Which bit?

I have a horse that has to have a soft bit but yet sometimes when doing the jumpers I need a little heavier bit. My trainer suggested a mullen mouth pelham. She said the it is the lightest bit when looser contact but yet can be strong enough to make her pay attention when I need it. Plus she is a little on the forehand and sometimes has trouble with changes and the extra support helps. What do you think? What bits do you personally like(specify if you have a strong or light mouthed horse, or in my case a little of both)

Any horse I've ever ridden I've ridden in a snaffle, whether the horse had a soft mouth or a strong mouth. Personally, I hate stronger bits. I don't see the point in putting a stronger bit in a horses mouth if the horse is already strong in the mouth, because chances are all your going to do is pull and pull on the horses mouth and cause the horses mouth to become even stronger. The only horse I have ridden in anything other then a snaffle was a Arab/TWH/TB cross that had a very sensitive mouth, but used a kimberwich bit. She had been trained in a Kimberwich bit and would not use any other type of bit, but was also dressage and would freak out if you pulled on her mouth the slightest bit. You didn't need to use your hands other then to have contact for her to come into frame, you mostly rode her with your body. Maybe you could just work on excersizes to make your horse listen to your body more rather then having to rely on your hands to stop/slow down your horse, and that will get your horse off the bit (not just taking the bit and being strong) and using her back end. Just a thought. Good luck

Yes, a mullen mouth pelham will make her pay attention more. However, if you are using it for jumping you have to take a couple precautions:
- don't snag her in the mouth!! Pelhams use a chain under the chin for control, so if you snag her, it does hurt them.
- make sure the chain is neither too tight nor too loose - if it's too loose while jumping, it can bang their chin and hurt them, or spook them (as I found out the hard way - my mare tossed her head before a fence, hit the chain, and did a sliding stop into the jump... aaaand of course I fell off.. of course this was when I was like 11 or something..)

A mullen mouth pellam can be great, if you learn how to properly use it with double reins. If you don't want to ride with two sets of reins, then I'd suggest a mullen kimberwick or a slow twist full cheek.