Short Rant (*steam*)

This came up both in a class of mine today and in another blog I frequent...

True Statement: a thinner bit is NOT a harsher bit.

Folks, let us go back to basic highschool geometry. Take out a piece of paper and a straight edge and draw a line. Now, find a stencil and draw a circle.

How many times does the circle touch the line? If you answered "only once" you are correct.

Now, draw another line and another circle, and make this one maybe two times as big.

How many times does this new circle touch the line? Only once.

Does your horse really need an extra thick snaffle? I don't think so...

This exercise completely disproves the theory that a thinner mouthpiece on a bit is harsher than a thicker one. Why? Because no matter how big your circle, it will only touch any given line at ONE specific point, and that point will never get any bigger, because a bigger circle is still a circle and a circle is a circle is a circle. Basic geometry. Until you get down to about 1/4 inch in diameter, a bit cannot be deemed more severe (1/4 inch and you start to actually cause a cutting action, and that is certainly bad...)

However, a bit CAN be too thick! Since we are talking about a specific amount of width allowable in a horse's mouth and not an infinite line, the horse has only got so much space in his mouth to hold a bit. If a bit is so thick (and many of them are made far too thick) that it can't rest comfortably on the horse's palate and lay quietly over the tongue, you have completely muddled your line of communication. Instead of saying "please rotate your head to the left" you end up saying something like "plesh rotashatt ygaurshmo hashed tow tuehr legheft"...not to mention, how great would it feel to hold a big ol' wad o' metal in your mouth? Makes it awfully hard to swallow, close your mouth comfortably...

Your horse will thank you.

I apologize for the overt snark of this post, but I argued for a good 15 minutes with a classmate about this...seriously, who taught her math classes? I'm no math whiz, never would claim such a thing, but I do remember one or two things. Simple geometry, folks.