On the first day of the Royal Melbourne Summer Horse Show last year, a group of friends and I sat front row to watch some of the classes. Rider after rider, or guide after guide, pulled, jerked, and twisted their horses’ mouths with their bits, making us tremble endlessly.

All of us, in the previous week, had read an article that had forever changed our vision of the bit and its use with horses.

One of us is an elite stage show horse trainer; another is a breeder, two more are pony club instructors, one is a saddlery owner. All of us, at one time or another, have converted to so-called “natural” horsemanship. That is to say, we have sought a different, non-aggressive way of obtaining a polite and calm horse.

We are sitting in the shade, watching a class in the hands of supremely prepared hacks. Two guides have curbs on their horses and repeatedly pull the muzzles of their charges.

Stories flow thick and fast between us.

The show horse trainer recounts how her equine dentist once discussed anatomy with her and explained that most people, because they want to do the right thing, will buy a thicker, simpler bit, thinking the thinner is sharper and sharper. more cruel. And this is fine.

for some horses.

But there are other horses, horses with smaller mouths, less space between the upper and lower jaws, for whom a bit as thick as that can be incredibly uncomfortable. Because it just doesn’t fit, it’s too big. And then the horse resists and opens its mouth and fights against the control of the rider.

“So let’s go and tie his mouth!” exclaims my friend.

The saddle shop owner talks about a Pony Club dad who came looking for a twisted wire W bit because his pony, after years of good behavior, suddenly refused to go left. Another PC parent advised them to try this bit, the magic answer to all control.

“Fortunately,” says the owner of the saddlery, “we didn’t have one.”

She goes on to say that in a roundabout way, her husband, an equine vet, was able to go out and see that pony later that day. She had a very severe abscess on her near left hoof.

Privately, I’ve always thought that if you have to add more and more gear to your horse to get it to do what you want, then it’s time to quit the game.

FEI rules require submission to the rider and the bit. But what bit? Does it have to be a curb or a double bridle? Top trainers, Monty Roberts, Andrew McLean, Janice Usherwood, Parelli and others, have all said that the double and curb bridles made mandatory by FEI rules are instruments of torture that must, must, be banned.

I’m about to show you why.

Some of you may be familiar with the Nevzarovs, a Russian couple who practice and teach Haute Ecole Dressage without bridles and bridles. Alexander Nevzarov created the film and book The Horse Crucified And Risen, at once horrifying and ultimately beautiful and liberating, a documentary about the horse’s long association with man.

The Nevzarovs commissioned a scientific study from the Office of Forensic and Medical Examinations in St. Petersburg, Russia, to document the effects of double bits and bits on the horse’s mouth. Forensic scientists, veterinarians, and journalists (who recorded the experiment on video) participated in the experiment. The results were published in the Horses For Life magazine (USA).

For the purposes of the experiments, a model horse head was created that included a tongue made of Ballistin, a substance that closely conforms to the structure and density of living tissue (though not for flexibility). Ballistin’s tongue was used to record the “hit” or pressure exerted on the mouth by the bit.

While the experiment itself couldn’t measure pain, it was able to measure the amount of pressure placed on the horse’s tongue, jaw, and other oral structures in the mouth.

To begin with, it was found that an “ordinary rider” with “good” (light) hands exerts about 120-130 kg of pressure per square centimeter. The pressure is felt directly by the trigeminal nerve, a branch of which (the mandibular nerve) runs the length of the mandible and, due to the lack of muscle along the mandibular bar, is reasonably unprotected and exposed. This means that there is almost direct contact with this nerve by little.

A University of Lincoln UK staff paper on head shaking reports that the head shaking condition is believed to be caused by pressure on this nerve or by the nerve itself “misfiring”, which causes spasms of pain. “There are many sources of possible nerve pain in the horse’s head, but veterinarians believe that branches of the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from the muzzle and face to the brain, may be the main source, particularly the infraorbital nerve. , which is a branch of the maxillary nerve, for whatever reason parts of this nerve can be damaged and ‘fire’ inappropriately causing painful sensations in a particular area, i.e. the nerves are telling the horse that it is being hurt in this area when in reality it is not.

Lidia Nevzarov writes that this particular nerve is super sensitive. She says, “Based on descriptive adjectives, pain like that in the nerve area is called ‘especially sharp, burning, paralyzing.'”

And that’s from a rider with good hands.

A strong pull, like the ones we witnessed at the Royal Show last week, can exert a pressure of 300kg per square centimeter.

