Re: RC: bits

[Jasmine Cave <toppere@siu.edu>]

A straight bar is straight, a mullen has a slight arch so that it makes
contact with the tongue and bars. All snaffles are not mild. The
french/double jointed snaffle is, the single joint is not. The single joint
applies a lot of leverage to the mouth and horses with shallow mouths will
find this very severe. Also many horses go better in a thinner
mouthpiece(standard size, compared to hollow mouth) than previously thought.
jasmine 
At 06:31 AM 1/30/00 -0500, Frank Motsenbocker wrote:
>    
>To my understanding the mullen is more of a 'straight bar' mouthpiece
>(depending on whose terminology 
>you use) which can be very harsh putting pressure on the tongue -
>especially if a horse has a 'thick 
>tongue'. The 'arch port' or 'sweetwater' allows for total tongue relief and
>applies pressure directly to the 
>bars and corners of the mouth but is short enough to not strike the palate.
>It is considered the milder 
>mouthpiece. The port must be 2" or more before palate pressure is obtained.
>All snaffles are fairly mild - 
>'single joint', 'french snaffle (double joint)', 'dog bone', some have
>rollers and players to keep the mouth 
>occupied and stimulate saliva. The twisted wire snaffles are harder on the
>bars. Generally the thicker the 
>mouthpiece the milder it is and the thinner the mouthpiece the more severe
>it is. frank