Bits for Western Bridles

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Kelli on behalf of Expert Village, I'm going to show you my tips and techniques that I use to bridle my horse with a western bridle. There are many different type of bits that you could use when you are riding western. I'm just going to show you a couple of different examples. This is a Snaffle shank, it is a snaffle because it joined in the middle like this. It has about a 5 inch shank on each side. So this is a snaffle shank. You of course could ride your western horse in a snaffle bit, this is a loose ring twisted wire snaffle. If you do show your western horse in a snaffle bit, you must show it in a smooth snaffle. You can not show it in anything to twisted. This is a cathedral shank bit. You can see it has a much higher port, it is also solid in the middle and it is not joined at all. So this gives the horse a little bit more balance and a little bit more collection. It also has a longer shank on each side. This is a correction bit, you can see it has a spool port in the middle. So it has a little roll on there to keep the horse occupied. The shank also swivels which gives you a little bit more lateral movement so this is a correction bit. But most of your western bits that you would find are going to be shank bits. You would be able to judge what type of bit that you need for your horse based on the softness of the horse mouth and how much control you need. But those are a few basic western bits that you could use."