At top class European shows, shops abound selling bits and gadgets. Why? I investigate the practise a little and offer alternatives.
Here is a small sample of one shop’s bit arsenal to aid ‘control the horse’:
Bits - an 'arsenal of weaponry'
No one denies that horses – like other animals, including humans – feel pain. Is it not then surprising that bits sold in a modern, educated society are sharp, thin and harsh (painful when closed on a human hand, let alone when acting on the sensitive bars and tongue or pressing on the horse’s palate)?
The problem with the ‘bit fix’ is that of a momentary ‘quick fix’. Riders are looking for a fast, simple solution. Solutions such as training are often overlooked, because they take some time and effort.
The problem with using bigger bits, is that the horse (after the initial effect) habituates to the pressure, meaning that over time the bit fails to produce the same result. So then a different bit is selected for use that again is effective for a while, before again failing to achieve the same results.
Twisted wire snaffle bits.
Why then do people select harsher bits?
- Lack of use of negative reinforcement (removal of pressure)
- Lack of knowledge of suitable training methods (learning theory – pressure/release)
- Perceived lack of time (‘busy’ world)
- Lack of attention to the principles of welfare (human-centric approaches)
- Current fashion
The horse is an unwilling participant in riding and sport – we CAN, and SHOULD take appropriate measures to educate ourselves so as to train with consideration for how horses learn (they do not reason, plan or think about ‘right’ or ‘wrong’), consider age and stage of training, conformation and temperament, and seek to eliminate harsh bits and gadgets that violate welfare.
The single biggest thing you can do to avoid becoming one of those people in the tack shop looking for a bit alternative, is to learn the appropriate use of negative reinforcement. Now, horse people don’t like the sound of ‘negative’ reinforcement, because they think it is something bad! However, ‘negative’ in negative reinforcement simply means removal (just like ‘positive’ reinforcement means the addition – typically food, or a ‘click’ in clicker and target training).
A reinforcer increases behaviour, and occurs after the behaviour.
So, negative reinforcement is removal of pressure (at the appropriate moment), which trains the appropriate response to that signal. If we sustain a pressure other than soft contact on his mouth (i.e. the weight of the reins) it teaches the horse to become dead to bit pressure so that he fails to respond. If we don’t relent with leg pressure when he goes forward, he learns to become dull to the leg.
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When you have time, please drop by Karen’s Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff! to pick up your Honest Scrap award. Click on the graphic and right click to save. Happy trails! Karen
Hi Karen – I have had a look at your site – really interesting Endurance site!
Glad you have found Ethical Horsemanship. I imagine the issues are quite different for endurance horses than those in other disciplines – in particular hydration status must prove difficult during competitions, so I bet you know quite a bit about that.
Perhaps we can write something on that together some time.
What a brilliant post. I don’t ride dressage, but I can remember way back in the dawn of my learning to ride when I asked if I could use another bit on my fractious mare. My instructor said, “Well if you can’t ride this mare in a snaffle, you have no business riding, period.” It took a while for me to educate myself, but after that, I never would use anything else. For trails and foxhunting, the necessity for any bit more than a snaffle is the responsibility of the rider, and not of the horse. Of course, I realize this does not apply to the infinitely more complex world of dressage, but the principle is the same.
By the way, you have a new award! Come on over to Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch and pick it up!
Hi Kim, you are lucky to have had such a wise teacher. You hit the nail on the head when you said:
There was a lot of great scientific and welfare input at Sydney’s International Society for Equitation Science conference on 11-13 July… I am looking forward to introducing some of the conference topics here for discussion.
Thank-you for the award! That is the 2nd I have to collect, so hopefully what that is an indication that people are finding the Ethical Horsemanship information helpful and interesting.
