Effects of the bit: snaffle

Saw this video in a post, wasn't sure where else to put it...


All the more reason I ride western... couldn't bear to have this affect on my horse's face.

And yet all they show is horses getting the crap beaten out of them and their faces being ripped off..

The problem in that video is the riders, not the bit. There is nothing at all wrong with bits, as long as they are understood and used as a communication tool, not a "listen to me or else" device.

Right up untill the last comment on the video I thought it might be kind of educational. When he starts talking about how the horse is beaten incessantly and cruelly that's kind of when I tuned out. Without a doubt the people in the video were abusing thier horses and should have a whip taken to them. It is not the norm from what I have seen (this video was from Russia so it may be different) and would not be tollerated around here regardless of the discipline. If I had seen the man on the black horse riding around me we would soon find out who could hit the hardest because I would drag him off his horse and discuss proper riding techniques.

I think there are better places to learn about the effects of a bit. This is an extreme example.

You're right there! This was a far more subtle video at the beginning than most of them are.

I just don't understand how people can tie up their horse's head to it's neck basically, then yank on the reins? Not like it's going to go anywhere... seems in this video that the riders just need a lesson in anger management! Or pretty much like Kevin said he would, have someone yank them off their horse and show them how to do it right... after a kick in the face.

What the hell.......That was terrible.

This is a pretty ridiculous video. The title should be "Effects of the Abusive Rider". A horse could be injured no matter what bit was in it's mouth with that kind of riding.

^Amen! This tripe just takes the worst of the worst riders (I refuse to deign to call this horsemanship), and generalizes it to everyone who puts a bit in their horse's mouth. The bit isn't the torture device, the hands on the reins can be. Responsibility lies in using the bit to communicate and refine, not to punish.

The narrator is Alexander Nevzorov, there was a thread about him in the NH forum a while back, and he sounds a bit nutty in general. Give his website a read. He's got a few videos of his "horsemanship" on Youtube as well that made me wonder where his head is at...

Nevzorov Haute Ecole