No matter how well trained a dressage horse is or how proficient his rider, their performance as a team will never be all that it can be if the horse’s bit or noseband is inappropriate, ill-fitting or misused. “It is often said that the rider’s hands need to have a conversation with the horse’s mouth. I believe that,” says Gerhard Politz, a German master trainer/instructor and member of the International Dressage Trainers Club. To initiate the most meaningful exchange, he explains, “the rider’s hands must be steady, but not rigid, with all of the joints of the arms and hands flexible and elastic, creating a soft—yet not floppy—connection.”
The bit and noseband facilitate this ideal connection with the horse’s mouth. “When the bit is kind and correctly positioned and the noseband not too tight, the conversation can be clear and also subtle, and above all, it becomes a dialog,” Politz says. In contrast, “when the bit is too severe and the noseband is too tight, the horse’s mouth becomes numb. The conversation is either nonexistent or it becomes a shouting match.” It is no less a problem, he adds, “when the bit is too low and the noseband too loose. The conversation becomes garbled and confusing for the horse.” In all cases, performance suffers.
The solution? A bit and noseband that are both appropriate for the horse and used correctly by his rider.
Matters of the Mouth
As Politz explains, choosing the bit for a dressage horse depends on several factors:
• the exterior shape and size of the horse’s mouth
• the thickness of the lips
• the thickness of the bars
• the size of the diastema (the toothless space where the bit rests)
• the thickness of the tongue
• the shape of the palate (the roof of the mouth).
As a general rule, “a thicker bit is milder than a thin one,” he explains. “However, it doesn’t make sense to put a very thick bit into a small mouth that has a tiny diastema. The placement of the bit also is of prime importance,” he continues. “It is generally accepted that there should be two creases where the bit touches the corners of the mouth. At that point, on each side, there needs to be a space of about a half-inch between the lips and the bit rings. Otherwise, the lips will get pinched, and this causes the horse to resist.
“In the beginning, most horses resent having a bit placed in their mouth,” Politz acknowledges. “After all, the bit is a foreign object in a horse’s mouth, and he will try to spit it out. He will become very fussy with his tongue and try to evade the uncomfortable pressure of the bit on it by placing his tongue in many different positions, often over the bit or even outside his mouth. Most of the time, his mouth will be open and he will try to snap at the bit rather than suck on it. As soon as any of these evasions are observed, the bit must immediately be raised, but for correctional purposes only,” Politz instructs. “When the horse accepts the bit quietly and is no longer fussy with his tongue, the bit should be placed in the normal position. Also, changing the bit from one of metal to one of rubber or a synthetic material can be helpful.”
Frank Sorge/Arnd.nl
Credit: Frank Sorge/Arnd.nl
The most popular snaffle bits are single- and double-jointed. Bit Mechanics & Choices
Given the vast array of bits on the market, Politz recognizes the dilemma that dressage riders may face in selecting just the right one for a horse. “I own two buckets full of bits of many shapes and sizes,” he says. “Some are very fancy and were bought out of curiosity. I’ve used them once or twice but never again. Some I have used occasionally when they were needed for special situations, such as for horses that needed retraining. But as the horse progresses in his re-education, I always prefer to put him in a loose-ring single- or double-jointed snaffle. Both act on the lips, the corners of the mouth, the bars and the tongue. A double-jointed bit lessens the usual pressure of the bit because the tongue acts as a buffer—much more so than it does with the single-jointed variety. A double-jointed bit is also quite unlikely, though not impossible, to press against the horse’s palate.”
The bit of choice for David de Wispelaere, an American Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer now living in Europe, “is a single-jointed, loose-ring or egg-butt snaffle,” he says. “But you have to be open to change if the need arises. I started a 4-year-old mare in a modern double-jointed bit that conforms to the mouth with a special curve. She didn’t like it and was constantly trying to spit it out. So I changed to a single-jointed, good old-fashioned snaffle, and she was quiet.” De Wispelaere, who emphasizes harmony and lightness in his daily work, prefers German silver for metal type. “It has the right combination of nickel and copper, and it doesn’t tarnish easily,” he says. “I also prefer silver buckles that are simple and functional, not huge and ornamental. I perso