What makes a bit perfect?
by Darren Stoner
A bit that gives clear signals and doesn’t create confusion
and allows the horse to perform to its potential.
After many years of being a horse trainer and using
bits that seemed to create more problems than they
solved, I began working on The Perfect Bit. The Perfect
Bit has a patented ball joint connection between the
mouthpiece and the cheek. This allows the mouthpiece
to rotate independently between the roof of the horse’s
mouth and the tongue. If your horse puts its head up
or down, the mouthpiece will float between the roof of
the mouth and the tongue, not creating a “nutcracker”
type action that often occurs with the majority of all
other bits. In addition, The Perfect Bit has a double bent
mouthpiece so that the mouthpiece is comfortable and
contoured to the horse’s tongue and gives more range
of motion to the rider’s hands.
Whether you are using a d-ring, pelham or curb bit,
the ball joint connection allows independence from the
mouthpiece to the cheek. This makes the communication
to our horse to be clear. For example, if we ask the
horse to turn or stop, it is NOT the same signal. With bits
that do not have this independence, when the mouthpiece
and cheek are solid, the signal that is communicated
to the horse is very confusing because it feels the
same—turn or stop!
The Perfect Bit is made from high quality stainless steel,
which will not rust or bind in the ball joint housing. However,
the center joints of the bit are sweet iron, which will
give the horse a familiar taste. We also added a copper
weld overlay to help kick off salivation in the horse’s
mouth. Most important, we also guarantee the ball joint
connection to not pinch the horse’s lips.
If riders could talk to the best bit expert of all time,
would they? Of course! Well, the best bit expert of all
time is your horse! Are you listening?
Obviously, since the horse and rider are different species.
We cannot speak the same language, but we must
communicate. The problem with most riders is that their
conversation is one sided. The horses are communicating,
but as riders, are we able to hear and
understand their response?
The Perfect Bit is designed to be the
perfect bit…clear communication and
signals between the horse and rider.
One-line Sensing: Training the horse to respond
to the pressure, but also to the release
In Human Horse Sensing, when starting a horse
under saddle, we go through One-Line Sensing,
a phase of working through movement on the
ground, with one lunging line connected to the
central ring on an English halter. Initially there is no
bit involved, but we introduce it by having it on
the horse while feeding him. Eating is an activity
that has a natural purpose, and will induce the
horse to chew on the bit, instead of trying to get it
out of the mouth.
The purpose of One-Line Sensing is to train the horse in
a halter to respond to the pressure and to the release of
contact, in a manner that will have continuity between
the interaction on the ground and the one during riding.
One-Line Sensing is also a good way for the rider to learn
how to manage the contact with the horse by pressure
and by release, instead of just relying on using pressure.
This technique bridges the communication from the
ground to the one in the saddle by connecting the perception
through sight to the one by touch. While working
on the ground the horse can see us managing the
space, and with the lunge line we are also allowing him
to learn the contact with our hand through touch, which
is what he will experience when we will be holding the
reins in the saddle.
The way we manage space is by using body motion,
and a lunge whip as an extension of our arm to reach
the space close to the horse (without touching him), but
far from us. It is important not to scare the horse, which
we achieve by how we direct the whip motion. The
whip range of motion covers a certain space, and is
never aimed against the horse. We always apply the
question/response rule to the interaction, by observing
the consequence of our action and acknowledging the
horse’s response, which needs to be cooperative. If the
horse does not cooperate, our communication was not
properly formulated, and we need to change the way
we “ask”, without punishing. Using One Line Sensing the
horse learns to turn right or left, by being held with the
one line from either side, because he follows the line
when we release, and respect it when we hold it.
We use only one line instead of the classical methods
that use two long reins because we want to teach
the horse to follow the contact while he is not trapped
between the long reins. Even the sides of the arena can
make a horse feel like being trapped, so we stay away
from it and instead rely on being very refined in handling
the contact and its direction.
Continued...
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