If you’re a regular to the Equestrian Voices podcast, you know that bitting is a subject we return to time and again. This is because bits have such a dramatic impact on a horse’s happiness and performance - and it’s an area we still have so much to learn about!

So we decided to come back to this topic, this time bringing together top professionals from the Hunter/Jumper, Eventing, and Dressage disciplines to discuss how their ideas about bits and bitting developed over the course of their careers, and to see if there were any common threads between disciplines that could shed some new light on how to approach bitting for our own horses. 

During this roundtable, our four special guests also focused on how bitting differs (and is more often the same) between different areas of our industry, as well as misconceptions/pitfalls for each specific concentration. We also talk about how education plays such a huge role in choosing bits for our equine partners, and where we might be falling short as an industry in that area. GUESTS: Liza Towell Boyd 

Liz Halliday-Sharp  

Betsy Steiner 

Stephanie Brown-Beamer  

Additional resources: 

• [LISTEN]Bits, Behaviors and Teeth: Misconceptions About Your Horse’s Mouth

• [LISTEN]What’s Your Horse Trying to Tell You About His Bit? (Part 1) (Part 2) 

• If you want to do some more exploration on your own, head to the Nueu Schule Knowledge Base (not sponsored) and nerd out on the topic of bits and bitting. Your horse will appreciate it!