Dwyer's Philosophy of Bitting

The last two weeks, stuck at home, I have been reading, re-reading and digesting the bitting information in Francis Dwyer's “On Seats and Saddles, Bits and Bitting.” I have been questioning all of my old assumptions about bits and riding with bits. While reading and thinking about this information I have wondered if many of the modern fads in riding, which many of…

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This is my first attempt at a blog post so hope this is not too silly! It is 90 something degress outside, full sun so cannot ride until later thus I decided to blog.  My topic: happy mouth bits since I have found a tack item that I really like.  I started using the happy mouth loose ring snaffle on my OTTB.  He was right off the track.  I started with my double jointed D-ring snaffle. He did not seem to like it, seemed confused ( he is a horse that wants to please, like most TBs) but I knew…

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Since three years ago, I removed the metal from his mouth, as I always felt it was cruel. We are now both happy. From the very first trial he showed positive and thankful response. He does everything better than before and listens more to my…

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Hi Everyone~ I'm Jamie at Bit Blanket. I'm a member here on Barnmice and a life long horse lover. I invented Bit Blanket, the electric bit warmer, and as the holidays approach and cold weather begins to set in, I wanted to share our fun list of why everyone needs a Bit Blanket. Most of these came directly from our customers and I have a strong suspicion that our horses would definitely agree with many of them, especially…

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Today I worked with Fergie a bit. She was kinda being a poop. She threatened to kick me. I then put her on a rope and worked on her "leg" yielding. She took a little bit to figure it out but when she did she did well. Im really happy with her progress. Continue

hoping that my mom doesnt take the horse im training away.. i have a lil problem.... i can bridle him just fine and he likes the snaffle im using but when i get on him and aske him to go, he will walk a few steps and start throwing his head up and down or side to side. i wont even have two fingers on the reins, so i know i am not pulling on the bit causing this. just to rule it out i had my mom clip a lead to the halter and i let go of the reins and asked him to walk, again a few steps then he… Continue

Venue: Brightling, Sussex

Monday 19^th July 2010

Eric asked what we wanted to get out of the day, I volunteered ‘inspiration and energy’ which he thought was a tall order.…

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Well, I am not entirely sold on the bitless bridle yet. We tried (mostly for the fun aspect) a bitless bridle on my mare - a very sensitive psp andalusian. What a ride. Wow, she was trying to figure that thing out from the very beginning - trying to anticipate our wishes. pretty much all she did was passage for the first 5 minutes, do some spins and maybe after 45 minutes could we get her to walk.

Trish Pitzel

The bit that you use on your horse is quite a personal thing. It is like shoes really. Sometimes we just force ourselves to wear certain types shoes that we really shouldn’t just because they are in fashion not because they fit us. The same sometimes goes for saddles, boots, saddle cloths, nose bands and bits.



I personally have a lot of shoes that I rarely wear that have been bought over the years, some fit and some I just like the look of. I’m the same with bits. I have over a…

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