Two mild-looking snaffle bits, confusing info from USEF about legality, any advice?

[JJARAB]

First one pictured is a Myler WIDE low port snaffle, not correctional in any way, more to give room to the tongue. Now, Dover says this bit is legal per the 2013 Rulebook, and looking at the actual RULES it appears legal (although I don’t have a way to measure if it’s 30 mm without getting one), if you look at the paragraphs immediately following the “PERMITTED SNAFFLES” section where it talks about tongue relief.
YET - if you read USEF’s little “Is it legal?” quizbook, it states that ANY ported snaffle is illegal and shows a quite mild looking snaffle with a little bump in the middle.
http://www.doversaddlery.com/myler-w-lw-prt-lse-ring-mb33wl/p/X1-010320/

Second one pictured is a Sprenger Ultra Double-Jointed Bradoon (I like the bradoon rings because they are smaller and don’t overwhelm my now-officially-a-USEF-Pony-Arabs small head). Similar situation - reading the rulebook a bit resembling this one appears to be specifically pictured as snaffle #11 on the PERMITTED SNAFFLES illustration page. Yet again, if you look at the “Is it legal” quizbook, this specific mouthpiece is pictured and indicates “legal in certain cases,” those being “High Performance Classes qualifying and selection classes.”

http://www.justforponies.com/images/view.aspx?productId=13955

So… has anyone successfully used either of these bits legally in competition? Is this one of those where I’m going to have to essentially copy and paste this post in an email to USEF? TIA.

[yaya]

Is the quiz book you are looking at up to date? They don’t rewrite those as often as they change the rules.

[JJARAB]

Good point - oddly enough, there is NO publication date on it, but I was guessing 2013. Backtrack on USEF to the section for Officials and Education, to the section for Licensed Officials Forms, there is a NEW Dressage Equipment booklet indicating the HS Ultra roller mouth IS NOW LEGAL FOR ALL USEF AND FEI COMPETITIONS, so they must have changed it just this year. That booklet also had the new spur length rule in it.
https://www.usef.org/documents/competitions/2014/2014DressageEquipmentBooklet.pdf

I wish there was a way they could delete the out of date stuff from Google results - if you do a garden variety google search for “dressage legal bits” the “Is It Legal?” pamphlet is the first one in the results.

[ambar]

The only real way for Google to know something is out of date is for USEF to delete the out of date document. Failing that, USEF putting the publication date in the document would be helpful.

[PoohLP]

Yes, the myler bit is legal. Ports that allow “tongue relief” are allowed. Ports meant to act like ports, (those over 30mm) are not. The exception was made almost specifically to allow a certain subset of Myler bits (MB 1, 2, 4, and 33 - I think).

I actually did quite a bit of research trying to find a bit for my boy which is how I learned all this. Since I couldn’t use the roller he loves (stupid!), it came down to a choice between the myler bit you show (MB33. which is level 3 - no tongue pressure) and their low port comfort snaffle (MB 4, which is a level 2 - limited tongue pressure). My horse steered and responded better in the latter so I went with that one.

When you get the MB 33, you will think, holy crap, this can’t be mild because the port seems quite substantial. But once you use it, you will see that (so long as your horse’s palate isn’t too low) it is a very mild bit. For that reason, non-dressage people will sometimes get the one with hooks to add poll pressure (obviously, illegal for dressage!). If you find you need a legal way to get a little more control, but want the advantages of the tongue relief, you might try the MB 4, which is slightly curved, has a much lower port and is less rigid in the horse’s mouth. http://www.toklat.com/Products/BP/89-28145

Mary’s Tack (http://www.marystackfeedpet.com/) has a great bit rental program for Mylers and can provide a lot of advice if you want to try a couple different bits. I was looking for the MB 33 (on the advice I received from one of the Myler brothers) and Mary’s suggested I try the MB 4, so I rented both and sent back the one that didn’t work as well. They also were really nice about giving me a little extra time to try them since we had a couple weeks of awful weather where I couldn’t ride.

Edited to add that I just noticed you said your horse has a small head. THe Myler rings are REALLY big!

[exploding_pony]

Safest bet is always to just send an email asking the specific rule question and when you get an answer, print it out and keep it in your horse trailer

[JLR1]

I have shown numerous times in the Myler “ported” snaffle without issue.

[GreyDes]

The Herm Sprenger one is now legal for all classes. It was originally for high performance only. I’ve shown my Arab at rated shows in the eggbutt WH Ultra version.

2014 rule book - see example 11 on p. 42. https://www.usef.org/documents/ruleBook/2014/08-DR.pdf

Page 43 has info on permitted ports.

[JJARAB]

Thanks for the tip about Mary’s - I’ve ordered from them before but didn’t know they had the bit rental. They do have the Sprenger WH in his size (the holy grail 4.75") AND they have a Myler MB04 in the pony Dee (not necessarily dressage traditional, but hey…)

I emailed Myler/Toklat, as well, as they used to offer custom built bits combining mouthpiece and cheek of choice. They are even more limited now than they used to be in the 4.75