Now you know why a horse’s first reaction is to throw its head up and back when shaken in the mouth like that.

This jarring-in-the-mouth syndrome is not uncommon. In fact, I’d say most of us witness it regularly, even daily, at riding schools, Agistment parks, shows, pony clubs. But it’s so common that we don’t think about it.

The central lingual nerve (lingualis) of the tongue also feels this pressure: 100 kg per square centimeter in ordinary contact (“doing nothing”). A pull increases the pressure in this area to about 250-300 kg per square centimeter. As with the trigeminal nerve, this pressure causes intense pain and discomfort. In the experiment, Ballistin’s tongue was crushed by such pressure; a real tongue, composed of living tissue, remodels itself, although pressure and pain are still felt and injury still occurs.

Lidia Nevzarov presents photos of two jaws: one from a bitten horse, the other from a horse that has never known a bite. The jaw of the unbitten horse is smooth and clean, while the jaw of the bitten horse shows clear wear just to the bar where the bit rests; grooves and chips. So the action of our hands in the horse’s mouth is strong enough to gouge and chip the bone.

Another branch of the trigeminal nerve (which runs the length of the jaw) exists in the groove under the chin, exactly where the curb chain rests. Again, this area has no muscle to protect it, only skin, blood vessels, and bone exist. Anatomically it is an ideal place to apply paralyzing pressure.

The researchers found that the curb chain applied an average of 300kg of pressure per square centimeter to this sensitive area. In fact, they verified that exerting pressure on this area was capable of breaking the lower part of the jaw of the model horse.

A live horse’s jaw, of course, can withstand much greater pressure, but we’re not talking about breaking a horse’s jaw, but rather the amount of pain we put horses through using standard riding gear. .

Lidia Nevzarov goes on to say that the hard palate (palatum duram) also suffers damage and experiences two types of pressure: constant, caused by the bite resting in the mouth; and bumps, caused by pressure applied to the kidneys in a jerky movement. The palate is made up of a mucous membrane that varies in thickness between 2mm (the furrows) and 6mm (the ridges) and this mucous membrane is all that lies between the mouth and the nerve of the palate, palatines major. Pressures of 180 to 200 kg per square centimeter were recorded and Nevzarov speaks of hematomas (bruises) present under the mucous membrane of the hard palate (in a stuffed horse used in the experiment) as an indication of the applied force causing injury.

Dr. Cook, FRCVS., PhD, creator of the modern jawless bridle, notes that “A fundamental principle of proper saddle fit is that the saddle should never touch bone. This principle is forgotten when it comes to jaws. A metal rod in the mouth makes direct contact with the unprotected bone in the bars. [and]Unsurprisingly, drill bits commonly cause painful bone spurs to develop on the bars.”

Nevzarov’s study successfully demonstrated the amount of pressure applied directly to the horse’s jaw and oral structures and the damage it can cause.

As “technology,” the practical application of science to commerce or industry, the drill bit was developed about 5,000 years ago by horsemen of the Bronze Age. While the design has changed and evolved, the use of the bit has not.

As we continually expand our knowledge and capacity for scientific inquiry, we may also need to expand, or change, the way we think based on the results we find and the knowledge we collect.

To say that we cannot ride without the bit, or control the horse without the bit, that the whole concept of dressage (for example) is based on the bit, is a belief firmly rooted in mythology, “tradition” and a rigid fault. willingness to explore. new ways

There are many examples of fine horsemanship, and horse men and women, displaying perfect control of their horses without the need for a bit. Stacey Westfall, rode a winning round in a top level, bareback and no bridle rein competition. Steve Jeffries, the Nevzarovs, Cavalia, Zingaro Monty Roberts, Quantum Savvy all work without the use of brakes and bridles so we know it can be done.

http://www.horseyard.com.au/components/com

In many ways I see it as a shame that jockeys and regulatory bodies seem incapable of exploring horse control and submission without the use of such aids.

What a contest it would be where riders competed at the highest level without bridles. This would test a rider’s control over his horse, and the horse’s willingness to submit, like no other method. Also, as jockeys and competitors, I think we should challenge the major governing bodies – FEI, EFA, AQHA and all the others – to instigate non-points competition rounds for jockeys to race without bridles and demonstrate that horse control, at the most high level. level, can be achieved without the use of a metal piece in the mouth.

Don’t tell me it can’t be done. The only thing that stops you is your way of thinking.