|
|
BITS Just Added: Comments from people that have used the bit - at the bottom of the page. . .
As most of you know, I have never been one to endorse or sell tack of any kind. And for the most part, I still don’t. However, recently a bit has come to our attention that we feel can be quite helpful for a number of horses…So much so that after much thought and deliberation, we have decided to carry a few of them for folks that are interested. Here’s how the bit came to our attention: First, I should say we get a lot of people and businesses who send us various horse related items. They usually want us to try the items out and see if we like them. For the most part these items are usually pretty nice, some are very innovative, and others aren’t really worth mentioning. Yet, with all of these items, even though some may be quite beneficial to the average horse owner, I have just never felt comfortable enough with any of them to offer an all out endorsement. Then in the fall of 2004, this fellow named Mark Sulan called from Illinois and asked if I would be interested in having a look at a bit that he had designed. At the time the bit had only been on the market for two years. He called the bit “The Rockin S Snaffle” (see the description below) and said he was having a lot of success with it, using it on horses who were notoriously troubled with traditional bits. I told Mark the same thing I tell everybody else - - I would be happy to take a look at the bit, as long as he understood there would be no strings attached. He agreed, and a few days later I received the bit in the mail. Now, Mark claimed this particular bit was extremely helpful with horses who “worried” the bit, tossed their head, rooted, or who were just very resistant to the bit in general. Yet, when I opened the package and took the bit out, I couldn’t see a whole lot of difference between it and any other snaffle I had ever seen with the exception that the cheek pieces on this bit were somewhat different. I couldn’t really see how this bit could possibly do what Mark claimed it could, and as a result (and without giving the bit, or Mark’s claims of the bit’s previous successes much thought), I pretty much dismissed it out of hand, put it back in the package and placed the package on a shelf, with the myriad of other items I had received over the years. In the back of my mind I decided I would give the bit a try at some point, as I told Mark I would, but I certainly wasn’t in any hurry. Most folks who send me things do so, and then I never hear from them again. But this situation was different. Once or twice a month, Mark would call me to see if I had gotten a chance to try the bit. Each time he called I would truthfully tell him I hadn’t, mostly due to the fact that the majority of my horses were all out on pasture for the winter, and I wasn’t riding any of them at the time. The one horse I did keep at home I didn’t ride in a bit, but rather a bosal. He said he would call back…and he did. Months passed, and the phone calls from Mark continued. The following spring, when our horses came in from pasture, I finally tried the bit on my horse Smokey. As I expected, I didn’t really see a whole lot of difference in his behavior. “There,” I thought to myself. At least now I could tell him I had tried the bit. The results I found were not what he claimed they would be and now maybe he would stop calling. A few days later Mark called again, and I gave him the news… “Oh,” there was a discernable note of disappointment in his voice. “That’s strange. We’ve seen a big difference in pretty much every horse we’ve used it on.” There was a moment of silence on the other end. “Maybe it’s because your horse didn’t have any trouble with bits in the first place.” “Maybe,” I replied. “Oh well,” he said. “Thanks for giving it a try.” And with that we said our good-bys. The phone calls from Mark stopped on that day. Now normally that would be the end of the story. And it would have been except for a couple little things. One was the fact that I just couldn’t seem to get it out of my head how persistent Mark had been that I try the bit. Another was how disappointed he sounded when I told him I hadn’t seen any difference in the horse I had used it on. You see, I believe when folks send me something that doesn’t work the way they claim, they already know it doesn’t work and so they usually aren’t all that persistent about getting feedback. But that hadn’t been the case with Mark. One other thing that kind of bothered me a little was I kind of knew I hadn’t really given the bit an honest try. As Mark had guessed, Smokey wasn’t really a horse that had trouble with bits in his mouth in the first place, and so I probably wasn’t going to see a whole lot of difference with him anyway. All of these things sort of ate away at me over the next few months. Not in a big way, mind you, but rather as a sort of low level annoyance somewhere in the back of my mind. Finally, a few months later at the end of our summer weeklong clinic schedule, I decided to give the bit a try on a horse we had been using all summer. This particular horse was pretty soft and willing most of the time, but he had also been struggling with a few nagging little issues all summer. One issue was his propensity to try to take pretty much anybody who rode him to