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Like ALL bits it can be used improperly as it does apply a lot of poll pressure. The slot that is not used is for a fleece lined nose band. Pull on the reins and you get nose poll and bit/bar pressure. BAck in the day I used to get stuck retraining a lot of horses and the 'runaway' horse was always teh fun ones. Now remember this was 40 plus years ago. So don't snap my head off about 'old school' methods. When others were using heavy spurs and bits and romals, I used this bit and and old plantation saddle to ride the retrains in. GENTLE pressure gets FAST attention.
We had a few horses that leaned on about any bit. The straight bar stopped that habit w/out ruining their mouths ... like any bit they could bruise those bars by leaning but when they did.. they also got nose/poll pressure. It did not take long, even on a lunge line with side reins and cricingle that the lesson of 'collect away' and be soft was learned fast. This bit saved my life more than once on my big as a tank ranch mare who had aneck like a stallion and a penchant for running away regardless WHO rode her or in what tack! She'd get a notion to take off and RUN ... infront of trucks on the highway... into fences.... over fences... ditches.... down hills.... nothing including a year with a professonal trainer ever taught that girl to STOP NOW until I put THIS on her. ONe or two double handed stops and a loud WHOA and seat aid put her on her tail bone. Sh never ran away again... ever ... nd no she was not injured.. well maybe her pride was. I could not do that at my age now If I wanted to ;) but for any one with limited upper body strength.. this bit can be a godsend and a lifesaver if the horse ya have is a no stop , thick necked , wanna be racehorse.
The secret to this bit's sucessful use is the combo of the bit working as a 'stop' and creating leverage that you don't get from a gag bit hackamore or one w/out a bit.
I LOVE This bit! I have rescue that was trained in one and w/out it she thinks she's Zenyatta. With it.. fingertip control with slack reins :). I even had a specially made noseband for her delicate little girlie nose... The ever helful hubby thought he'd be kind and 'clean it up' and took it apart.. broke the bit putting t back together as reassembly of these can be a tricky proposition. Aluminum does not hold up to twisting and he broke it clean in half. LOL! It's aluminum which has it's good points for weight but bad for brittleness. My goal is to have one remade in a decent steel but there is that old copyright issue on the design. Until then I am looking for one to reinforce to use for said mare. But really it's not a scarey thing, it's a problem solver IF used correctly.
Isn't that the key... use correctly :) Anyway that's the other 'viewpoint' on this no longer made bit :)
PM me if you really want to sell it. If it is sound I can use it. If not.. it's another pretty to hang on my wall in my office/bead/classroom and computer room :)
