Do you know when to use Spanish snaffle bits on your horse? Checkout this presentation from Horseland.com.au, with equine dentist Mark Burnell, for more information about using these.

1. Equine Dentistry:
Spanish Snaffle Bits Explained
with
Equine Dentist Mark Burnell

2. I’m Mark Burnell and I’m a professional horse dentist.
By all means please get your horses’ teeth checked regularly.

3. Here we have Lucy wearing a kimblewick or a
Spanish snaffle which is one of your mildest forms of
curb bits. It has a chain which once again ideally you
should get a chain guard on that. This bit is too big for
Lucy. Even though it is an eggbutt, we can see once
again. if you were to purchase this bit for this horse,
you paid for well over two centimetres of steel that
you’re never going to use. So you’ve got a lot of
sloppiness in this bit, it’s way too wide.

4. However, the bridle does fit. The noseband, this is
often used in show jumping and cross country and
dressage training sometimes. This noseband is too
high, it’s sitting too high up on the nasal bone, so we
need to drop that down. So the bridle could fit, the bit
never will. That’s where measuring your bit and
making sure that your purchase is well placed is so
important for your horse’s welfare and happiness.

5. So that noseband sitting in a correct position, we can
get two finger spaces between this facial bone here
and the back of the noseband. Ideally, you want to
able to fit a couple of fingers in there. This
noseband’s too loose, we can go an extra hole
tighter. Too tight is not desirable because that will
make your horse tighten up these masseter muscles
and possibly cause performance problems with them
tightening their own neck and resisting any of the

6. subtleties of training, so, the bridle. Here we go.
So, that’s okay, that’s not too tight.
The flash goes forward of the bit and should sit
snugly behind the lip. We change where this flap
sits. As much as possible, you want your buckle
of your flash to be at the base of the jaw. The idea
is it stops the horse from crocodiling their mouth
or opening their jaw and resisting any contact that

7. you make. So, we just play around with this a bit.
Okay, so this isn’t too bad. Once again, it’s better
to be too loose than too tight. But this bit is way
too big and we’d also need a chain guard.
Depending on what you feed your horse dictates
how often you need their teeth to be checked.
The main thing to look for is to ask if your dentist
is accredited and insured. Remember, there are

8. professionals with whom you can get second
opinions from. If anyone is to sedate your horse,
they should be a registered veterinarian. Good
luck with your horses and I hope you enjoy them.

9. Head over to our website to find quality bits
and bit accessories.