Baucher in the Hunter ring?

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=Köttbulle;8297949]
So I am in the process of re-training a mare who we have narrowed down her anxiety about jumping to the fear of being hit in the mouth… Specifically the bars of her mouth. I have tried several bits from rubber dee rings to Pelhams and even gone in a bit less bridle and hackmore.
She is happiest in French link baucher. I realize it’s not conventional for the hunter ring, but she loves it. Is relaxed and for the first time I can actually start to ask for more contact without her fussying or fighting.
In other bits she immediately starts to get tense and seems ready to fight and flings her head. But in the baucher she is soft and relaxed.
I don’t plan on doing any A or even B shows anytime soon. So I’m just wondering how terrible it would be to go into a schooling show with one on. Would I simply be excused from the class while on course. Or would I just be given no score?
I would really like to start her in the hunters so it’s easier and more straight forward for her.[/QUOTE]

I can’t imagine why it would be a problem. Possibly no one would even notice!
Schooling shows are for just that–schooling. If that’s the bit your horse goes best in, use it–it’s really nothing but a snaffle after all.

They don’t bat an eye at double-twisted-wire full-cheeks, which are an order of magnitude more bit than a Baucher. Or for that matter the Myler “correction port” masquerading-as-a-full-cheek genre.

Hunters are not expected to stay in a flexed “frame” to a steady contact the way dressage horses are, they just need to be rated off a light contact or even a relatively loose rein, and not “fuss” on the bit. This is achievable in a far greater diversity of hardware than the dressage competition world contends with.

I’d happily go with it!

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Köttbulle;8300594]
Loving the discussion everyone.
Sad to hear that it can come down to a bit in the final placing but it is a VERY subjective sport… So I’m not really shocked. [/QUOTE]

I don’t think that’s bad. And I think it would be a crude way to distinguish the better- from worse trained horse.

But if I see a horse in a Helluva Piece of Hardware getting the job done, and another also getting the job done in a much softer, less complicated bit, which horse do you think is the better trained animal?

[Madeline]

[QUOTE=mvp;8305802]

But if I see a horse in a Helluva Piece of Hardware getting the job done, and another also getting the job done in a much softer, less complicated bit, which horse do you think is the better trained animal?[/QUOTE]

Sure, as a tiebreaker. But a horse in lotsa bit putting in a really good trip should beat a horse in a mild bit putting in a good trip, every time. It’s about the trip, really. (Besides, you can’t tell what that innocent-looking dee bit is really hiding.) For sure, I’d mark down those really short martingales, but that doesn’t seem to bother high level judges in high level competitions. Just me.