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Post by Christina on Mar 18, 2003 15:01:35 GMT -5
Claire,
I would be interested in buying your bit from you -
I can be emailed at CCrandall@ameritech.net
(if puting our emails on here is allowed.
Thanks,
Christina
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Post by Katie Jo on Mar 18, 2003 18:48:17 GMT -5
Just wanted to comment that the different levels of Myler bits may not be legal... But I have a level one snaffle... It's a great bit. I LOVE it and so does my boy. He's a 9 y/o and goes in it for dressage and jumping... It's a little bit more 'bit(e)' hehe than a loose ring or normal eggbutt snaffle, cuz it is conformed to his mouth, but he loves it!
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Post by Einstein on Mar 18, 2003 19:34:43 GMT -5
I don't know the different levels, the ones I think are "short cuts" are with the lifters and are not legal in hunters or eq. I just think that if you need a big special bit to go show in, then you don't need to show yet, but that's a whole nother topic ;D
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Post by chrisfromafar on Mar 19, 2003 15:44:46 GMT -5
I've been using some Mylar knock offs made by Roberds... (sp???) The bits are "pinchless) and Zab, who was very hard to fit for a bit, really likes them... chris
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Post by jennifer2 on Mar 19, 2003 17:09:33 GMT -5
Most Mylers- their patented forms and such- are mild gag bits. Anything with "lifters" falls into this category. The squared loops on their western bits are to accentuate poll pressure- the headstall doesn't slide along the loop but stays in place, which lifts the bit higher in the mouth (that's why they're lifters) BY pulling on the poll. Do they ever drop the bridles in hunter classes? I haven't seen it, yet  . How on earth would anyone know there were lifters on the bit? I hear tell a local trainer here (in ALASKA so who knows) rubberbands her snaffles to her headstalls in some manner to get the same leverage but with a "snappy" effect. If I ever actually SEE this I will report how it is done. I won't PUT an uncurved bit into a horse's mouth, but Myler isn't the only company that sells bits with curves, and many of the bits I use I've personally pounded a curve into with a hammer. |
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Post by jennifer2 on Mar 19, 2003 17:14:44 GMT -5
because it conforms. By following the curve of the horse's mouth it touches in as many places as possible. This means that every ounce of pressure applied is spread out over the greatest possible surface area and hence is minimized for each segment of area.
While more of the mouth is affected, each part of the mouth is affected significantly less.
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Post by niaru on Mar 19, 2003 17:20:09 GMT -5
I just saw in Practical Horseman that the Myler roller snaffles are now legal for dressage! They look very mild.
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Post by Katie Jo on Mar 20, 2003 3:49:47 GMT -5
Jennifer- Hmm.. So essentially I'm not riding my horse in much, huh? And to think I used to ride him in a Kimberwicke and thought he needed it! No wonder he likes his myler snaffle! ;D
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Post by Christina on Mar 20, 2003 8:35:45 GMT -5
From what I can understand from my research, the Myler's are considered mild bits. You start at Level 1 bits, and then can progress upwards as the training level of both horse and rider get better. I have heard from another person that they have gone from a Kimberwicke to the Myler snaffle also. What this person told me is that the horse stopped fighting the bit and became a lot more relaxed. So what they thought was a difficult horse was really a horse that disliked the bits he had. For me it will be worth a try once we get there, although we still have ground work to do before we get to that point. He's inconsistent on the ground and I'd like to see that change before I ride him "for real", rather than just tooling around the paddock bareback.
I'd like to thank every one for their feedback, and thanks Claire!
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Post by Bara on Mar 20, 2003 8:57:45 GMT -5
at our yard (barn) last year, and I asked the same question, on this Forum. (My horse has mouth problems). If it's any help, none of those who bought the 'custom-fitted' Mylers are still using them.... (??)
I know, I know - it sounds good! But it's very hard to use your horse in an experimental situation - particularly if there are inherent problems. My best friend (who bought a Myler) has abandoned it and is trying a hackamore for her horse. (UNHEARD of in UK).
Pshaw! So draw your own conclusions. We all want the best in comfort for our horses, and I was SOOOOO tempted by Myler. But I guess we just don't know, do we? Sorry - no help. But my experience of them.
