Fager Bits? (Cross posted)

[Jackie_Cochran]

Today I was able to try the Fager Lilly single-jointed bar relief snaffle on Bingo, who 99% of the time is super resistant to halting hand aids (and seat halting aids and leg halting aids too, he just wants to keep going to the gate.)

My riding teacher liked how this bit looked better than the Fanny and Frida tongue relief bits I had tried on Bingo.

My ride did not start off showing much positive improvement, he was just as resistant to all halting aids as with all other bits. He took contact fine and he kept his mouth a little quieter (his gaping was not as wide.)

Towards the end of my lesson I decided to try stopping while headed to the gate, the time (end of the lesson) and place he has been the most resistant to stopping short of planting his breast against the gate.

My halting aids are alternating tweaks of my fingers, first one side as the hind leg comes forward alternating with the other side as that hind leg comes forward. When I asked him to halt going toward the gate I had NO HOPE of him stopping at all.

Guess what, he stopped after my second rein tweak, instead of six sets of tweaks or so.

My mouth literally fell open, this was totally unexpected, and my riding teacher was also pleased. Then I told him to walk again, and around a third of the way down the ring I gave another set of alternating tweaks, and he stopped again, immediately with no arguments, no “I don’t wanna stop” or heavy gaping.

This is a HUGE improvement for this horse, and it took only a half-hour ride. The improvement was not immediate, I had asked him to stop before several places in the ring with his usual reluctance to stop. Then, all of a sudden, OBEDIENCE!

My tentative conclusion is that Bingo seems to prefer the bar relief bit to the tongue relief bit. I never got a quick stop out of him in the five weeks I rode him in the Fager tongue relief bits.

Considering that Cider’s contact became steadier in this bit I am coming to the conclusion that, for older horses who had less than ideal riding in the previous decades, this bar relief bit is seen as an improvement over all the other bits I’ve tried on these horses (normal stainless steel & titanium bits, and the Wellep stainless steel bit.)

[Jackie_Cochran]

I forgot something major.

Bingo needed A LOT LESS LEG to keep moving or when I asked him to extend his stride at the walk. A lot less leg, which meant that I got a lot less tired riding him.

The Fager bit people write that they found that many horses have pressure points in their mouths. They shape their bits differently to avoid these pressure points (I assume these result from harsh hands over time). I have been riding Cider for over a decade, and Bingo for 9 months this time around and the difference in these horses from this bit are both completely unexpected and very gratifying (yeah progress!!!)

I think it is very important with the Fager bits to figure out if your horse gets upset with tongue pressure OR if your horse has old wounds on his bars that get irritated with bit pressure. The bits I’ve tried definitely have different effects on the horses’ mouths as to whether the bit relieves tongue pressure or relieves bar pressure.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I tried the “Frida” 3-piece tongue relief winged loose ring bit on Cider, who normally insists on keeping contact.

Cider did not like this bit. She did not “cuss me out” but she would not reach out freely for contact. Her contact was nowhere as stable as usual.

Stopping, well stopping required several repetitions of my hand aids and it was a reluctant halt.

Interestingly she was very responsive to my inside thigh turn signal and we ended up doing a few turns on the hindquarters with this aid alone, sagging reins and passive lower legs.

For MY hands, on the elderly arthritic horses I ride right now, the Fager bar relief snaffles are the winner! I am getting excellent steady contact with both horses and prompter responses to my light hand aids.

The horses do not seem to like me using the Fager tongue relief bits though Bingo was happier with the “Frida” bit than Cider was, but neither one seemed to think that this was THE bit to make them happy.

The Fager site seems to indicate that the tongue relief bits are good for horses who are always FORWARD, and who have tongue problems like putting the tongue over the bit. Right now I am not riding horses who are like this, but I am sure that my riding teacher at some time or another find the tongue relief bits useful for horses that I have no business riding.