Hello everyone! I have a coming 4yo in April who is well started under saddle but is very busy in his mouth with the bridle on. We have tried a couple bits but its almost as if he is trying to suck on his tongue. Any tips or trick you have used for a fussy mouth?
I used to use a bradoon hanger with a soft straight rubber bit on it and let a young horse wear it in their stall, eat with it on. We’ve also used a straight mouth leather bit. Loose rings can be good, or bad consider the action with each horse. The novelty wears off that way. And I do it before they get started.
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We have a horse with this issue and it has worn down his teeth.
We’ve had both a dentist and a bit fitter help us- you will have to try a few different options. If you can get a bit fitter I would recommend it to save time and buying bits that don’t fit/work.
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How long has he been bitted?
Have wolf teeth been taken care of?
What bits have you tried?
What is their shape (straight, curved, etc), what is their thickness, what is their middle section like (single piece, French Link, Dr Bristol, fat bean, smaller bean, swivels vs bends…)
What are the cheek pieces? Loose ring makes a lot more play in the mouth than a D or FC
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JB,
He has been bitted for about a year, we started last February-April then he got a break until October due to a splint.
Wolf teeth are out.
We started him in a plain jointed D and have tried a easy Myler D, full cheek, a D with the copper french link, loose ring and a slim plain rubber D(which is what he is in now and does best in but still busy). We have tried one that was curved as well as the straight plain jointed. He seems to like a slimmer bit more than the big fat ones. Like I said above he isn’t really chewing the bit as much as he is trying to suck on his tongue.
Mine was like this in his 4 year old year. Now he’s only noisy in the mouth when he’s anxious or super grumpy, which, ok, we all have our things. His mouth was too noisy for anything that wasn’t single jointed, so we had him in very simple bits for awhile and slowly graduated him to bits with pieces in the middle. At one point out of frustration we raised the bit a hole, so it was higher than where we would really keep it and schooled him like that at home for a bit. It eliminated his ability to constantly try and move the bit around and eventually he gave it up and we dropped the bit back down and he didn’t do it again.
He actually goes in the Centaur® Stainless Steel King Dee Double Jointed Mouth with Loose Brass Roller Disks (copied and pasted that from the tack shop website cause yikes, lots of words) and the roller disks give him something to keep his tongue busy without him gnashing at the bit. Since he graduated to that bit we’ve been unable to switch him to anything else but he went through several other bits including a rubber D snaffle before getting there.
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I was also going to recommend the bits with brass roller disks - Centaur and I think now Shires make them. Very useful for horses who want something to play with in their mouth.
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I will try and borrow one with the roller ball! Thank you for that suggestion.
I love all the various Berris bits for my mouthy young horse - I currently show in a pelham that is a bendy bar (white rubber)
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