I thought about this! Definitely on my list of things to try with her this season. Do you find that horses generally go better with this setup vs. a combi?
So… stick with the combi bit that’s working?
I mean, you either have to work on her training holes in order to use a softer bit that you like, or you just accept how she is right now and bit up and hang on. 
If your priorities are squeezing a few more show seasons out of her while you can, I would just stick with what she likes. Some of the suggestions here are good ones though if you’re looking to experiment for some reason.
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Sure you do. You ride your horse at home, right? That’s your “time”. Training is every single ride. Whether you are at home, or at a show. You might not think what you are doing at home helps (or hurts) at a show, but it does. Because home is where you are riding 99% of the time. So if you allow her to get away with small things at home, of course that is magnified at a show when adrenaline comes into play. For example, if you let her get away with pulling a little on the bit at home, that could turn into total rooting at the show when her energy level is high. But if you correct that pulling at home, and you are always 100% consistent at home with what you expect every single time, she still might test the waters at the show (bad habits won’t disappear immediately) but it will at least give yourself some tools in the toolbox, and you can be better equipped to deal with it at a show.
Now, keep this in mind: You might be able to change your bit for right now to gain control but what will you do if in 2 months, if that bit no longer works? And you’ve lost the control again? That is a possibility, if you decide NOT to address the holes in training and instead look at the bit as “fixing” the problem. The bit doesn’t “fix” anything. It’s how you apply the pressure, when you apply the pressure, and also when you RELEASE the pressure. All those things determine how your horse responds to the bit. Whether they are age 15 or age 5.
Again, you won’t change her over night. But can you be just 1% better each day? That’s a small achievable amount. If you can do that, where will you be in 90 days? (Bingo 
)
Your horse, your decisions and your choice, but I would NOT be okay with galloping a horse around that doesn’t listen to me at all. Safety is my number one priority.
Again, not a jumping situation, but I have had it happen at least a couple times where my name is called to go into the barrel pen, the gate is open, and my horse is ready to fly in. They are on the muscle and they are breathing fire. And then … a child walks right into my path in the alley because their idiot parent is not paying attention. 
To avoid running the child over, I need to stop my horse. (And yell at said parent to get their kid out of my way.) And that’s one of the reasons why I make sure I have prepared and trained my horse to listen to me at all times, even when they are at the height of their adrenaline pumping. Safety first, always.
I suppose it’s pretty rare for something like that to happen on a jumping course, but unfortunately at outdoor rodeos or barrel races, there usually isn’t separation of the crowd from the contestants. And it happens. Anyway, just an example.
EDITED post to fix quotes to show correctly
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Just in case those don’t know about this concept discussed in the book Atomic Habits:
The 1% better every day rule is a self-improvement strategy that involves making small, consistent improvements to a skill or habit. The idea is that these small changes will add up over time to lead to significant growth.
The math behind the 1% better every day rule is that if you improve by 1% each day for a year 365 days, you’ll end up 37 times better than when you started. This is because of the power of compound interest.
If you improve by 1% every day for 90 days, you will be approximately 2.45 times better than when you started
OP has indicated they don’t have the time… and what 2.45 times better means to them is of course, subjective and may not be something they care about for 90 days of “doing the work”
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My point here is that I am and have always been working towards a softer connection where my horse gives to the but all the time. I work on that with every horse I ride every day. But as I’m sure you know, horses typically don’t steadily progress in their training. I’ve had this horse for nearly 2 years now, and even working on her softness and willingness to give to the bit every time I ride for those two years, little has improved on that front. If she had gotten better in 90 days, I wouldn’t be asking for bit recommendations because my problem would have been solved. My horse is always, always “working” under saddle. We don’t happy hack or have days where she just trots around willy nilly. Not all horses are the same, and unfortunately mine just isn’t as willing as others may be to learn softness
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It’s not necessarily wanting a softer bit option, I’m just not a big fan of not having control over the hack and bit independently. I’ve gotten some good suggestions in this thread, and I plan to experiment a little. Of course if I’m not finding that other options are any better, I’ll probably go back to the combi. We’ll end up showing 25-30 weeks this coming year, so there’s plenty of opportunity for me to experiment!
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I agree with @Amberley about trying the double bridle.
