I had the opportunity to see the Budwiser Clydesdales in PA on saturday when I got caught in a traffic jam in a small town and then all of a sudden they appeared out of nowhere with a police escort. What a glorious sight!!!
I’m not familiar with the bits used for driving but am curious. They looked very fancy. What is the reason for the curved middle slot on a Buxton bit? Why would someone choose that over one of the Liverpool type bits?
The shanks are longer than a liverpool. The curved middle slot will provide more leverage and also more pressure on the poll. Also, the slobber bar prevents the bits from getting caught on the harness.
What an amazing treat!
What, no pictures??
Buxton Bit is a traditional style, used on Draft hitches over many years. The offset rein loop in the bit, has a number of reason for being there according to older, experienced drivers. One is that it makes the rein harder to grab if the horse is “lippy” with his mouth. Also changes the leverage when rein is used in that setting.
When “reading a hitch horse” in harness or standing, driving by, you NEVER want to see a rein in the bottom hole, which coincidentally, is called the “Deadman"s Hole” on Buxton and Liverpool bit shanks. If you see a horse set up like that, or you are DRVING a horse who needs reins in the lowest setting of a long shank, someone is probably going to get hurt or in the old days, die, using that horse. I know if I see reins down there, I go to a more secure place, like behind a sizeable tree! Then watch that outfit go. A well trained driving horse shouldn’t need that kind of leverage to control it. Lowest hole is often misused too, Driver with not much strength or lots of heavy reins in a hitch, wants to keep horse WELL under control, so they go to most severe setting first.
Old tradition of Draft horses in the City, used daily, meant horses needed to stand for long times, quietly, reliably delivering or picking up things. So the bars on the bottom were added to prevent horse snagging a shank on his partner’s reins or harness with flies biting, sweaty itches, distractions to get his head flipping. Horse also couldn’t reach down easily, to be grabbing things, bar didn’t let them get close for those long lips to reach out. Unfortunately, they STILL can get caught on things like hooks or snaps, so the checkreins were used
to keep heads up, above the problem areas when Driver didn’t have hands on the reins.
Buxton bits are also a Traditional bit for certain kinds of carriages, which are not considered “turned out correctly” if the horse is not wearing that bit. Rules in the Pleasure Driving section of the ADS Rule Book can be more specific about the vehicles they would be used with.
I consider Buxtons to be an elegant bit, nice look on a FANCY turnout or on the Draft hitches. Length of shanks sure gives a lot of leverage to the Driver if reins are set in lower slots.
Here is a gallery of Clydesdale photos. You can click on them and get it enlarged to see the Buxton Bit sides. All the Budweiser sites need you to verify age, before letting you in, so I chose this site instead.
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