This was one of the first big differences I noticed in switching from an English to a western barn. The western folks always had their bits lower in the horse’s mouth, never any wrinkles. It makes sense as in this barn (western pleasure show) the ultimate goal is for the horse to carry or pack the bit on his own. Lowering the bit allows more room for the horse to “take up the bit” with his or her tongue and “hold” it where they prefer. Wrinkles mean the bit is against the corners of the lips constantly, and is going to sit a certain way, and engage the lips, then tongue and bars when pulled. There certainly could be some horses who prefer that.
Prior to being at the western barn, I always just did whatever the current trainer’s preference was…one wrinkle, two wrinkles, didn’t seem to matter. But I did try lowering the bits in my horses’ mouths and they both do seem to prefer it.
My western pleasure trained paint horse currently goes in an eggbutt French link with a wide center link, placed pretty low in his mouth. He “carries” the link in his mouth and seems very happy in it. My TB likes his fat rubber d-ring single joint, and also prefers it to be low, but not as low as the paint. He has a low palate, small mouth and fat tongue and bars, so I have no idea why he likes such a fat bit. Sometimes they just don’t make sense.
We control so much of what the horse does…gait, pace, rhythm, tempo, speed, direction. We also use a noseband that may limit the horse’s ability to decide how to hold their jaw. Lowering the bit and allowing the horse to pick it up with the tongue and hold it where they deem comfortable seems like a good thing to do.
FWIW, I longed and long lined both of mine with the bit, and did some in hand work to observe at different heights, and it was pretty clear that both liked it lower. What I previously mistook as licking/chewing that might have seemed positive to some types of trainers was actually my horse trying to move or roll the bit to a more comfortable position.
