Bitting Advice Edition Part 1

As part of a three part series The Saddlery Shop takes a look at bitting and presents a Q & A featuring bitting enquiries and bespoke answers from bitting expert and owner of The Saddlery Shop, Lucy Nicholas. Question Dear The Saddlery Shop, I am desperate to find an answer to my young horses bitting problems! He is a 15.2hh Warmblood gelding who is rising 5 years old.I have owned him since he was a foal and he is a big confident character who does like to be in charge of situations and be the boss! I don't have any huge ambitions for him but he is very correct with a huge jump and fantastic movement and I have a background in Eventing so I probably ought to! His main problem is taking any sort of pressure from the rider, and though he is happy to hack out when schooling after warming up as soon as you ask for more flexion, bend or self carriage he gets his tongue over the bit, pokes his tongue out and evades the contact. He can become quite nappy and I feel like I have hit a brick wall having tried half moon bits; both happy mouth and snaffle, a french link, a shaped snaffle and a hanging cheek. His teeth are checked regularly and he has had his wolf teeth removed and has no trouble eating. Answer Lucy says "This is a difficult problem, and horses that put their tongue out can not always be cured- even in a bitless bridle the tension caused by just being ridden can be enough for it to manifest itself! There are two main ways to approach the sitaution. Firstly using a high ported bit to help prevent him doing it or hopefully finding a bit (or lack of bit) that he feels happy and confident in. The problem is, he may not feel happy in anything, and if you try to prevent him doing it, it could cause more problems as you have found. My suggestion would be the Short Shank Combination. The theory behind it being it will take the pressure away from his mouth, but still give you good control. It has a small port to allow tongue room, but will not make him feel uncomfortable as the bit is anatomically designed to follow the contours of the horses mouth."