Here’s a fun one for my fellow bit nerds/collectors: Desert Island, bit edition.
If you could only have three bits … for every horse… for the rest of your life… what would you choose?
You MAY change up bridle, noseband, number of reins, converters, curb chains, etc. And the bits magically resize to fit any horse. But you may only ever have three bits in your possession.
What are your three selections?
I’m assuming I’m not going to any horse shows with these bits? Because if that were the case, my “vanity” would change this list a little. But I’m gonna go with a mullen mouth rubber pelham, a French link (or bean) loose ring, and a copper slow-twist full cheek Dr. Bristol. For vanity, I’d swap the loose ring for a French link hunter dee.
D-ring Sprenger Aurigan double-jointed snaffle; single-jointed Tom Thumb pelham; and a copper slow twist full cheek Dr. Bristol. @Tha_Ridge, we could just about share a bit box.
A full cheek with a double jointed lozenge mouthpiece,
a short shank Pelham with hard rubber Mullen mouthpiece
and a Herm Sprenger mechanical hackamore.
Fun thread! Does the double count as one?
Oooh, a hackamore - I like it!
My obvious top 2 would be a loose ring Verbindend snaffle and a rubber Pelham (clearly popular choices) but I’m totally stuck on #3. Full cheek slow twist is definitely an interesting prospect. Maybe a Myler D with a low port.
Fun!
Loose ring three piece snaffle with a lozenge
Full cheek slow twist Dr Bristol
Loose Ring Elevator
Egg-butt snaffle with a lozenge
Full-cheek snaffle with a lozenge
Short shank pelham … maybe a mullen
Turtle tactio loose-ring
Double-jointed (bean in the middle) baucher
HS Duo or Nathe mullen mouth.
Ooooh I like this idea a lot!
Assuming I would have bit tape, I could make any loose ring “fixed”, or add a Instant gag if I needed leverage, so I went for my favourite mouth pieces.
It was easy to pick the first two – I think I’d go with a KK loose ring, a flexible rubber mullen mouth pelham, and then…harder to settle on a third. Maybe a slow twist Dr. Bristol D ring or double jointed happy mouth elevator (in this scenario I’m imagining that I get to keep replacing the happy mouth when it gets chewed)
I feel like you get another one. I feel very secure in saying that a mechanical hackamore is a bridle or a noseband but it isn’t a bit.
I think it’s interesting that many of us picked the same leverage bit with the only difference being whether it’s a broken or a Mullen mouth!
Very interesting thread! For me it would have to be:
)Very interesting how the same bits come up over and over again!
Yes.
A mechanical hackamore is often referred to as a ‘hackamore ‘bit’. Although it doesn’t go inside a horse’s mouth. Maybe to distinguish it from a bosal or side pull? Hackamore bit is a term I’m most familiar with.
Not the same as a Hack-A-Bit which does include a bit mouthpiece.
In this universe, chewed bits do spontaneously regenerate. They are magic!
And yes, very interesting that so many of us have the same go-to bits and then the occasional wild card.
Fun question! I always tell people, “I collect bits but really only ride in a couple of them most of the time.” So like others my first two are easy
Then like others my third one is trickier, but I might go with the popular choice of a little rubber pelham, because really, you can use it as a snaffle too. I’d choose mullen mouth (just because I already have single and double jointed in my other choices).
That said, I don’t really jump much myself, so it makes bit choices both IRL and on fantasy island a bit simpler.
German silver D-ring with lozenge, D-ring Myler comfort mouth without the raised part (just the standard level 1) but with hooks if I needed the option of something a touch stronger, and then a mullen rubber D-ring with medium flexibility/bendability. I am assuming they would magically change size for whichever horse I am using them on haha.
HS KK Ultra D ring
HS KK Ultra loose ring gag
Loose ring waterford
This is fun, and really interesting how so many come up again and again. My list is pretty uninspired at this point:
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