Gag Bit With One Rein

[jaysjmpr]

Gag

We used a gag, single rein, rope cheek, on x-country. NOT for below tng leve. At times half way round x-country (back in the days of roads n tracks, ect) the horses would often get “down hill”, heavy and riders needed help lifting them up. Getting them jumping back off their hind qtrs. Even correctly fit both horse and rider might need help staying balanced.

I always thought the gag was more to help lift and lighten.

Back them you did not see as many gags in the jumper ring. Now we do use 3 ring gags with 2 reins in the jumpers, some even with running’s. There are some horses that are not always the exact same horse day to day and having two different pressure points to go to is helpfull.

[alterhorse]

I personally don’t think students should be told to ride in gags with one rein because it isn’t going to provide those students with a full education in the use different bits.

[HunterJumper_3]

IMHO, it’s a little harsh to ride in a one-reined gag bit and a running martingale! That’s kind of a mixed cue, head up, head down. Punishment for submitting to what you ask. As soon as they apply rein pressure, head gets flung up, and as soon as the running martingale comes into play, the head is down - now you have a confused horse.

That’s just my opinion ^ but now for your question. :lol: I’ve always thought the only way to ride in a gag (and only if your horse tends to drag his nose way down low) was in two reins. Otherwise, how are you to half-halt, stop, or use your rein aids at all? Any pressure on the reins, subtle or not, will just encourage your horse to raise his head. With two reins, you can use the snaffle rein to do whatever you’d normally do, with the gag rein, you’d apply pressure to lift your horse’s head (one rein - you have access to only the latter)! Like using a Pelham or double bridle, but reverse.

[NancyM]

The above touches on my take on the situation. The running martingale puts the pressure of the bit onto the bars, no matter where the horse puts his head. The gag lifts the head, puts the pressure on the corners of the mouth. So using both is not rational. Either you need one, or the other. Either you need to place the bit on the bars, OR on the corners, not both. By using both, the horse has “nowhere to go” on pressure… he can’t put his head up or down to release the pressure. This conumdrum can make the horse crazy… what is it that the pressure wants him to do? It is too much hardware. A horse who can not figure out what to do is a dangerous horse. Using only one rein on a gag gives you no options in rein use, and steering is a problem. The three ring snaffles are the same without a snaffle rein, no steering. You need a snaffle rein, always, to be able to steer effectively. Also, when the gag cheekpiece breaks, a snaffle rein will get you stopped while the bit is still in the mouth. I watched that happen once, pretty scary (no snaffle rein, and the running rope going through the gag broke, bit fell out of mouth- on a racehorse, on the track).

I love to use a gag, especially on an old race horse turned showjumper. Often an effective yet soft choice. I like them way better than the three ring bits, I think horses go better in them than the three rings. Always use two reins.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

So I’d like to explain to you what the point of using both would be:

My mare was pushed too hard as a 5/6 year old and when the breeder/owner found out what the trainer was doing they immediately stopped her training but she still learned a LOT of avoidance techniques.

So when I ride on the flat she holds herself in a “fake” frame (what tends to be from the over use of draw reins) and she’ll go behind the bit to avoid contact. Now we spend a lot of time working on this but her tendency will ALWAYS be to go behind the bit.

Now when I jump her in the ring a loose ring French link generally does the trick but there are times where I pull harder than I would like to on her sensitive mouth to get her to stop.

And then when I take her out on trail rides with small jumps for “confidence building” she is impossible to stop after jumps in the French link.

So I spent a lot of time looking for a bit that would get the desired result without causing her to curl more (as elevators and hackamores are known to cause curling). So I found the gag. So I hurried off and bought myself a loose ring snaffle gag (with normal not big rings) and gave it a try.

So I put two reins on it, to make sure I was using it correctly and off we went. And for real, off we went! But this time instead of avoiding the bit with curling she was resisting the bit by flipping her head almost straight up.

So I was a bit at a loss. But I figured I’d go ahead and try a loose running martingale before I completely gave up on the gag. Of course it seemed counterproductive to myself as well but it works. No head flipping, no curling, maybe it’s because it lessens the effect of the gag action while keeping her head down but not allowing her to curl.

So basically, it keeps her from using avoidance tactics to blow off my rein aids.