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Technorati Tags: bits, horse bit, kinds of bits, start with bit, training bits