What age do you start bitting a horse?

[midimoos]

Question in the subject x

[horsey123]

3 with normally a myler

the bit only comes into play at 3 and a half when i would start to longline and teach the aids on the bit

[cobalmighty]

depends on the horse!






My cob I bitted at about nine months, but primarily because as an entire he had to be bitted to go to shows. Other's I have taken on a case by case basis. If they've been interested in learning new things, than I see no problem with bitting them young, but I wouldn't apply any pressure to young horse's mouth. I've always taught to lead / lunge / long rein / ride off a headcollar or cavesson, leading up to reins AFTER all that is established. Then working extensively in hand in order to get the understanding between hand, bit and mouth absolutely grounded before moving onto ridden work with the bit. That way they are light, responsive and without fear immediately in your hands.

[Zoe RA]

Agree with Cobalmighty, and I personally think that people do worry unnecessary when it comes to biting. After all, think of the things that youngsters put in their own mouths

Personally, I favour a strait bar rubber snaffle for the first bit, and obviously, however early you chose to first pop it in, it would not actually come into play under saddle until the horse is backed (at no earlier than rising four, and a year later than that for my own personal choice).

[june]

We bitted our two at two and a half. Neither was remotely bothered about it. We used a straight bar happy mouth first but they prefered the thinner Rockin S so I'd be inclined to use that in future. I've got a bit of a thing about thicker rubber bits these days after a Hilary Vernon Myler clinic where she pointed out one horse's tongue had turned blue because the rubber bit was cutting off the blood supply. It wasn't a particularly thick bit but was too thick for that horse.

We've got an unbacked 8 year old Sec D too who we bitted in the summer. She was much more put out about it than the youngsters. As Zoe says, youngsters are always testing things out with their mouths so a bit is just another thing to test out!

[Azrael]

Jay tried a bit a few times as a yearling, she had Roxy's hanging cheek JP snaffle in because she used to be nosey while I was tacking Roxy up and she usually ended up wearing something she'd tried to chew on. Then she wore a nathe bit a few times over the winter. Last summer as a 2 year old I took her to a show and since she looked stupid in a white halter popped Roxy's show bridle on her with Mia's little magic bit and gave her a quick lesson in leading in a bit, she took to it fine. She's got her own bridle now she's nearly 3 and is in a JP eggbutt snaffle on the rare occasion I inflict 5 mins of 'work' on her.

Mia first tried a bit on when she was 2 and past the putting everthing in her mouth stage and didn't like it at all. She never decided she liked bits until i got her a magic bit to try so she finally got properly bitted at 5.

I like nathe and happy mouth bits for first bit to try on because they're nice and soft and no worries if pony doesn't stay still and teeth get bumped but pretty quickly move onto something metal that suits the horse's mouth.

[lovelylace]

depends but generally around 2....

[varkie]

I'm not actually keen on bitting young horses. If they're teething, I think it can be quite uncomfortable for them.

However, because we show entires, we do have to bit our colts by two years of age. Once they are used to a bit, they only wear one for showing. So only a handful of times during the show season.

Apart from that, we don't bit until we come to backing, and will then bit them as part of the backing process.

[arabheaven]

Ori and Zac both bitted at 2 for showing. Zac had a happy mouth rubber snaffle, Ori a rubber straight bar.

[HeatherL*]

I've only just bitted Bella, she's 5. It just didn't seem neccessary I guess and she'd been started bitless at 4 with a Dually and I carried on riding her in the Dually or a hackamore for hacking out more recently and everything was going so well I just didn't get around to introducing a bit. I have now though and it's been no problem she's taken to it like a duck to water although maybe I've just been lucky.

[gypsydust]

Tangle is nearly 20months now and she has been bitted - very lightly. I'm not using the bit to lead her off or anything like that, but to try and get her weight under control I want to lead her off alongside Jay on some hacks, and for insurance reasons she will need to wear a bit on the roads. She wears her usual headcollar under her little bridle, and is going very nicely like this. Actually, she wasn;t in the slightest bit fussed about the bit at all, altho the first few times I just popped it on for a few minutes and built up like that.

She'll be having her teeth checked every six months with Jay.

Oh, her bit is a tiny little french link eggbutt bradoon. She's got a very small dainty mouth and I was worried a rubber bit would be too thick for her.