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Post by jennifer2 on Mar 20, 2003 12:25:19 GMT -5
don't have enough space between the mouthpiece and where the curb chain attaches. Many have a drilled spot below the headstall loop. The leverage of a bit depends AS MUCH on the length from mouth to headstall loop (and the angle- which I'm not even touching today) as it does on the length of the shanks below the mouthpiece going to the reins. It is the ratio between the two that determines the degree of leverage (and hence severity) of the bit. Think of a see-saw. If it is set evenly on the center then people of approximately equal weight can operate it. If a person wishes to exert MORE relative force but not change her weight she may either move further out the seesaw on her own end - which equals lengthening the shank below the bit , or she may coerce the other person into moving forward, which effectively shortens the distance to the curb attachment. There's a point in shortening the headstall end -- if it is particularly short (as in Kwicks when the drilled hole is used) then the actual TIME between the bit beginning to engage and actually squinching the horse's mouth is too short for the horse to react. Ideally with a curb we want the horse to respond to a movement in the bit, not the actual hard pressure of the chain and mouthpiece crunching. What often happens w/ a kwick is that the horse gets frustrated- "Darn it- I WOULD have dropped my chin/stopped/gone forward to the bit but I didn't have TIME!"-- often the response is to stay just a hair behind the bit- what we often interpret as "soft" but is really a tense apprehensive reaction- or to start tossing his head because, well, he's ANNOYED. I am not saying all Kwicks are badly designed or that all horses react this way. What I see in the Myler bits (this is a bit of a segue) is a serious effort to eliminate the "blank" spots for the horse. The bits don't slide around on the loops, the reins don't slide around, any pressure applied should increase consistantly and should cease immediately when the rider ceases. And the mouthpieces are shaped to fit a horse's mouth and to minimize shifting, they distribute the pressure as evenly as possible, and the bits consciously work on several pressure points, not just the horse's mouth. That being said, I think they are horribly over-priced, and I prefer the classical snaffle to double, then, for a western horse, on to a plain curb (sometimes skipping the double). OTH, I bet a lot of horses are very happy in a lot of those Mylers, and if your horse is one I wouldn't switch (unless I were a rabid classicist, which I personally am, but if I weren't I bet I'd have more fun riding ). For well-made "interesting" schooling snaffles I don't think the Greg Darnell bits can be beat. One can also MAKE bits- something I hope to do soon- You can even make copper "inlays" by drilling through the steel and inserting copper rivets- I haven't DONE this yet, but I've read about it. I think getting a curb balanced will be a real challenge, but how hard can a leather-covered mullein mouth snaffle be? I'll let you know. Hehe. |
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Post by sk on Mar 20, 2003 20:23:58 GMT -5
Jennifer: It is very easy to spot the lifters on a bridle in the ring because the cheekpieces and reins are "fixed" in place on the bit ring. That in turn gives the bit ring a very visible different movement when pressure is applied through the reins.
I'm not sure I buy into them being "mild gags" just because they have the lifters. My mare goes EXTREMELY different in a traditional gag than she does in her Level 2 triple-roller mullen mouth or the Level 1 comfort snaffle (both with lifters).
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Post by Vida on Mar 20, 2003 22:50:09 GMT -5
I've got about 3 Myler bits and the horses seem to like them ok although I only ride in a bit about once or twice a year for fun. Any bit is only as good as to how it fits the mouth and if the horse is not bothered by it, plain and simple. And every horses mouth is different so it's just a matter of experimenting to find what it hates the least. The english Mylers have little holes on the D rings that you can turn them into gags, or don't use the holes and then they work as a regular bit. Who cares whether it's used a gag, snaffle or whatever - it's the hands that use them that can also turn any mild bit including the bitless I ride in into something severe. I know my bits aren't legal for dressage because of the copper inlay or whatever it is - something about being illegal to use two different metals in the bit.
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Post by jennifer2 on Mar 21, 2003 10:28:59 GMT -5
You don't have to "buy" the mild gag. It's a fact . A gag is any non leverage (no curb strap) bit that works as part of its action by being raised toward the poll. Take the curb strap off of a curb bit and Voila, you have a gag. So called "elevator" bits are also gags. The different is that lifters and "elevator" bits are "fixed" gag bits- there is a maximum the bit can be elevated in the mouth that is not set by the horse's anatomy- and what you are thinking of is probably a "running" gag, one that operates by sliding through the headstall rings. Also, it may be that famous "Myler" mouthpiece that your horse is responding to that a "conventional" gag wouldn't have. This is JenWest you're talking to SK. I know my bits ;D. I'm not making this up. I would debate, on another day, whether you should be able to see the action of ANY bit from outside of the hunter ring. The idea of invisible control has gone away with the wind, apparently. I was pretty happy about the whole "uncoventional bit" thing, but now I don't know. There's not much cross-over between hunters and the real world any more, and even if there were, what difference does it really make. If three good trainers were to start sending their horses out in public in lifters the stigma would be gone. I don't generally use anything that isn't obviously and undebatably snaffle for any kind of training, OTH I sure don't like it when other people tell me what to use (and I find here in Alaska that a LOT of people who've never been off their own horse or out of their own backyard on him are pretty happy to explain to me how to feed/train/keep my horses - without having seen my horses- and most of their horses, I daresay, would rather I fed them, anyway  ). I remember when a gajillion hunters went in those rubber Tom Thumb pelhams and won like the dickens even though those were considered "substandard" bits (most of those horses had young riders- ie, conscientious trainers who weren't taking chances) and I remember when EVERYbody had their horse's head cranked down with a standing. (This was before you could just go BUY grey breeches and some people still had tops on their boots and bridles came flat, raised, or raised with stitching (no padding, no colors) and they all came London tan and you HAD to oil them dark). |
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Post by jennifer2 on Mar 21, 2003 10:30:04 GMT -5
How about "Won a lot"  |
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. How on earth would anyone know there were lifters on the bit? I hear tell a local trainer here (in ALASKA so who knows) rubberbands her snaffles to her headstalls in some manner to get the same leverage but with a "snappy" effect.
).
