Bit Basics With Richard Winters
For centuries, bits have been the most essential tool that riders use to guide their horses. Bit styles and functions are seemingly endless. Here to make sense of shanks, snaffles, spoons, ports, crickets, slobber bars and a host of other design elements, Richard Winters offers insight from his years of experience as a clinician and a cow horse competitor. This is some of what he has to say bout properly using a bit.
"If you're not aware of everything it's doing in the horse's mouth, that horse can get pretty defensive about it. The bracey spots you're wanting to fix, your liable to make them worse. Or you might get a whole new set of bracey spots."
"Good horsemen will tell you that horses can get a little bit dull, a little bit numb, to a bit after a while. Sometimes it helps to create a different feel."