Long story short, the Happy Mouth bit that I was riding my mare in broke. I switched her back to her boucher in the meantime while I figure out what I want to do. I had forgotten how nicely she goes in this bit. She also goes really well in the elevator that I bought for fox hunting and trail riding (where she can get a bit strong). Sadly (and stupidly), bouchers are not western dressage legal. Does anybody have any bit suggestions of a western bit that will give her the same feel as her boucher or elevator?
You would need a leverage bit with little leverage to be similar to the boucher. An elevator is a gag bit, and I am not sure that those are allowed in western dressage. I don’t know what kind of mouth piece you would want. All of these can be found with different mouthpieces, but this is what I would recommend:
http://www.kotrading.com/productimages/importbits/252850.jpg
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1143/0846/products/3pcargentine.jpg?v=1462150446
If gags are allowed:
http://www.chicksaddlery.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/238310.JPG
These can be found with longer shanks if you want it to be similar to the feel of the elevator.
[QUOTE=Draftmare;9026720]
Long story short, the Happy Mouth bit that I was riding my mare in broke. I switched her back to her boucher in the meantime while I figure out what I want to do. I had forgotten how nicely she goes in this bit. She also goes really well in the elevator that I bought for fox hunting and trail riding (where she can get a bit strong). Sadly (and stupidly), bouchers are not western dressage legal. Does anybody have any bit suggestions of a western bit that will give her the same feel as her boucher or elevator?[/QUOTE]
Why not just post photos of all the bits, these vague descriptions don’t give enough info?
Or answer these questions
Happy Mouth; size, diameter, mouth piece, ring style?
Boucher; size, diameter, mouth piece, metal?
Elevator; size, diameter, mouth piece, metal, 3-ring, 2-ring, other? Where do you attach the rein on this bit, as that would correlate to shank length?
With out more info you are asking us to compare apples to oranges.
