> Interesting that it's just about impossible to find any articles on > the use of a shanked, broken, Tom Thumb type bit (like the Icelandic > bit) in combination with a flash noseband. Probably because no authors > can imagine anyone stupid enough to do it!
Here's some interesting information from Louis Taylor's book, entitled "Bits": "...many of the bits of ancient Assyria, Egypt... were designed to pinch the lower jaw. The mouthpiece was jointed. The sidepieces were extremely long and held at right angles to the mouth by triple cheekpieces. When the reins were pulled, the lower arms of the sidepieces pinched the lower jaw. Some such bits survived into the Roman Era. The Egyptians and other earlier peoples used dropped nosebands and studded nosebands in conjunction with the jaw-pinching bits. The Greeks and Romans frequently used the single cheek strap divided just above the bit; and often no noseband at all." Sounds like an ancient and barbaric practice. And: "Early horsemen, however, did not learn the finesse of using the noseband most effectively, if we can judge from such meager sources as the Tassili frescoes, and Egyptian art of earlier discovery. They were prone to carry the band down on the nose so far that it cut off the wind, and they frequently lined it with studs or spikes." >From another chapter called Severe Bitting for the Polo Pony: "A very low noseband is apt to cut off wind, as the Greeks probably decided when they abandoned the dropped noseband of their predecessors.... any noseband below the bit is bound, in my estimation, to have some effect on breathing. As the old jaquima users knew, the place for anything across the horse's nose is above the soft part of the cartilage. I suppose that the polo player trying to put a stop on a race horse is perfectly willing to sacrifice a little bit of the horse's breath for the sake of an advantage on the bit." He references things like this as "horse controllers". Using *more* (i.e. long-shanked, broken-mouthed bit, with a noseband), is an excuse for not using good horsemanship. It is only a control of the horse, and does not "communicate" *to* the horse, nor, most importantly, does it allow for any communication *from* the horse! Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
