Driving bits

[Daftmare]

Why do you have to drive a horse in a liverpool bit or similar driving type bit? Surely they cant possibly suit every horse. When you ride you spend a fortune finding the "right bit" so why is it then common practice to put a driving bit in for driving?

[jet]

We always take as much care finding a driving bit to fit as we would a riding bit. The advantage of a Liverpool bit is that the reins can be put at four or five different rein positions depending on the need of the pony. As you are about 10 feet from the horses mouth this can make quite a bit of difference to control. Jodie started in a straight bar Liverpool but we found her tongue was too big so then put her in a Mullen mouth. This suited her much better. Flash has been started off by Karen in a snaffle and goes beautifully so we will get him a snaffle Liverpool. You can get driving bits in nearly as many variations as you can riding bits so there should be something suitable out there the same as you would ride in. Hope this helps. ;D

[kaz]

You can get a driving Liverpool bit with any mouthpiece you want, I first tried sherry in a straight bar bit but she hated it and it was no good, she kept getting her tongue over no matter how high I had it. As she was ridden in a snaffle and went well in that I got her a Liverpool bit with a snaffle mouthpiece. With the reins on plane cheek as far as she was concerned it was just a snaffle. If I had wanted or needed some curb action I could have had the reins on rough cheek or first bar but she did not need that. With William I long reined him his snaffle that I used for riding him to start with but when he went up to Andrews to be broken to drive he used a Mullen mouth Liverpool which gives him plenty of room for his tongue, he seems quite happy with it so we are sticking with it at the moment. When I go up for my lessons with Andrew and I am schooling him he is on plane cheek but when driving out on the road or with other turnouts at drivouts he is on first bar. Andrew advised me to do this to start with as he is not long broken so that should anything happen I would have a bit more control and more breaks. Once William is a bit more experienced and used to driving out in company and so on we will probably be able to go down to rough check or plane check for all driving.

[Daftmare]

Thanks for those replies, I have only ever seen a liverpool bit in a straight mouthpiece or a twisted one. Although I have driven ponies before I have never actually had to concern myself with actually buying the kit and its all a bit of a minefield now I am getting round to it!

[harleydales]

Harley hated the straight Liverpool so I got him a french link one from Jet!!