CONTROL AND COURTESY

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

""Flemmer, Linda" <flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu>  wrote:

> Part of what makes a curb what it is - the curb chain or strap.  If I
were
> to use a shanked bit (broken or solid mouth) without the strap, I may
very
> well be putting that bit into the category of an elevator bit.  I've had
> nearly zero experience using an elevator bit, so this is where my
knowledge
> on the subject ends.  :-0

Well, the curb acts in three ways:  the curb chain compressing
the chin, the action of the bit in the mouth (rotation with
a port coming into play against the roof of the mouth if
it is high enough, and on the bars and tongue), plus the pressure
a curb puts on the horse's poll is considerable.  If you take off
the curb chain, you've still got the poll pressure, which
will still cause the horse to flex at the poll and crest.

An elevator or gag bit has three actions, too, but not exactly
the same three actions:  there's the mouth action (on the bars
and tongue) then there's the pressure *up* on the lips as the
mouth piece rises in the horse's mouth--the more pull the
more rise--and then there is a less direct but still
considerable poll pressure because the mouthpiece still
acts as a lever fulcrum in a way it can't in a plain
snaffle.

What is different is the pressure up on the lips that an
elevator or gag bit induces that a curb by itself does not.

Linda has a good point, though.  Without a curb chain,
particularly on a broken mouth curb, there's nothing to
limit how severely the bit acts on the other pressure
points except the rider's strength.  Eeeks.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
Massachusetts, USA



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