the gate or back to the barn when he felt like he was finished working for the day. The other was to occasionally brace up big time when someone asked him to back up or turn. Again, these things didn’t happen all the time, but they did happen to one degree or another with pretty much anybody who rode him. Before the final weeklong clinic began, I put the bit on his headstall. I did not tell the man who was going to be riding the horse anything about the bit, or the trouble the gelding had been having all summer. Rather I just let the man ride him and see what transpired. Incredibly, right from the start the little gelding showed absolutely no signs of any of the issues he had been struggling with all summer long. He was soft and supple from the get-go and the two times he did offer to head to the gate were so half hearted they seemed hardly worth the effort. After that, he never even tried again for the rest of the week. Thinking this was perhaps just a fluke, I took the bit on the road with me and used it on a few horses at the next four clinics we did. Surprisingly enough, I saw similar results with each of the eight horses we tried it on. In each case, the horses had either been bracey, resistant, head tossers, or just not happy with bits in general and in each case we saw dramatic improvements within a matter of minutes. The horses became quiet, willing and much less fussy with their heads and mouths, and then continued to go that way and even improve as the days passed. I was so impressed that even though I had originally dismissed the bit and hadn’t really even given it a fair chance, I felt compelled to call Mark back and tell him that I had, indeed seen the results with the bit that he said I would see. Since that time, we have tried it on an extremely wide variety of horses and breeds all with “bit related” issues both here and in England, and the results have been pretty compelling (providing the issue wasn’t actually pain related). We have seen vast improvements in almost every horse we have tried it on to date, with the exception of a small handful. In those cases, the improvement, while still there, wasn’t as dramatic, and in one or two horses, such as Smokey, we saw no measurable improvement at all. Now don’t get me wrong here. I am not claiming this bit is an end all to all bit related problems or that it’s a magic bullet of any kind. No piece of tack can take the place of good horsemanship and diligent and consistent work between horse and rider. However, the way the bit is designed it does seem to help troubled horses calm down enough to where they can begin to think about what is being asked of them, which in turn does seem to help the communication process. Unfortunately, right now the bit is not being carried by very many tack stores and as a result we have decided to stock a few of them to make it easier for folks to get a hold of them if they are interested. Please note, there are no returns on used bits.
Rockin S Snaffle Bit
This bit was designed to decrease the discomfort at the corners of the horse's mouth. The bit will not pinch. The extra 3 inch rings at each end of the mouthpiece float independently to disperse the pressure across the lip and cheek helping the bit to become more stable in the horse’s mouth and allowing the horse to become more responsive to the rider’s cues. Attach the rein to the floating "D" ring outside the cheek rings. Available in 5 inch and 5 ½ inch mouthpieces. "Lifetime Guarantee" on material and workmanship. No returns on bits that have been opened and used, and are not defective. The bit is also available in a 4 inch and 6 inch mouthpiece and also in a 3-piece mouthpiece (dog bone). Contact the designer, Mark Sulan, at www.rockinsqh.com or rockin-s@sbcglobal.net for more information click here for an order form
Comments about the bit: J.W. wrote in April 2007: Thank you for sending the snaffle bit so quickly. I originally bought the bit for my 8 year old Quarter Horse mare. Her wolf teeth had gotten bad and had to be pulled. The surgery didn't go well. She resented a bit so I rode her in a bosal for several years until I read about the Rockin S and decided to give biting her another try. There was improvement in her acceptance of the new bit but not the miracle results I had hoped for. I alternate between the bit and the bosal when I trail ride. My daughter gave me her 17 year old Thoroughbred gelding who has always been "oral". Carries buckets, brushes or toys, something is always in his mouth. When he has been ridden on the trail, he continually chewed any bit, even leaving grooves on the copper. So I tried the Rockin S on a long trail ride this morning. Surprise !!! He did not mouth it even once. That has never happened in the 13 years we have owned him!!! He was calm and un-agitated. Had Mark not endorsed it, I never would have even given it a try. Over the last 30 years my daughter and I have accumulated at least a dozen very expensive bits and certainly didn't want to buy yet another. My mare may never get over the teeth issue and feel comfortable in anything but the bosal, but there is one happy old thoroughbred who is living out his trail riding days much more comfortably. It was the unexpected miracle. Thanks again for the advice and the bit...Keep up the good work.... our horses need it.
