Does anyone use the bombers happy Tongue bit?
How about a knock off version available in the US?
https://www.equiport.co.uk/products/horse/bits/happy-tongue-loose-ring-snaffle-eb07/
A few years ago I bought an Eggbutt Titanium Happy Tongue bit made by Bombers.
The horses I ride really like the titanium bits.
I only used this bit 3 or 4 times on 2 different horses who I had ridden, one for two years and one for ten years. Both horses cursed me out vehemently (violent head tossing when I tried to keep contact.) On both horses I had to give up keeping contact with this bit completely as they DID NOT LIKE IT at all, and the horses made sure I knew of their opinions almost immediately.
I have used up to ten different bits on these horses (boredom relief.) I have gotten the head flinging on some of these bits but the horses were much more vehement with the Happy Tongue bit than the other tongue relief bits I tried.
It now resides in my bit box and I seriously doubt I will ever put it on a bridle again.
The reaction may well have been from my hands (I have MS, hand tremors and bad proprioceptive sense), but these horses did not protest so violently at any other bit even though they did not like the other tongue relief bits I tried.
I thought this bit would be a winner, but the horses told me no way.
Other horses with other riders may well have much better results.
These horses ended up in a double bridle (eventually with titanium bits) and they have been quite happy with the double bridle and most snaffles I have tried on them. My riding teacher tells me I have good hands, though on occasion the horses don’t agree with her. I listen to the horses first, and the horses told me NO with this bit.
Try to borrow one first. It may work very well with your horse, but be aware that the horses you ride may have the same opinion that the horses I ride had about this bit. Buying it was a moderately expensive mistake for me.
Interesting, thanks.
My mare has moments of brilliance and then moments of giraffe where she thinks contact is stupid, and she’s gotten her tongue over the bit so my trainer and I are narrowing it down to bit preference or training or both.
My riding teacher has put me on several lesson horses that had turned into giraffes because of beginner’s hands. I got all of them to go willingly on proper contact, at least when I rode them.
The method I used was to raise my hands so that the reins were almost parallel to the cheek pieces of the bridle (watch out for the horse’s eyes!) On some horses when I used this method at first dove their heads almost to the ground (I let the reins run through my fingers) and then raised their heads to a more normal head carriage. Other horses just got their heads down to where normal contact can take place. These horses were thoroughly wedded to going inverted, it was their solution to previous riding with unsympathetic hands OR bits that they did not like at all, or a combination of both causes.
I learned this technique in the book “Give Your Horse a Chance” by d’Endrody. I have found many solutions to my riding difficulties in this book, and this one solution has been the one that most impressed my riding teacher.
PM me if you would like to try this slightly used bit (it does have a few teeth marks from these horses who got really angry at this bit, just the blue coating got marks, the metal of the bit is fine.) We can work something out I am sure.
The two horses I tried this bit on were an Arab-Welsh mare and a QH gelding.
I have a used one for sale if you’re interested.
The mare I used it on was ambivalent to it. She was a nutter all around though. I has to switch bits pretty often with her, to keep her occupied.
Anyone who has a used one can message me!
I had a memory glitch about one horse I tried it on. I did not try it on the QH gelding, I specifically bought the bit to try on a lesson horse, a 6 year old OTTB gelding who, off contact, tried to reduce EVERY bit I had tried up until then into its constituent molecules. Off contact it was a constant noise, grinding the bit between his teeth. He HATED this Bomber bit, at least with my hands at the ends of the reins, but later on he accepted a titanium coated “rainbow” single jointed 20mm thick snaffle. This horse prefers his bits to be titanium but he has other opinions about bits so not every titanium snaffle is a total success, but the Bomber Happy Tongue bit was the worst by far.
I am sending you a PM.
Do they come in eggbutt?
You might try a baucher bit. Horses that don’t like to feel every bit of movement, that prefer the bit to be stable in the mouth, often prefer a baucher.
