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Location: midwest mama | I understand that the three piece Lifesaver, Dr. Bristol and Dog Bone bit mouthpieces take the pressure off the sides of the horse's mouth (versus a two piece mouthpiece), but I can't for the life of me figure out what the differences are between the 3 mouthpieces listed above.
Is one better for specific things versus another? Argh. I'm so confused! | |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 582
Location: Wherever They Send Me | Im interested in this as well...
One of mine has fat lips where the bit sits (maybe from being pinched), he also likes to play with it - busy mind. Im leaning towards a lifesaver or roller... | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Good question. I don't own any life saver bits, but I always imagined they would be similar to a dog bone. I would assume they apply a bit more tongue pressure? Having used both dog bones and dr Bristol, there really isn't any difference in feel. A dog bone is longer, so will make the mouth piece break in wider points. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Totally following! I have googled these different bit types and you never get a consistent answer. I have several of the same bit with different mouth pieces. My off the track colt does real well in a chain mouth. If you google chain mouth you will find one person saying its the softest, easiest, thing a horse can have. Next post is how its the most severe, harsh, never put one on my horse shoot me first scenario. LOL I have never used a dog bone. But I do see more rate and still keeping the flex with the life savers. With the chain mouth you tend to have more trust. I just look at the expression on my horses face when I ride to see what he tells me..lol He is very OBEDIENT and never throws a fuss but his eyes will tell me yea or no. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1898
| FLITASTIC - 2016-05-12 1:29 PM
Totally following! I have googled these different bit types and you never get a consistent answer. I have several of the same bit with different mouth pieces. My off the track colt does real well in a chain mouth. If you google chain mouth you will find one person saying its the softest, easiest, thing a horse can have. Next post is how its the most severe, harsh, never put one on my horse shoot me first scenario. LOL I have never used a dog bone. But I do see more rate and still keeping the flex with the life savers. With the chain mouth you tend to have more trust. I just look at the expression on my horses face when I ride to see what he tells me..lol He is very OBEDIENT and never throws a fuss but his eyes will tell me yea or no.
Any mouth piece can be a terrible torture devise in the hands of the wrong person. I have seen cut tongues with shanked, single jointed snaffles.
I copied my answer on the original thread by this same poster but tweaked it to include chain and watterford:
Any three piece broken snaffle allows the mouth piece to lay more evenly across the tongue, bars and lips. The life saver has a larger surface area than a Bristole or dog bone allowing the pressure to be dispersed in a larger area there for decreasing the PSI on the middle of the tongue. A bristol is a little thicker and shorter than a dog bone there for the contact point is shorter and wider and the pressure is distributed to a more boxed area, if that makes sense. Because of the length and diameter of the dog bone it applies the most pressure in a more concentrated area than the life saver or the bristole.
The chain is probably my most favorite mouth piece. It applies even and flat pressure to all contact points, lips, bars and tongue with no contact to the pallet. It is a double edged sword as in, in the wrong hands, someone who is hard handed, pulls a lot, uses sea-saw, or balances on the bit can do a substantial amount of damage to the horses mouth, BUT that goes for pretty much any mouth piece in the wrong hands. I found them very useful in horses that tend to brace on mouth pieces. The chain has a lot of give so they can't hold it like they can a double or single jointed mouth piece. A watterford has the same kind of action as the chain however, instead of flat even pressure, the beads of the watterford distribute the pressure at the bottom of every bead. Watterfords are also thicker and make contact with the pallet of the mouth.
A good rule of thumb is the more breaks in a mouth piece the more evenly the pressure is distributed.
A single jointed snaffle will apply more pressure to the bars and lips and less on the tongue BUT can and will jut upward into the soft pallet depending on how the reins are pulled.
In my opinion, there is no "better than mouth piece". Some horses just work better in one than in others. | |
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Location: midwest mama | cyount2009 - 2016-05-12 1:50 PM
FLITASTIC - 2016-05-12 1:29 PM
Totally following! I have googled these different bit types and you never get a consistent answer. I have several of the same bit with different mouth pieces. My off the track colt does real well in a chain mouth. If you google chain mouth you will find one person saying its the softest, easiest, thing a horse can have. Next post is how its the most severe, harsh, never put one on my horse shoot me first scenario. LOL I have never used a dog bone. But I do see more rate and still keeping the flex with the life savers. With the chain mouth you tend to have more trust. I just look at the expression on my horses face when I ride to see what he tells me..lol He is very OBEDIENT and never throws a fuss but his eyes will tell me yea or no.
Any mouth piece can be a terrible torture devise in the hands of the wrong person. I have seen cut tongues with shanked, single jointed snaffles.
I copied my answer on the original thread by this same poster but tweaked it to include chain and watterford:
Any three piece broken snaffle allows the mouth piece to lay more evenly across the tongue, bars and lips. The life saver has a larger surface area than a Bristole or dog bone allowing the pressure to be dispersed in a larger area there for decreasing the PSI on the middle of the tongue. A bristol is a little thicker and shorter than a dog bone there for the contact point is shorter and wider and the pressure is distributed to a more boxed area, if that makes sense. Because of the length and diameter of the dog bone it applies the most pressure in a more concentrated area than the life saver or the bristole.
