Does your horse like loose rings?

I tried like 3 different snaffles with the loose rings on Jemma this weekend (all double jointed, no pinching). But she obviously doesn't like the loose ring (I had one with exactly same mouthpiece as my eggbutt): she was tossing her head, tried to speed up, shaking head left/right like crazy, etc. Just wondering is loose ring indeed may cause such strong negative effect?

Is the bit fitting right, Does she have two smiles on both sides???

Yes, it fits fine. I'm always VERY concerned about the fit.

Some horses don't like the movement of the loose ring. Sometimes a flash can help quiet the "jangling" but sometimes even that doesn't help. I suggest sticking with an eggbutt if that's what she's happiest with :)

I know every now and then the loose ring I use in for dressage will make a little jingle-type noise as the ring slides. Maybe that's bugging her?

My filly was extremely POed when I put a halter with an adjustable noseband on her. I couldn't figure out why, then I realized the noseband buckle and lead ring were continuously "ting-ing" against each other as she grazed. A bit a vet wrap around the buckle and voila! Happy filly!

Ha-ha! Thanks, folks! I'll give a try once again tomorrow to the same mouthpiece as my eggbutt to see how she'll do. If it won't work I'll just stay with eggbutt.

The problem with it is that my trainer says she can go "behind the bit" (not quite sure what it is), and that's she doesn't chew on eggbutt enough to show relaxation. But I think it's confusing, because she doesn't look unhappy or anything. Well, I don't know...

Is it moving a lot in her month? I know when I first was green breaking my horse, he would open his month and let the bit slid right out, off to one side or another. We ended up putting a full check snaffle bit on him. He even did it with it fitting right in his mouth. He also use to shack his head and play with the bit when he was bored. I thought about getting a bit that had rollers on it. So he would have something else to play with.

I have also seen people take new bits that a horse may not like and tie baler twine to one side of the bit and then put the bit in the horses mouth and then take the twine and put it around the horses poll and tie up the other side of the bit, so it was like a homemade headstall, and leave it in the horses mouth for an hour or so a day while they are in there stalls so they get use to the bit. To some people it may seem mean, but I does work. If you choose to go this route just make sure that the only thing avalible is water, as horses should not eat hay, grass, grain or anything else while having a bit in there mouth. Hope this helps.

No, it doesn't move much in her mouth. May be the rings movement is what bothers her. She generally prefers everything quiet.

BTW, what about D-rings? Are they also pinches or not?

When I used to use a bit on Ice, I used a plain D-ring snaffle and although I know there's a liiittle chance of it pinching, I've never seen any D-ring pinch a horse. He seemed happy with it to, when he wasn't playing around with it. It does offer a little bit more lateral control though because of the way the rings are shaped.

Thanks, justsambam08!

Just an update... I tried loose rings once again today (and asked my mom to watch the riding from ground). Jemma went bananas: she was shaking her head like crazy, almost run into the fence, and basically was extremely hard to turn or control (I could stop her though). My mom said just take it off - it looked really bad from ground too. So I switched back to the eggbutt after 5 mins of fight. Not sure what it is, but obviously loose ring does not work for her (btw, my paint goes in loose ring, I switched her from eggbutt month earlier).