I ride lesson horses right now though I used to own my own riding horses. With both sets of horses having the double bridle, with a curb and bridoon in their mouths, seemed to remove the existential angst that the horses had about figuring out what THIS rein aid means at THIS particular moment in our ride.
Using a double bridle with two bits in the horse’s mouth is not rocket science, the horses I ride seem to figure it out easily during the initial lesson of 30 minutes.
I did not have a riding teacher teach me how to use a double bridle, it was my first horse who did that. I did ask my riding teacher (who started out taking lessons from Gordon Wright) if she thought my seat and hands were good enough and she told me to go ahead and try it. Due to my work schedule I rarely had a lesson with her but she saw me riding a lot in her big pastures and she had a good idea of my riding abilities (not as good as most of her students.)
By the time I got with my present day riding teacher I had introduced 2 or 3 horses to the double bridle, with no help from a riding teacher or a horse trainer. As I said above, using a double bridle is not rocket science, a rider does not have to have the equivalent of a PhD to use one on a horse who never had a double bridle in their mouth before. My riding teacher had no experience teaching a student using a double bridle but I finally talked her into it.
With my present day riding teacher I have introduced the double bridle to 3 or 4 of her lesson horses (who also had no experience with the double bridle) without any problems at all. Most of these horses I had ridden before, essentially training the horse that, at least in my hands, that the bit is not an instrument of torture, relaxing the horse until the horse voluntarily reaches out for contact, and filling a gaping hole in the education of these up-down lesson horses.
Since you have ended up having to use two reins anyway this probably will be easy for you.
And you may find that your horse listens to your hand aids better than they do now because they are paying attention to your hands better than before.
One of the lesson horses I introduced the double bridle to had an iron jaw when I started riding him. I got him relatively good at contact after riding him for a few months to where I could control him better than his previous riders. Even so, with him looking so much better than before with just a snaffle, when I changed to a double bridle after many months of not riding him it took this 25 year horse maybe 3 thirty minute lessons to decide that the double bridle was the answer to all his fears and insecurities about his riders’ hands. The strength on contact I had to use to get him to obey me decreased A LOT and he became light in hand even heading toward the gate when the gate was open.
I never had to take a hard hold with the double bridle though the strength of contact increased with speed. My contact is usually an ounce or two, at speed my contact with the double bridle maybe increased to half a pound galloping across a humongous pasture with no fence in sight.
For the record nowadays I use Fager titanium bits for my double bridle (and my snaffles), the Fager Victoria Mullen mouth Weymouth curb and either the Fager Alicia(?) three piece bridoon with a titanium roller on the center link or my Fager Adam leather snaffle as the bridoon.
I keep on asking my riding teacher if her lesson horse shows any irritation from me using the double bridle and she tells me the horses look happy with it. I also ride with another lady on her heart horse, and she tells me that her horse also looks happy with my using the double bridle.
In spite of me having MS, bad balance, no proprioceptive sense, and I do not have any endurance at all (30 minutes is IT, I can go no longer riding a horse.) I do not ride these lesson horses more than once a week either, yet they manage to learn the double bridle just fine.
It does not matter if I am on contact or if I ride with sagging or loose reins. The horses just listen to my hand aids better when I use the double bridle AND they do not try to drag me around the ring or make my arms ache from desperately trying to hold them back.
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What does this mean, in “I don’t show at top notch shows” terms? Will you literally have your horse at a show for half the year? Or go to a show every other weekend?
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I really really hope that OP isn’t jumping their horse in competition for half the year.
While also admitting they are dangerous in the ring and have no control. And also the horse has some soundness issues so they really are just trying to drain the horse of as many classes as possible before she breaks. And they don’t have time to school since they’re showing so much, so instead of training the horse to carry herself better and respond to the aids they want to bit up. That’s how this is coming across though.
I am not a fan of horses living at shows for half the year either (from a welfare standpoint), but SHOWING that often at any level isn’t fair to the horse. End of story. And OP says they’re jumping 1.40? No wonder the horse “probably won’t hold up to the level for very much longer”.
I’m sorry, but the more we hear the less I’m thinking that OP has a bit problem and more that they first and foremost have a management and priorities problem. Followed by training problems. Followed by maybe a bitting issue.
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Agreed.
