“Horse Training -- To Bit or Not to Bit?”

By Victoria Potter

People who are training a young horse under saddle often ask what kind of bit they should use to start their colt under saddle. Your choice will partly be dictated by personal preference, breed of horse, riding discipline, etc.

However, there are a couple of commonly used methods for horse training.

Tim Matthew, our featured trainer at Horse Training Advice.com, starts colts in a bitless sidepull. There are several advantages to using a bitless sidepull:

• The sidepull is much like a halter with reins attached, except that it has a single- or double-rope noseband. Your young horse is already used to a halter, so the sidepull is nothing new.

• The sidepull does just what its name implies – it puts pressure on the side of the colt’s face instead of on his mouth. Many horses give to pressure more easily when it’s a direct pull on the side of their face – again, they’re already adjusted to that kind of a pull.

• Using a bitless sidepull when training your horse avoids the risk of hurting your colt’s tender mouth.

Suppose you’ve been riding your colt for a while and want to introduce a bit? Or suppose your colt is leaning on the sidepull and resists giving to the reins?

You can also get a bitted sidepull for horse training. It’s made like a regular sidepull with a rope noseband, but has a standard loose-ring snaffle bit. With the bitted sidepull, you can attach the reins and continue using it as a regular sidepull while your colt gets used to wearing a bit, or you can attach the reins directly to the snaffle bit.

One word of caution – you may have seen “Tom Thumb” bits advertised in various horse catalogs as “colt breaking bits” or "horse training bits." Even though the Tom Thumb has a broken mouthpiece like a snaffle, because it has shanks, it falls into the curb bit category. A curb bit typically is too severe to use when first training your young horse to ride. 

Regardless of what type of bridle and/or bit you select, be certain that the tack fits your colt properly. If you use a bit, be certain that it’s not too narrow or too wide for your colt’s mouth, and that you place it in his mouth correctly. Ill-fitting bits that pinch the corners of his mouth or bump a colt’s teeth can cause long-lasting issues for that horse.

Once you’ve got your colt riding well in a sidepull, what then? Well, you don’t necessarily ever have to bit your horse. On our farm, we trail ride all our horses in sidepulls. The only ones we bit out are horses we’re going to show. 

If you do want to move your young horse into a bit once he's riding, choose the bit according to what discipline your horse will be working in and what you're comfortable with. But always choose the least severe bit possible.

For more information about Horse Breaking, return to HorseTrainingAdvice.com.