G.F wrote in January 2007: My friend bought a Rockin S bit at Mark's clinic last November. When I saw it, I couldn't imagine it would be any different to a normal snaffle. My Arab mare was ridden in a standard full cheek snaffle. She had quite a lot of problems accepting the contact, would resist any pressure & was always 'fussing' with her mouth when ridden (she is seen regularly by a qualified Equine Dentist) so I was thinking about what bit I could try. When my friend suggested the Rockin S, I was pretty skeptical, but the transformation was immediate. The sudden softness I could feel down the reins was quite incredible. My girl was instantly happy in this bit, working beautifully, willingly & softly. I would never have believed it could make that much difference if I hadn't experienced it. Anyway, I have now effectively commandeered this bit from my friend, so I need to buy her a new one! With many thanks for your help.
C.S. wrote in November 2006: Hey Mark and Wendy! :) Thanks for offering such a great bit! Having been an instructor and trainer most of my life I, too, am a bit skeptical about "new" bits. I read your account of this bit and thought that's exactly how I would have thought about it! Anyway, I kept thinking about that bit and decided to try it for one of my lesson geldings. I have owned Quinny since he was 4 months old and he is now 7. He was originally my daughter's show horse and was well broke and a joy to ride as he is very athletic. As I began to use him in my lesson program I noticed he was getting heavier and heavier in the bit....I tried a couple different bits but didn't want to make it worse for him as he was being ridden by a variety of riders. Students were getting more and more frustrated with him and I was frustrated as I knew what he was capable of! I ordered your bit and then let it set for a while when it got here....finally tried it on him and the difference was immediate! He immediately began to give to the bit again, quit bracing and hanging on the bit and his gaits went back to being fluid and relaxed!! I would not have believed it had I not seen it myself. I am recommending this to my students and fellow horse people! Congrats to you for offering it and blessings to the man who made it!
K.B. wrote in May 2006: Beau was a breeding stallion until the age of 15, and he’d never been broke to ride. He was sold, gelded, yanked around in a Tom Thumb until his mouth was bloody (he’d go over backwards if you tried to put a bit in his mouth when I got him), then given to me. We’ve worked hard for the last two years, and he’s become a good riding horse—he loves dressage, but has a lot of trouble with the contact required. Things come harder to him, but when he learns something, he’s very proud of it. Two of the hardest things for him have been bracing against the bit, and cantering with a rider. I put him in the Rockin S, and at first he didn’t like it at all. I’d been riding with a noseband, and wondered if that was interfering with the bit, so I took it off. He quieted down almost immediately. Within about 30 minutes, he was moving into contact and holding it—normally, Mark, he grits his teeth and braces as hard as he can against any mouth contact, particularly when being asked to “whoa.” He’d gotten pretty good at accepting contact at the walk, and was OK but a little tenser at the trot, but was terrified at the canter. His canter has always been terribly stressful for him, and frustrating for me. When asked for a canter, he’d throw up his head, hollow his back, grit his teeth, hold his breath and pound out a jack-hammer trot, going faster and faster until he finally broke into a scrabbly gallopy canter. I knew that he had a nice canter, because he can do it at liberty, but never with a rider. We’d been putting him on the lunge line because he was better there, but still wasn’t getting a relaxed departure from behind. It was as though he was trying to scrabble into a canter with his front legs, and his back end couldn’t keep up. When asked to slow down, he would trot, but again it would be jack-hammer hollow-backed and head-high, breathing like the Kentucky Mountain mare, and trying to surge back into a canter. It would take many, many laps of small circles with a lot of contact to get him to calm down and come back to me. It was as though he was shouting “Just get it over with! Just get it over with!” After every ride, he was drenched, with rivulets of sweat pouring down his chest and legs—when he’s nervous, he sweats from his gaskins and from his shoulders and chest, and he’d look as though I’d just doused him with a hose in those spots. I always felt so bad for him, because he was clearly so scared and tense. He acted this way with everyone who rode him, including all 3 of my riding instructors and two professional trainers over the past two years. No-one has been able to help him. So, I tried the new bit, and about an hour into our walk-trot ride, tried breathing him into a canter. I got about 6 or 8 of the harder trot strides, then he put his head down on his own, moved into the bit, and followed my breathing into a canter! It was AMAZING! He gave me the nice, easy, rhythmic canter that I see him do at liberty. We went up and down from a canter to a trot, without any of the typical stress and fear, and by the time I called it a good day, he was moving into the canter with only 1 or 2 trot steps! When asked to come down to the trot, he moved into a nice, collected, soft trot and didn’t get “chargy” or try to surge back to a canter. I had ridden him for about 1 ½ hours, so figured it would take an hour to cool him out. I jumped off and went to loosen his girth, and realized that he was DRY in all of his usual stressful sweaty spots! He was only sweaty under the girth, at the flank and under the saddle. Mark, that is the most amazing thing to me, because that is proof that my horse was, for the first time ever, relaxed during a ride! I rode him again the next day and saw very similar results, with even better canter departures—he was departing with confidence, and for the first time since I’ve owned him, seemed to be enjoying himself! He was also able to canter in a straight line—usually he dives into a little circle no matter how much leg or rein I use to keep him upright and going straight. He stayed straight, was a little scared in the corners, then leveled out and stayed with my rhythm until I asked for a stop. Again, he was minimally sweaty after our ride. His stops have also improved dramatically—he’s not bracing at all. He has always gaped his mouth and steeled his jaw if there was any backwards pressure, no matter how I asked—one rein or two--and I generally don’t pull back on the reins for a stop—I stop my seat, then stop my hands. He also was in the habit of bracing and gaping, then pulling me around to whatever direction he wanted to go when he thought that he should be done—I haven’t seen any hint of that in the last 3 rides! I don’t know how much of this is the bit, the breathing, the rhythmic counting (instead of “walk” “trot” “canter”), but whatever it is, it’s working! I’m so THRILLED that I’ve found something that helps Beau relax and enjoy being ridden at a pace faster than a walk.
