I copied this from a handout I gave out at a clinic
BITTING RIGS:
Bitting rigs are not to be used by newbies. You should have some experience in handling harness and lines.
I use a bitting rig to start all the green horses. I also use the bitting rig as part of my training regimen. As a training aid, the bitting rig is useful to help with head sets, propulsion and suppling.
I always work a horse in a loose noseband or no noseband at all so that he learns to keep his mouth closed, and finds a place for his tongue, by his own trial and error. If you start him with a tight noseband, he is constantly resisting the pressure, and never learns to keep his mouth shut on his own. Let me add here that it is imperative that the horse have his teeth floated and any wolf teeth extracted by a veterinarian before any bridle work begins. I give the horse a few days off after his teeth have been floated and any wolf teeth removed, to allow his mouth to heal.
The key to proper use of the bitting rig is the tension on the side lines. Too tight will teach a horse to “over-flex†and lean on the bit. Too loose will teach him to poke his nose and look more like a goose while trotting. With a horse that has never worn a bitting rig, it is better to err on the side of looseness. Once the horse is going around in a relaxed manner, I tighten the side lines a couple holes. This progression takes a week or so. I continue to work the horse, stopping every couple rounds to tighten a hole or two. Once the face is almost vertical and the horse is giving, I will not tighten anymore. I never tighten a horse to the vertical right off the bat. I do this after the horse is loosened up and then a couple rounds at the end I loosen so the horse can stretch out and drop his head. I do this without a check until the horse is well conditioned and his neck and back muscles are more defined. Then I will add a check, but again, never tight. In my opinion, nosebands and checks should be decoration on your harness. Too tight a check will cause a horse to “ewe†the neck, be generally unhappy and lean into it. An overly loose check is an annoyance and takes away from the look of the horse.
A round pen is great, but if you don’t have one, invest in a good lungeline. I use a racehorse caveson that is nylon and has rings on the sides and underneath of the noseband. On a race horse this is used for headpoles, on my training horses it is to attach the lungeline. The noseband loose enough to put 4 fingers between the horse and noseband.
Once you have the horse moving off in a nice circle at a trot and the lines are tightened so the face at the vertical I use voice commands, body language and a lunge whip to encourage the horse to work at the trot, walk, halt and change direction. I will only use the rig once a week once the horse is conditioned. The rest of the time the horse is in long-lines or jogging in the cart.
Kim
