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Can we talk about bits?

It's still different, but it's nice.
I don't have one for you to compare with either. :cry:

But try this! I just googled Billy Allen Reining bits and found
a picture of one. This one has an 8" shank it looks like and
the one I knew about was 5". I just have a hard time with a long-
shanked bit. :shock:

https://www.bluegrasshorsesupply.com/shop/catalog/billy_allen_reining_bit-295.html

Don't you just love those harness leather reins?
After you use them, the other reins just feel terrible. (anyway
in my opinion)...


WOW! I just found an interesting site where a fellow talks about bits.

http://www.horsetrainingvideos.com/bittinginfo.htm
 
My friend who's been helping me with my horses recommended the bit, but I see what you mean :D . And yep, I like the feel of nice reins too.

I meant to ask you on the saddle thread what you meant by dry spots being caused by how the saddle strings were pulled through. I've got a horse that I've taken to a few saddle makers, and the consensus is to make a custom saddle for him... which ISN'T happening, even if I had the money. The saddle I use looks like it fits him pretty good, but I'm still getting spots. He probably is just going to have to live with it, but I'm interested in what you meant.
 
Gag bits can be used to give the rider lift and sharpness, which makes it easier to progress the horse into side-passing and reverse-arc maneuvers. It's good for teaching a colt to be collected and helps to effectively communicate neck and body flexion. Lil Lilly doesn't make runs using these gag bits. She does slow work with them. Basically you have no whoa with em LOL But they are a good tool to have in your tool chest.

Also, the more breaks you have in a bit, the more bend you get in your horse. Some horses have too much bend with, say the chain mouths. Other's that's what they need to bend. It all depends on how the horse is working for her.

Also...she doesn't practice in the same bit she competes in. It's like...when that bit goes in their mouth...they know it's time to work.
 
The dry spots, WR...we kept getting them with this saddle, so
we took it to a saddle maker and he showed us where the saddle
strings go through under the sheepskin lining...it's not smooth
there...and the pressure creates dry spots. And if you have dry spots, you'll soon have
saddle marks because the hair grows in white. It's just something
that can happen with mass production saddles. Once it was shown
to us we could feel it, but before that, we just couldn't figure out
what the problem was.

It's a cardinal sin on this place to put white marks on a horses back.
So, that saddle gets used for first saddlings, first rides, short rides
and that's about it. It's old enough that if a colt lays down with it,
it won't hurt anything.
 
Interesting, thanks for the explanation :D . This horse has just about driven me nuts with saddle fit. Actually, after I took him to different saddle makers to see what they thought... and they all thought custom, I sent a tracing into McCall's to see which saddle would fit him best. I needed a better fitting saddle ASAP, so having one made wasn't going to work (my previous saddle was even a worse fit!), and I sure as heck wasn't going to have one made for ONE horse. That's how I settled on the saddle I got. It really looks like a decent fit.

One thing, this horse is soooo sensitive. No kidding, when his fall hair comes in, he sometimes has white hairs where the headstall sat near his ears, and where the cinch goes... I mean you can see where each thread went :roll: . I switched to a padded cinch, so it's not as prominent this fall.

Maybe I'll just dye him gray, and call it good. He doesn't seem sore, but it still drives me CRAZY!!! That's why I'm curious as to other possibilities :wink: :D .
 
What kind of back does this horse have? Good withers, wide withers?
Golly, he roaned out where the headstall goes? :shock:

When we were in W. Montana and had a lot of pink-eye in our
Hereford cattle, the guys roped and doctored a lot of calves.
Mr. FH was real careful about letting the horses backs dry off.
He would take the saddle off so they could cool off before he
loaded them in the trailer. His good horse had roan hairs coming
in all along his back, but he shed them out and never had a
white hair on his back when he died at 29 years of age.
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
I spent the whole day in the barn and forgot to take the camera out to get bit pictures. Guess i wasn't on the bit today. :? :D
Click to expand...
Hope your not the least bit bitter. :-)
 

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