C.S. comments about the bit, April 2006: I had read about the Rocking S Snaffle on his website and was very curious about it. I had been trying to help a young girl and her horse Player. Player had been started in a regular snaffle and was doing well but as his new rider was trying to get her timing and feel in directing him, he soon realized he could push through it and get out the gate or anywhere else he decided to go. The problem had become so bad that the little girl could not turn him. It started to get dangerous because he would just take off out the gate. Needless to say she was getting very frustrated. We tried other bits so she could control him but this only made Player more frustrated. When Mark brought the bit to the clinic I thought if this works on Player I am sold. I put the bit on and opened all the gates and off they went. I sent her straight down the arena towards the gate and sure enough he tried once but immediately relaxed and made the turn past the gate. There were some cones set up in the arena and she went in and out of them without any hesitation. It has now been about two months since Player has been in this bit and his turning issues are completely gone. I have never seen Player ride so relaxed, and his rider has had a chance to work on herself without having to worry about him taking off on her. Their confidence together has been amazing. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it for my self.
C.T. also wrote to us in April 2006: What I have observed after using the Rockin' S Snaffle on my gelding is a noticeable willingness to accept direction through the bit, as well as the disappearance of many of his resistances. In the past, these would show up through things like teeth grinding, difficulty being bridled, traveling with his nose in the air, difficulty following his nose through a turn, difficulty softening and bending at the poll, and tossing his head. I had already had his teeth checked, his saddle fit checked and chiropractic, and though it all helped, I was still seeing and feeling a fair amount of resistance when I rode him. I wasn't sure a different bit would help, since I had, by the time Mark asked me to try the Rockin' S on him, been through half a dozen different bits already. Within the first ten minutes of working with my gelding in this bit, though, I saw that for him it made a world of difference. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't leaning on my hands through the bit. He has since started to understand my request for softening at the poll, he stopped grinding his teeth, is easier to bridle and now travels more roundly with more consistency. Overall, he feels like he understands the requests I make through the reins. This snaffle has most certainly made a great difference to my gelding, and I am happy that he is so much more relaxed about the bit in his mouth.
J.M. wrote in March 2006:
We have been having lots of success with the bit I bought from you guys. We have a little colt that just didn't seem to settle down. He always had a huge hump in his back, head sky high in the air and was just ready to blow up as soon as he saw the opportunity. Last weekend I watched him getting ready to just walk down the road and he looked as miserable and mad as he always does. So I just figured we'd give it a shot with the "magic bit". Well I know you've seen it plenty now, but it just made my jaw drop. I didn't even have the girl that rode him get off and just changed the headstall. The second I stepped away, that horse just relaxed! The hump was gone, he just got soft and walked out like he never even had a problem to begin with!!!! By the end of the day we had a guest on him. That little horse has been with us for about 6 months and the wranglers had given up hope on getting him in the string any time soon.... Anyways I ordered two more bits :-)
KG wrote in November 2005: I bought one of the running S bits and put it on our black mare that tosses her head continuously with either a bit or bosal. I would have to say I'm a believer, the bit really makes a huge difference. The mare didn't toss her head from the get go and then I had my husband ride her and see what he thought. It was amazing. He was really happy with how she was with the new bit.
|
|---|
