For those who prefer the fulmer to the full cheek, why? Would you use it on anything but a green horse? Why or why not? I’ve always thought of full cheeks as just for horses that don’t understand turning, but it seems other people have other uses for them?
I like the Fulmer because it combines a loose ring with a very stable full cheek. The regular full cheek has the ring and cheekpiece on the same piece of metal. I find the Fulmer very stable and as long as you use it with keepers, it is a very good bit for youngsters…or as one person pointed out on another topic…a good bit for an older horse needing reschooled. I would not hesitate to use it with an older horse if that is the bit they like for competition. I don’t think of it as a bit for horses that don’t turn really…I think of the cheekpieces as adding an element of stability that you won’t find in a loose ring.
Thats exactly how I feel about full cheeks, there is an element of stability that I think reduces some ‘noise’, thats not a good descriptive but not sure how else to say it. Eggbutt FC is my cheek style of choice, but I don’t have a dressage background either. Needless to say I was thrilled to discover fulmers because of the slippery loose ring too, one less place for them to hide out. When I first used it I thought it might be too clangy, metal on metal, but my horse told me he loves his new bit.
Full cheeks hang in very particular ways.
With keepers they are very quiet, and the joints only work one way, much like a baucher. Without keepers, they hang a different way, because of gravity, and again, the joint is more mobile but less likely to poke up into the roof of the mouth. (the opposite of with keepers)
The looserings on a fulmer provide the balance of a fullcheek in the mouth piece, but the finesse of loose rings. It’s actually a step up from a fullcheek in terms of dead/quiet bottom of the scale… a step up to more lively from a Dee ring. But still with the stability in the angle of the mouthpiece.
They are VERY difficult to find in narrower bars. I wish, wish, wish JP would make one.
[QUOTE=Daydream Believer;4655104]
I like the Fulmer because it combines a loose ring with a very stable full cheek. The regular full cheek has the ring and cheekpiece on the same piece of metal. I find the Fulmer very stable and as long as you use it with keepers, it is a very good bit for youngsters…or as one person pointed out on another topic…a good bit for an older horse needing reschooled. I would not hesitate to use it with an older horse if that is the bit they like for competition. I don’t think of it as a bit for horses that don’t turn really…I think of the cheekpieces as adding an element of stability that you won’t find in a loose ring.[/QUOTE]
What kind of reschooling do you think the Fulmer would be useful for?
In hand work in particular. Excellent bit for that sort of thing.
I’d also not hesitate to use this bit on a fussy nervous, overly mouth-active sort of horse to see if a quieter bit (than most loose rings used today) might help settle them down. Yes, horses need to chew the bit but only to a degree. I think of a loose ring snaffle as a fairly advanced bit actually…and if a horse is not going well in that, I’ll take it back to a more basic bit like the Fulmer. The bit is also very mild and can help horses with confidence issues in contact.
PP…I found some Fulmers with a thinner mouthpiece than my old Eldonian. I think they came from Dover? They are not curved like a JP mouth but are definitely nicer for a smaller mouthed horse.
the man who made/invented the fulmer snaffle, the whole point of the bit was for it to be heavy and with a thicker mouthpeice.
well, yes, but the ‘modern sporthorse’ tends to have a more refined mouth, and as mine have anywhere from 5/8 to 15/16ths Arab, they also have low pallates and fat tongues and basically no room in there. 
So what I prefer for cheeks and what THEY prefer for mouthpieces don’t always meet.
And older ones, made in the UK of the old alloys, were often more curved. The Fulmer the SRS used/uses that used to be available via Tack in the Box wasn’t quite as thick and had more curved bars. Can’t find anyone else in the US who sells it.
The trainer that we work with (I Just the owner!) really loves the Fulmer. I don’t understand all the mechanics of it, though I’ve been told it’s about the mildest bit there is and that the Spanish Riding School starts all their horses in one.
Sea Accounts showed 3rd level in a Fulmer last year and qualified for GAIG Region 9 and SWDC in it.
My “horses” are usually 14 to 14:2 hands also…large pony in size but genetically small horses…so they have a need for a bit that is not quite so thick also. I have a couple however that like that old heavy thick Eldonian Fulmer but a few that seem to be more comfy in the lighter, less thick bit.
PP…do you have a link to that SRS Fulmer?
[QUOTE=pintopiaffe;4655583
They are VERY difficult to find in narrower bars. I wish, wish, wish JP would make one.[/QUOTE]
Have Shuttleworth make you one !! I did. Mullen mouth fulmer. Love it.
DB, I don’t. I got mine used EBay, UK (in a 6", mind you… WIDE small mouth! 
)
I tried finding out from the owner of Tack in the Box who her source was, but her hubby was ill (terminally) at the time. I sort of gave up the quest.
Isabeau–Jay Shuttleworth of western bits? MULLEN fulmer? :eek: OMG, I might be in heaven! Online by anychance? Link?
OOOH–editing–lookee what I found! I KNEW I’d seen one once… a long, cold, slow night with high speed internet: https://www.gogallop.com/Catalogue/Winter%2008/HL_WINTER_08_P52-58.pdf
Now, to find out a) if it’s correct–the photo makes it hard to tell, but I think it only looks funny because the JPs are curved… and b) how the heck to get one in the US?
WHY can’t we get the full JP line? They have so many more bradoons too!
You are talking about just the bit I’d like to try. I have a semi-green girl who I have a in a KK loose ring and I’m really struggling with her. I’d like to try a new bit to see if she is happier and in all my research this type of bit keeps coming up. If anyone has a link to one they would recommend for me I’d be so appreciative!!!
Ms. Mare loves her fulmer french link! And I don’t use bit keepers either for the same reasons…
I ordered it from this company and can’t say enough good things about their service and the quality of the bit:
http://www.thehorsebitshop.com/
I’m not sure it brings you to the page on fulmer bits, but click on full cheek bits in the menu.
Sneekers
