On the Bit

How to get—and keep!—your dressage horse on the bit

by Jane Savoie 

No matter where I travel, the most frequently asked questions I get are, "How do I put my horse on the bit?" and "How do I keep him there consistently?" This concept baffles many riders. My hope here is to simplify the process for you with the following information.

Get on the Bit

Do you saw left and right on your dressage horse's mouth or wiggle the bit with both hands to get him "on the bit"? If you saw on your dressage horse's mouth by alternating squeezing and releasing with your hands, you're riding your horse from front to back. He might look like he's on the bit because his head is down and his nose is on the vertical, but you don't have an honest connection from back to front.

The only part of your horse's body that you can affect by sawing is his jaw. Moving the bit in his mouth encourages him to chew; when he chews, he flexes in the jaw. So, if all you do is saw on the bit, all you have control over is a flexed jaw. Your horse has a whole lot more body left over that you have no influence over.

You might think your horse is on the bit, but then wonder why he comes off the bit when you ask him to do something like a transition. The reality is that he was never on the bit to begin with. All you had was a flexed jaw.

To put your horse honestly on the bit, use your connecting half halt (see details below). Close both legs to add power from behind as if you're doing a lengthening. When your horse "arrives" at your outside hand, close that hand in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle the power back to the hind legs. Do this for three full seconds. 

Then, lastly, you can vibrate or squeeze on the inside rein for two reasons:

1. To keep his neck straight - Your goal is to keep him from bending his neck to the outside in response to your closed outside hand. This means that when you ride with his soft (hollow) side on the inside, chances are you won't need any inside rein because he won't try to look to the outside when you close your outside hand. 

2. To move the bit - Encourage him to chew so he flexes in the jaw.

Remember, you're riding your dressage horse from front to back if you wiggle both sides of the bit. Never do with two hands what you can do with one hand (i.e., move the bit). You have the other hand left over for the more important job of recycling power back to the hind legs.

Stay on the Bit

First, you need to know that there is a specific aid to put your horse on the bit just like there is a specific aid to ask for a canter or for a leg yield. That aid is a half halt. (Don't groan...I can hear you!)

Some information on the half halt:

• The reason we give a half halt is to bring the horse to a more perfect state of balance.

• The half halt is the most important yet most misunderstood concept in riding. It is important not only because it is the aid to put your horse on the bit, but also because it is the doorway through which you do every change of gait, balance, movement, or exercise.

• There is no stopping in a half halt. Think of it as a "half-go." Every half halt contains the power, the surge, or the thrust from behind that you'd have if you asked for a medium gait.

• There is one generic, over-the-counter half halt. It consists of the momentary closure of seat, legs, and hands.

• The confusion about half halts stems from the fact that there are many possible variations of that generic half halt because you can use your seat, legs, and hands in different ways. To add to the many options available, you can also vary the duration and the intensity of the half halt.

• Different variations of the generic half halt create different results such as connection, collection, or preparation for something new.

To put your horse on the bit, use the version of the half halt that connects your horse's back end to his front end. For the sake of clarity, I will call this version of the generic half halt the "connecting half halt." The "connecting half halt" consists of the marriage of three sets of aids:

o Driving aids (seat and two legs)

o Bending aids (inside rein and both legs)

o The rein of opposition (outside rein)

These three sets of aids are applied for about three seconds. To the naked eye, the aids are given at the same time. However, if you had freeze-frame photography, you would see this process:

o First, close both calves as if you're squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. This creates that surge of power from behind. You'll only be using your legs as your driving aids at this point; I'm purposely leaving the seat out for now to keep things simple.

o Next, close your outside hand (rein of opposition) in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle the energy back to the hind legs.

o Finally, give three little squeezes and releases on the inside rein to keep the neck straight. If you don't use your inside hand, your horse will bend his neck to the outside because your outside hand is closed in a fist for so long.

o After three seconds, soften everything. Go back to the light maintenance pressure of legs and hands you had in the beginning before you gave the half halt.

Putting your horse on the bit is as simple as giving any other aid. Don't make it complicated by searching for exercises to connect your horse. Don't get me wrong, exercises like leg yields are helpful--they give the novice horse or rider the feel of connection. But at the end of the day, you need to train your horse to come on the bit from an invisible aid that you can use any time...like in the show ring!