Good luck with finding the bigger bits, though if you SEARCH hard, you can find some 5 1/2" mouthpieces. Mylers in bigger sizes can be pricy, plus waiting to get them back to you.
Just wondering if horse NEEDS the height of your port on present bit? Local welding shop or Farrier with a forge, could WIDEN the bit, but you would lose a little height that way. He would still have a port, looks like lots of tongue room, just would not go as high in his mouth.
Our horses almost all take 6" bits, and THAT can be exciting to find for Western horses! Finally got husband to just remake a couple bit sides from English bits, to get the âwesternâ look, but wide enough to actually be comfortable for the old guy daughter was using in 4-H. Still got laughed at, questions about his âpony bitâ short shanks, that didnât reach the end of his muzzle. But horse went well in the bit, did everything asked of him with that bit on. He only needed that shank of 1 1/2", went on a loose rein or collected if she asked for the Western Classes, Trail, Riding Patterns, and in a hackmore with no mouthpiece for speed. Totally under control all the time. He would have flipped over backwards with longer shanks if bumped by accident, like the bit you showed. Never EVER needed that much shank. Kids donât always have good hands, so the bit was for comfort of the horse, preventing any accidental rein bumps being a problem.
Anyway, modifying a bit is an easy fix, changing sides or adding width to the mouth if there is a thick mouthpiece or a high port to allow the changes.
You should actually measure your horseâs mouth, get the TRUE size before hunting for bits. Horses are foolers, you CAN NOT guess the mouth size by size of the horse!! I did Pony Club as the Horse Manager person, informational lessons on horsekeeping, stable management, etc. One fun lesson was to arm the kids with quilting tape measures, have them âsize the horsesâ in my barn, listing all the measurements to purchase bridles, bits, saddles and girths, stable blankets. I had the kid write a rough guess size first in all catagories, then measure animal to write that down, listed both on their size sheet of paper for âthisâ horse. We used a new pencil for mouth measure, laid across the tongue, edge end on one side, pinched with fingers on other side, to learn bit width size.
Got kids comfortable working around the animal, learning to better eyeball each for size, then finding out TRUE size. Most said just carrying the tape along was a lot SAFER measure before purchases! I let the parents do the same thing, with no conferring between kid and adult! Some parents KNOW so much, you need to demonstrate that no one is the perfect guesser with a âhands-onâ demonstration. One particular mom had a ârefined TBâ that ONLY needed a 4 1/2" bit, which really surprised me! Horse is 16H, not that delicate to look at, gave the kid a bad time a lot. After the measuring demo, horse got a new bridle and bit that FIT, went back to being the nice horse she started out being at purchase!! Bit was now a 5 1/2", bridle was a Regular in the middle holes, not Cob size, too tight across the brow, short cheeks in last hole pulling that too-small bit up tight on her lips anymore! Oh, and the reins were long enough kid wasnât hanging on the buckle, just to keep a grip.
The Pony Clubbers were quite amazed at the variation between their guessed sizes and true measurements. The trickiest equine was the old Western horse, 14.2, so horse Western, Pony in English disciplines. Everyone miss-guessed her proportions because she just was so well put together and height HAD to make her wear little sizes! Well no, not really. This is where the bit sizing really made an impression, since she wore a 5 1/2" mouth, but only needed a Cob size bridle for short length head, but needed a regular horse browband for her WIDE forehead. Girth was a 78", and so was her blanket size.
So it you think horse needs a wider bit, measure his mouth to correctly size it as your first step. Donât guess by just looking, many animals will fool you badly that way. Having the right sizes for your equines in your wallet, saves you time and money returning wrong sizes.