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I want to clarify that I am not a “every horse can go barefoot in a snaffle” person. I’m not against showing, and I think a lot of people are able to balance the H/J circuit model with horse welfare. I have a bit box with some interesting gear in it, and have had horses that went better in “more” bit. This includes several hacka-bits I used with two reins on my jumper that would get strong and heavy at shows and try to blow through my aids.
Turns out that jumper needed a better fitting saddle and I needed dressage lessons. I think if I had him today I would be able to produce a much better ride and use less hardware as well. And I’d have spent less money on shows and more money on bodywork and dressage lessons.
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Whoa whoa whoa, let’s slow down. Let me clarify some things. Yes, my horse will show 25-30 weeks this year at 1.30-1.40m. However, I typically show in 2, maybe 3 classes a week. The horse is never at a show for more than 2 weeks at a time, and then she usually comes home and gets some time off and then more flatwork before going to the next show. I also said she has known vetting issues, not soundness issues. I’m not going to go into too much detail on that because I don’t think it’s super necessary, but she’s been very sound during the time we’ve had her (I’m knocking on wood) and we work closely with our vet to make sure she’s at her best. We do every maintenance under the sun, and she’s been very happy. However, her vetting issues combined with the fact that she’s coming 16, mean she probably only has a couple more years jumping the height that she is. Then she will step down to the 1.10m job, not retire altogether.
I also never said I have no control. She’s hot, and strong, but we always get the job done (record speaks for itself). The issue mainly comes from being in the really giant rings (grass field at Tbird for example) where she wants to grab the bit and run, but overall, I would love for her to be more manageable at shows all the time without just “getting it done.” I can also see it being more of an issue overall when we try to jump bigger, and I’d like to get ahead of it.
I really am not looking for opinions on training, or showing, or my horses vetting history. I simply asked for bit recommendations for a hot/strong horse. If you don’t have one, please move along.
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Yes, we’ll end up being at shows for half the year! But keep in mind, she only shows in 2, maybe 3 classes a week, and we’re never gone for more than 2 weeks at a time without bringing the horses home to be turned out and do more flatwork. They also get every maintenance under the sun both at home and at shows and I work closely with a vet to make sure they’re all feeling their best before they go anywhere.
Do the horses get any turnout at the show?
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This is so obvious that I’m sure you’ve already tried it, but what about a two-ring with a similar double-jointed mouthpiece to the beval and pelham you like? I find that just a little leverage can go a long way. A two-ring is step up from your beval bit, but doesn’t have the kind of escalating leverage you’d get with a hackamore or a sliding gag with one rein. I really like this type of bit for hot-but-not-strong jumpers. It’s possible yours is too strong for it to be suitable, though.
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Threads like these just remind me of how strange the H/J world is to me… spending half the year showing?? I guess I don’t understand the point of that lol as an eventer/dressage rider shows are a very exciting and special thing that I’m lucky to attend maybe 5 times a year…
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Depends on if it’s something the show has available. They are out of their stalls majority of the day everyday however, whether it be for riding or hand walks, which I realize is not even remotely the same as turnout, but we do the best we can. If the show does offer turnout options, we utilize them as much as we’re allowed.
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I completely get it!! I was only allowed 3 schooling shows a year until I was 16, and they were always incredibly special. I’m very fortunate to be able to show as often as I do now, and it makes me appreciate it even more.
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I have tried this, it was one of my first experiments! It gave me about the same result that the Pelham did unfortunately. Not bad, but just not quite enough for her.
I have exact same issue with my fire breathing dragon lol. I recently found what works for me is a figure eight nose band. He tends to open his mouth and pull down so the nose band helps. I don’t crank it, just tight enough to be effective. I’ve been using a 2 ring bit on the second rein. The mouth piece is 3 pieces either ring things in the middle that he can roll around. The mouth piece is more narrow but not sharp. He’s responsive but not offended. I do a lot of transitions in my flat work. I also started letting him walk on loose rein for 15-20 min before I get started. This seems to help his brain stay relaxed. The other piece of the puzzle for me is strength training for myself. To jump big jumps you have to be physically fit. You have to be able to hold your body over the jumps and it changes your ability to hold the horse while actually keeping the forward momentum. Because the answer isn’t that you need the horse to go slower. You want them to go forward but listen to your aides. My horse is very hot and quirky and it’s been a long road and a lot of work to get us on the same page. The results of the hard work have been very exciting!
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