Neue Schule

The Saddle Research Trust are delighted to announce Neue Schule as Title Sponsor and Industry Perspective Sponsor for our upcoming conference, SRT2021

As part of our industry perspective Dr. Graham Cross will be giving a presentation on:

Bit Design Basics 

Abstract

Whilst the basic anatomy of the horse’s mouth has allowed the use of ropes, solid single rods, or linked chains of rods as a means of control of the horse as early as at least the bronze age there has never been a formal recorded design strategy. In relatively modern times from early in the 1900s records taken from the patent literature show that designers (e.g. Bristol, Swales) understood enough to propose designs that recognised pressure inside the mouth and on the poll and produced bits that offered a genuine advantage to the horse and rider. Beyond that the evolution of bit designs, the mouthpiece design, and the cheek shape design, exploded into a myriad of types where it became impossible to find a record of the original design intent. Thus, bitting the horse has become a black art, usually poorly understood, or misunderstood by those offering their ideas. The (lay) literature has become infected with bitting information that can be, at worst, completely incorrect. Many of these misconceptions fall readily under even a light but formal study of the topic. Neue Schule has rediscovered, and perhaps introduced, the science of bit design encompassed in the term “Lorinery Science”. Some basic introduction to this topic is presented in the video offered to the 2021 Saddle Research Trust conference.