For thousands of years horses, mules, donkeys, bovines, buffalo, and other animals have been subjugated to immense animal cruelty all for human greed and control. Just like shock collars, bits, spurs, and whips are designed solely to cause pain to the animal to force them to obey.
Directory:
What are Bits? Driving Bits Cheeks
Overcheck Bits Specialty Bits
Studies on Bits
Please watch this educational documentary about bits, whips, and spurs to learn about the cruelty of these devices if you are short on time. Otherwise, please read my entire paper on these torture devices to learn in detail.
For thousands of years humans have been riding horses for work, travel, and into battle. Horses are incredibly smart, sensitive beings who, like dogs, can learn tricks and commands with positive reinforcement training. But, humans tend to want to skip the training and force control over beings that can’t fight back. Pain, fear, and torture devices are implemented on these animals and children to create immediate control and skip months and years of proper training.
Bits are one such device invented to force this control using pain.
Usually made out of metal, bits in modern times also can come in a hard plastic or wrapped in a rubber or leather padding. The bit is inserted into the mouth of the horse, just over the bars, which is the area of the mandible that has no teeth. The metal rests on top of the exposed gum and tongue, so that the pressure of it hurts the gums and tongue. This pain is what forces the horse (or other animal) to obey.
The bit comes in many different forms, and this encyclopedia will go over almost every type of mouthpiece and cheekpiece and how it works.
Let’s learn the structure of the bit:
The bit comes in two main parts: The mouthpiece and the cheekpiece.
The mouthpiece is the section that goes into the mouth of the horse. This has many different variations, from curbs, mullen, snaffle, chain, etc. The second part is the cheekpiece which is the part that sits outside of the mouth and is where the bridle and reins attach to. The cheekpiece also can come in a wide variety, with long shanks, chin chains, double reins, gags, etc.
The effects of the bit can worsen or lessen depending on the cheekpiece used. But regardless of the type, every combination causes pain and cannot be used without discomfort to the horse.
Driving Bits:
Driving bits are the primary bit used to control a horse. Often, they are used by themselves, but sometimes other bits, such as overchecks and lasso bits, may be implemented for even more control. These are the bits that actually are used to turn a horse and give commands, hence “driving” a horse like a car.
There are many types of driving bits all with different cheekpieces.
Mullen mouth bits have a solid, unjointed mouthpiece, applying even pressure across the tongue, while curb bits are leverage bits with shanks that apply pressure to the horse’s poll and chin, offering more control
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Low Port Bits:
Screenshot 2024-12-17 at 21-07-23 Diamond R Solid Port Loose Ring Bit Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies
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Screenshot 2024-12-17 at 21-09-06 Reinsman Solid Pleasure Bit Big Dee’s Tack & Vet Supplies
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Medium Port Bits:
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High Port Bits:
Screenshot 2025-03-07 at 22-32-08 Handmade High Port Bit – Kyle Tack
