# Difference in Western and English bits?



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Yes, the purpose of using a curb bit with a semi-long shank on a western horse is so that you can clearly communicate the cues without having to make actual contact with the horse's mouth.

Think of it like this, a regular old snaffle bit has a 1:1 pressure ratio, meaning that for every ounce you pull on the rein, they feel that same ounce in their mouth.

An average curb bit with 8 inch shanks might have a 1:7 pressure ratio. So for every ounce you pull on the reins, that applies 7 ounces to their mouth. That's why those bits are supposed to be ridden on a loose rein, because to ride on contact would be putting way too much pressure on a horse's sensitive mouth.

So, in a curb bit, with a horse that has been taught to respond properly to a snaffle, you can put them in a curb and get a response by applying only 1/7th of an ounce of pressure on the reins. Basically, that means just barely picking up the slack out of the reins.

The horse still feels the same amount of pressure in their mouth, but the rider's cues are greatly diminished, allowing the cues to be so small that they are almost invisible.


----------



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I have been riding since I was 9yo and I've been a horse owner/trainer since I was 27yo, and that was 28 years ago. Most of us end up riding/training for both direct reining and neck reining and after awhile you discover that he will, too, want to ride with a slack rein sometimes.
Here is where the bits differ. 
Western riders prefer to give very light cues to halt and half halt. 
English riders follow the movement, giving and taking at the walk and canter, and holding still at the trot JUST LIKE the horse does.
Don't misinterpret following the mouth while you direct rein with holding your horse's mouth tightly. You will destroy a good whoa this way and end up fighting with your horse.
When I taught lessons and came upon girls who would hand on the horse's mouth I gave them a 2nd set of reins made out of plastic baling twine. I would tie each end to the snaffle and have my students hold their twine reins on the outside of the pinkies. Every time they would hang on the horse's mouth it would dig into their hands, so they learned to lighten up.
I school my horses at home with a snaffle, but I trail ride with a curb. I own two KMH's and they LOVE to race at the amble. I also have always cooled down my horses with a loose rein to relax the mouth bc it's stops the "chatter" from my cues.


----------



## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I'll offer a somewhat different answer. I think the difference comes from the number of hands used in riding. English riding tends to be very directive. The approach to a jump needs to be set up just right, although much of the jump itself may be left to the horse. Dressage is all about controlling the horse's every movement. Using two hands and riding with constant contact allows that precise and very directive control.

Western riding in based on ranch work, where having a hand free to use a rope can be critical. Much of western riding involves the horse using ITS initiative. That is why you will see ads boasting the horse is "cowy". Even if you wanted to, you couldn't cue the horse fast enough for it to cut cattle well. You give it guidance, but a lot depends on the horse learning its job and doing it.

If you ride with one hand, you want to retain some of that 'on the bit' responsiveness, but how? You can't use each hand to finesse the reins. But if you use a leveraged bit, then the drape of the reins becomes 'contact'. Taking some slack out of the reins changes the weight of the reins on the bit. That change, multiplied 2-8 times by the design of the bit, allows you to ride with one hand, do something with the other, and still make tiny corrections to the horse's gait. Add in neck reining, and you can get some of the control an English rider has using two hands. Not enough, perhaps, for dressage...but enough to guide the horse's action while moving cattle or crossing rough country.

Mia has lived most of her life in corrals. I'm pretty sure she didn't really know how to canter right without a rider, let alone with one. Teaching her while riding has been an adventure. In a snaffle, getting her head out of the weeds and getting her balance right often leaves my shoulders sore. With a curb, if I raise my hand, her head tends to follow. Not sure why, but it happens. By giving or removing some slack, she'll 'collect' or extend some. Not dressage collection, just some shift in balance and stride.

A well trained horse will do that OK regardless of bit. Trooper will neck rein and can be ridden one-handed in a snaffle and do fine. My youngest daughter isn't above draping the reins around the horn and going without reins for a while. It will be a long time, if ever, before I try that with Mia!

Anyways, that's my theory. The leverage acts as an amplifier, so that weight on the draped reins becomes "contact', and the horse can be given an adequate amount of guidance with one hand.


----------

