The world needs a high-port, long-shanked bit

Things are out of hand. On many levels. Globally. Agreed?

There doesn’t seem to be any  way to put on the brakes and shut it down. The world has been in an egg-butt snaffle bit for too long, and we’re engaged in a breakneck runaway.

I had something similar happen to me once while riding my favorite horse Flash. First, for those of you who aren’t horse savvy: An egg-butt snaffle is a very mild bit. It is typically used on tender-mouthed horses for training equines new to a bridle, and with heavy-handed/novice riders riding a well-mannered animal. A port bit is a solid bar with an inverted “U” in the middle of the bar and lays flat in the horse’s mouth until the rider takes up the slack on the reins. Then the U is lifted and presses into the roof of the mouth, the palette, and gets the horse’s attention.

The higher the port, the more pressure directed through the reins, the quicker response from the horse. Longer shanks on a ported bit gives the rider more leverage and generally are used on high-strung, powerful breeds and stallions. Tightening up the curb chain, which runs from the sides of the bit under the lower jaw, enhances this leverage. 

My runaway experience with Flash involved his regular bridle being unwittingly swapped from his mid-port bit to an egg-butt snaffle. Flash was an American Saddlebred, high-strung and a tall 16.2-hand horse. High-strung can be translated to knucklehead. I was riding a new Australian saddle (I usually rode a close-contact English saddle). The leather for the stirrups was wide and very stiff, as it hadn’t been broken in yet. When I took my feet out of the stirrups, the leather laid flat. I had to reach down, twist the leather to turn the stirrups out to get my feet back into them (a contributing factor in the upcoming tale).

Flash liked to be the lead horse. My friend who owned Flash was riding his Quarter Horse, trailing behind me as we rode our usual six-mile trail along a river, woods and cornfields in Northeast Iowa. We got to a straightaway where we usually let the horses run. Normally, I held Flash back and put him into a collected lope. He went into a high-speed trot, which was as fast as the shorter Quarter Horse could gallop.

I couldn’t post at that pace. I tried to pull him down and move him into a lope. No brakes. Flash tossed his head, got above the bit, which means he held his head higher (his breed has a high set for their necks and heads to start with) to reduce the pressure of the bit in his mouth. With a ported bit I would have been able to get him to tuck his head and respond to the bit, holding back his enthusiasm. With the egg-butt snaffle, he didn’t have to listen to me. He was like a teenager who sneaks out with the car keys while mom and dad are sleeping. Joy ride! 

I lost one stirrup, and while trying to flip the leather around to get my foot back into the stirrup, I lost the other stirrup. No stirrups and bit in his teeth translated to no brakes. I was going to have to sit out the ride. I shouted back to my friend that I was on a runaway. Flash took a hard right into a wooded area. I knew he might try to shed me, rubbing me against a tree and wrecking one of my knees.

We were in a leaf-littered, soft sandy area, so I jumped free, landed in the leaves and rolled to my feet as my friend rode on to catch Flash. My friend told me later it was the most calm and controlled runaway with dismount he’d ever witnessed. We rode at a slower pace and kept Flash behind my friend’s horse the rest of the ride. I made sure Flash had his usual bridle and bit after that.

The world seems to be on its own runaway right now. No joy involved. A lot of pain, misery, anger, division, unrest and altered realities. The whole globe is experiencing this, not just the U.S. Hopefully, something gets this beast back under control again. Soon. And, once we get some calm back, put a high-ported, long-shanked bit in its mouth to bring things down to a collected gait. It’s going to take an experienced, level-headed rider to soothe its temper and gather back this crazy wildness.

Rider up! All prayers appreciated.