Training Tip: Changing Your Horse’s Bit

Question: I’ve been looking around a bunch to find a video about Clinton talking about his opinion about what bits to use on young horses and when to change or how to know when a change is needed. Would it be possible to have some help on this one?

Answer: I prefer to start my horses with a hackamore because I think it offers a smoother transition for them to go from responding to halter and lead rope pressure to the hackamore as opposed to a bridle and bit. After 10 to 14 rides, I switch the horse over to a snaffle bit because at that point he understands the basics and I’m ready to start working on softening and suppling him.

I typically ride my 2-year-olds in a snaffle bit until their 3-year-old year. By that stage of their training, they’re soft from their nose to their tail and I’ve gotten control of their five body parts—head and neck, poll, shoulders, ribcage and hindquarters. At that point, I move them to a short shank bit with a broken mouthpiece like a snaffle bit. I’ll ride them in a bit like that for two to three weeks to give them the idea of riding in a shank bit.

From there, I move to a shank bit that has some sort of tongue relief but where I can still move each rein independently of the other. In other words, I don’t want a bit with a solid mouthpiece. There are a million different bits out there, and every trainer has their preference. The shank bit I prefer is a Greg Darnall.

I like bits with jointed mouthpieces so that I can break the horse off left and right and work on softness. I don’t like using solid mouthpieces until the horse is well-trained, and even then, I might just show in that bit and continue to train in a jointed mouthpiece.

Even though I move my horses into a shank bit, I still ride them at least once, sometimes three times, a week in a snaffle bit. I find that the longer I ride in a shank bit, the stiffer the horses get. So I put them in a snaffle a couple of times a week to work on softness. If I have to fix a problem, I typically go back and fix it in a snaffle bit.

These are the steps I follow when training my performance horses because I need to show them one-handed in a shank bit. If you don’t plan on competing on your horse in an event that requires you to show one-handed, you never need to move out of a snaffle bit. If your horse is riding poorly—leaning on your hands, running through the bit, tossing his head, etc.—looking to fix the issue with a bit is the wrong choice. Instead, focus on getting control of your horse’s five body parts and softening and suppling him and your issues will go away. Horses don’t have hard, stiff mouths. They have hard, stiff bodies. If you want your horse to be soft in your hands, soften his body. Remember, there’s no magic bit out there.

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