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Their eggbutt is different from the traditional English eggbutt. It just means that the mouthpiece is prevented from sliding up and down the rings. The rings “release” a little quicker than a traditional eggbutt, almost as quickly as a loose ring, while at the same time the mouthpiece is a little bit more stable in the horse’s mouth.
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Great book!
Have you tried rein-combing? A more active version of raising the contact.
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I have been using rein combing for decades, on horses who need the help.
Rein combing is why for the longest time I only bought plain leather reins so I would not accidentally bump the horse’s mouth when I combed the reins. Now that I use either notched reins or the woven reins with colored stops I have to open my fingers more. If I could ever trust my hands to find the right place on the reins again I would be back to plain reins in a NY second because I like my 1/2" plain reins so very, very much.
Rein combing does not work with my horse at this time. I purchased this bit to try.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/shires-blue-alloy-loose-ring-with-mullen-mouth-21121
The plastic version of this bit cut my mares mouth so bad on XC I ended up in the fence and she ended up with a cut so bad that 2 years later I am still struggling to ride her with a bit that doesn’t re open her scar tissue. Never ever again would I touch one of these.
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I am so sorry that happened to your mare.
The horses I ride have been perfectly clear, “tongue relief” bits are instruments of the Devil for them, at least when my hands are on the reins. Bombers was the worst one.
I was re-reading one of my old bit books “Bits–Their History, Use and Misuse” by Louis Taylor. This guy greatly preferred riding all horses in the double bridle. What he said about other bits (snaffle, Pelham, Western curb) was that the rider will find a bit that will work well with a horse, and that same bit tends to work on most other horses with that rider because it is the best bit for that rider’s hands. So other than fit (a too wide bit can drive most horses crazy in my hands) listening to the horse and immediately believing the horse is best for me.
The horses telling you that THIS bit is acceptable does not mean it will be acceptable with another rider holding the reins. This can make one insane with a new horse, “the old rider got good results with this bit but when I ride the horse goes crazy!” Been there, done that.
In the last 12 years or so this worked for me. At first I was riding three horses in the JP Dr. Bristol (I had to sew some bit keepers on my D-ring bit for it to work), then the Wellep bits, then titanium bits of several types, to now the horses all let me use the Fager double jointed snaffles with a center plate, NOT French link or lozenge. All these changes happened as my MS affected my hands more and more. These horses also really did not like me keeping contact with any of the bitless alternatives I tried, they will fling their heads just as hard as with a bit they don’t like in my hands.
So lately I am mostly riding in a double bridle with the Fager mullen mouth Weymouth and the Fager double jointed bradoon (in the double they put up with the lozenge unlike when I use a lozenge snaffle by itself.) So far three different horses of different breeding and different builds “tell” me that this set-up is acceptable for my hands.
I find that most of the advertising copy for any type of bit usually does not apply for me at all. In my hands the horses I ride will cuss me out if the bit is not a good fit with my hands, no matter how “gentle” or “kind” that bit is supposed to be. Luckily I listen to the horses and I will change an expensive new bit out immediately if the horse starts saying “No.”
It gets expensive, and I have a good collection of bits I’ll probably never use again.
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I switched my sensitive OTTB to the dee ring version of the bit you linked and he loves it. We started him in a snaffle with a copper peanut lozenge but it was too distracting for him and all he wanted to do was play with the bit. Tried a Herm Sprenger Duo next and that lasted all of about 2 weeks before he had chewed the silicone beyond repair.
Opted for the blue alloy Mullen mouth and found our winner. Plenty of tongue relief, the stability of a Mullen mouth and dee ring option (which he prefers). More durable and easier on the wallet, too.
i’m so boring…vanilla icecream and snaffle bits. I start them all in a full cheek, then move to an eggbutt. Getting ready to move my novice mare (not calling her a greenie anymore!) to an eggbutt. When i find a good one, i’ll be buying at least five to spread across all of her bridles.
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