The chain is probably my most favorite mouth piece. It applies even and flat pressure to all contact points, lips, bars and tongue with no contact to the pallet. It is a double edged sword as in, in the wrong hands, someone who is hard handed, pulls a lot, uses sea-saw, or balances on the bit can do a substantial amount of damage to the horses mouth, BUT that goes for pretty much any mouth piece in the wrong hands. I found them very useful in horses that tend to brace on mouth pieces. The chain has a lot of give so they can't hold it like they can a double or single jointed mouth piece. A watterford has the same kind of action as the chain however, instead of flat even pressure, the beads of the watterford distribute the pressure at the bottom of every bead. Watterfords are also thicker and make contact with the pallet of the mouth.
A good rule of thumb is the more breaks in a mouth piece the more evenly the pressure is distributed.
A single jointed snaffle will apply more pressure to the bars and lips and less on the tongue BUT can and will jut upward into the soft pallet depending on how the reins are pulled.
In my opinion, there is no "better than mouth piece". Some horses just work better in one than in others.
Thank you! I'm the OP and after I posted the other question, I thought about this. LOL
Thanks for your explanation. I just can't find consistent answers so I thought I would ask. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
| Any three piece broken snaffle allows the mouth piece to lay more evenly across the tongue, bars and lips. The life saver has a larger surface area than a Bristole or dog bone allowing the pressure to be dispersed in a larger area there for decreasing the PSI on the middle of the tongue. A bristol is a little thicker and shorter than a dog bone there for the contact point is shorter and wider and the pressure is distributed to a more boxed area, if that makes sense. Because of the length and diameter of the dog bone it applies the most pressure in a more concentrated area than the life saver or the bristole.
The chain is probably my most favorite mouth piece. It applies even and flat pressure to all contact points, lips, bars and tongue with no contact to the pallet. It is a double edged sword as in, in the wrong hands, someone who is hard handed, pulls a lot, uses sea-saw, or balances on the bit can do a substantial amount of damage to the horses mouth, BUT that goes for pretty much any mouth piece in the wrong hands. I found them very useful in horses that tend to brace on mouth pieces. The chain has a lot of give so they can't hold it like they can a double or single jointed mouth piece. A watterford has the same kind of action as the chain however, instead of flat even pressure, the beads of the watterford distribute the pressure at the bottom of every bead. Watterfords are also thicker and make contact with the pallet of the mouth.
A good rule of thumb is the more breaks in a mouth piece the more evenly the pressure is distributed.
A single jointed snaffle will apply more pressure to the bars and lips and less on the tongue BUT can and will jut upward into the soft pallet depending on how the reins are pulled.
In my opinion, there is no "better than mouth piece". Some horses just work better in one than in others.
I'll be the voice of dissention.....which illustrates why there are so many varying options about the pressure of these bits. The biggest thing to do is hold the bit like it is attached to the bridle and really think about how each part moves and how it would affect the mouth.
I believe that the order of harshness is directly opposite than you described. I have found the dog bone to be the most gentle of the 3 mouth pieces. It is designed to lay flat across the tongue when in the horses mouth, thus it exerts the least pressure when engaged. Dog bones are sold in varing lenths, which can affect what part of the bit hits the bars of the mouth. The Dr Bristol sets at a 45 degree angle on the cannons of the bit. It actually lies on its edge in the horses mouth and digs in even more when engaged. The life saver (to me) is the most "yes sir" type of all. The bottom of the circle rotates into the tongue with a smaller and more concentrated area. Everyone knows that Ed Wrights pretzel bit is a "yes sir" kinda bit.... he listed the lifesaver he sold as an even rougher bit.
Totally agree with your description of the chain and Waterford.
edited to add - It also makes a difference how the bit lays if it is on a loose ring or a fixed bit like a D ring or full cheek.
Edited by KindaClassey 2016-05-12 8:55 PM
 (Dr Bristol.jpg)
 (french lick.jpg)
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 Dr Bristol.jpg (6KB - 164 downloads)
french lick.jpg (7KB - 160 downloads)
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 618
| Flitastic, I have trained many off the track horses and found that most of them love a chain mouthpiece. | |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| I've always been told the same as KindaClassy said
A dogbone lays flat on the tongue
A Dr Bristol stands up on edge when engaged.
The lifesaver also stands up but over a smaller area so more pressure
That would echo my experience as well. I've seen the center link on a dogbone and a dr Bristol in varying lengths. | |
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Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Heart of Texas | iloveequine40 - 2016-05-13 6:14 AM
Flitastic, I have trained many off the track horses and found that most of them love a chain mouthpiece.
Really? Both the OTT horses I have finished, wound up in a jim warner hack. I can ride everyday in an egg butt snaffle but when it comes to fast work, they prefer to be bit-less. I'm gunna say a lot of the type of bit one uses has to compliment the horse but it also has to compliment the riders style. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 618
| Yes. I always start them over from the ground. I really use my seat and legs to ride. I don't run them in the chain bit usually move them to a dog bone or life saver. | |
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