Does it have leverage, or not? I’ve had people tell me it does, people tell me it doesn’t… what is the truth?
I have never used one, but I see them a lot and am wondering if it might work on my horse. He likes to lean and get heavy on the forehand if I let him. I’m working on really lifting my hands up and pushing him forward, but I do think he likes to lean on the 3 piece bit I have him in.
I use the boucher bit for my younger horse who likes to get heavy. It has more leverage than a loose ring but less than an elevator bit. It still gives a small amount of leverage. if you pull on it you can see that it does give some leverage. I personally love the bit for dressage. I then use a sprenger universal elevator bit for jumping.
The Bit Bank gives an excellent and scientific description of the Boucher. I agree with Bit Bank and others: the Boucher doesn’t provide leverage because there are no pivot and brace points. Check out BB’s article: http://bitbankaustralia.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/the-truth-about-the-baucher-snaffle-bit-rattling-the-cage/
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If you want to see if it has leverage, put your hand under the crownpiece and see. I think it does. Further, I have never seen a horse ridden in one which did not go lower and more closed. Again, a three piece bit can act on the tongue, creating much the same reactions.
The solution for a horse which is leaning/heavier on the forehand is to create an EFFECTIVE half halt. Higher hands are not the solution, but a vertical hh (onto the corners of the mouth) can help the horse stay higher. Lighter is a condition of your action hh/and rewarding his reaction (better balance). Actiivty forward can help sustain this new balance.
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I have a bad habit of dropping my hands, so ‘high hands’ for me = normal correct hand position 
may have to just switch him back to a regular snaffle.
The baucher is not a leverage bit as there is no lever. It does, as the Bit Bank states, lie very still, which is reassuring for many horses. The fixed cheek ring at the top causes the bit to be in balance when the horse’s head is perpendicular, not down, not up, not out. I love this bit for certain horses. I used it on a hard puller, described as a “man’s horse” and runaway in the hunt field. Suddenly I had a light feel because of the way he carried himself and he was a happy camper, no more bloody mouth and blistered hands!
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I have used one on my guy for dressage, stadium, and cross country for two years now and I absolutely love it. It works so well on him and keeps him so light. He gets heavy in regular snaffles. It can be super soft and sensitive but when I have to give a “HEY, remember me?” half halt on cross country, it gets the point across. If I didn’t have that bit, he wouldn’t be able to go in a snaffle (as far as the mouthpiece) xc.
No, there is no leverage. Period. There is no lever, it’s physics. The arms of the bit keep it very stable in the horse’s mouth, which is why my guy liked it. That’s all it does.
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Yup, no leverage. The bit hanger keeps the bit from rotating in the mouth, keeping it positioned.
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Thanks for the clarification!!! I bought one for a specific horse, but never used it. So…will it give a rider a bit more clout??
Real simple for ya
Full cheek with keepers, less the thingies to get hurt on when your horse rubs his face on you.
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No leverage.
What it does is sit more quietly in the horse’s mouth than other bits.
Some horses really like it.:yes:
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Theresa Sandin has an excellent explanation of Baucher :
http://www.sustainabledressage.net/tack/bridle.php#snaffle
Quote:
“This kind of bit together with a drop noseband is generally the gentlest way to start a green horse.
Another bit with this function is the drop-cheek or baucher/fillis bit. This bit can look deceptively like a gag-bit but it is not, since the mouth piece cannot slide on the bitring, which is a prerequisite for gag action. In this bit, the fastening of the bridle side piece is done further up the side of the head. This makes the bit lie flatter to the side of the head, because anything other than would have to fight the “lever” of the arm where the side piece joins. This effectively stops the bit from being pulled into the mouth from the side as well. And horses usually like this kind of bit.
This bit is usually falsley described as creating poll pressure. Most baucher bits don’t. In order for it to put pressure on the poll, the ring which the rein attaches to, needs to have a drawn-out oblong shape so that the rein stays at a certain position on the ring. If the ring is oblong, the rein will want to stay at one end, and thus pulls this end up towards the hand/rein. If the ring is round, so that the distance from the mouth bars to the rein is constant at all angles, the rein will slide”
It is best go to that website as she has good illustrations.
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Basically a french snaffle. It’s obviously debatable, but it gives the sense of leverage because it is held steady in the mouth, applies more of a gag type pressure in the corner of the mouth and creates more flexion at the poll or vertical flexion. This influences shoulder lift and lightness of the forehand.
The cheekpiece holds it and there is no delayed response or extra movement like the loose ring snaffle, so less herky jerky response to the movement of a regular snaffle or dulling of the mouth. It is a good bit, in my opinion and a legal show bit for many disciplines.
I know I’m resurrecting a many-years-old thread, but I have a question related to Baucher bits. I get that they do not have leverage- clear on that from the info provided- but can someone explain the pros/cons (or uses?) of this type of bit single and double jointed? Why might you choose single vs double jointed? For what type of horse/effect?
I believe my horse’s prev owner rode him in a baucher, and my trainer recommended I try one with just the single joint- curious what people think.
I think this all depends on the individual horse. Either they go comfortably in something or it bothers them. If previous riders used it and recommended it to you, horse must be able to carry it comfortably so start there. The action doesn’t matter if the horse finds it uncomfortable to carry. Some horses hate too many moving parts and loose rings, it worries them. Some hate a Mullen and solid sides. Can’t know until you try.
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I use a baucher bit with one single joint. I am not a technical person or do not have the understanding around it, but it seems my horse is happy with it. I have soft hands and my horse comes to a stop very quickly with a slight pull.
Like you noted, it does not have leverage.
Either single-jointed or double, it can be a very good bit in your toolbox for a horse that needs a quiet bit, or a horse that prefers little movement of the mouth-piece or bit.
It is also a very good bit if you have a rider with “noisy” hands, as it doesn’t move much and is very stable.
Most horses will do well in one.
I prefer the ones with a lozenge in the middle (double), as I find that the point of “rotation” from pressure on the boucher often is too steep an angle in relation to the horse’s roof of mouth (palate)… IE… without the break in the middle, the bit doesn’t sit at a very good angle across the mouth even when appropriately fitted (just the way it is configured – and I bet, is a big reason why HS came out with the “butterfly boucher” to address that lack of flexibility).
So for that reason I opt to usually use a double jointed one, but I have a single-jointed in my bit box, that I have used with good success on some of my OTTBs that needed the security of a very stable mouth-piece. My most recent project, in fact, does go in a single boucher.
A Baucher does not exert any leverage or any poll pressure. In fact, a study done by the Neue Schule bit company showed that Bauchers actually alleviated poll pressure as compared to most other snaffle bits.
You can see the results on the poll pressure exerted by various bits on this pamphlet put out by Neue Schule on pp. 10-11:
https://issuu.com/neueschule/docs/ns_product-guide-2018_screen
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I have a horse with very close together bars: for him, a double jointed bit would mean the joints would be on his bars, and so I use a single jointed bit on him. For a fatter tongued horse/wider bars, I usually start with a curvey double jointed bit so that there is less leverage on the bars. I find horses resist/tense against bar pressure. The baucher in general reduces bar pressure though.
