The Bombers Happy Tongue Eggbutt Loose Ring Bit - Neither one thing or another but a combined solution.
Accommodating all the requirements of horses and their riders in a bit design and the desired functionality is a big ask for bit designers.
The Bombers Happy Tongue Eggbutt/loose ring bit looks simple but it achieves a great deal for both horse and rider.
The Happy Tongue Eggbutt Loose Ring bit prevents pinching of the lips and gives a more solid feel against the side of the horses face. It also prevents the bit being pulled through the mouth in extreme moments of evasion and the recovery of control attempt.
The Loose Ring capability allows riders the benefit of a quick release which is desirable for a lot of riders working at a higher level where a more sensitive contact has been established through training. A quick release can also help a rider prevent a horse from attempting to control the contact by “grabbing the contact” often very slight or a subtle intervention by the horse bringing further tension through the horses outline instead of it accepting the riders hand. With the fast release of the loose ring the rider can tackle the situation arising by applying a micro release movement by softening of the wrist getting the horse off the issue of fixating on the bit in that moment. With an eggbutt bit this is more difficult due to the solid eggbutt design.
The Happy Tongue Eggbutt/loose ring action does not produce any poll pressure which can be counter-productive with some horses who might object to any pressure being actioned on the poll.
The Eggbutt/Loose ring side piece design brings the benefit of both an eggbutt side piece and a loose ring bit into one bit product. This allows for a closer fit for horses with sensitive lips or voluminous puffy lips that flood the sides of the bit preventing the rider fitting the bit to the desired sizing.
If a rider wants a loose ring action without worrying about any lip pinch potential distracting the horse, the eggbutt/loose ring will alleviate the issues involved and also allow the horse to concentrate on what it should be doing, instead of worrying about its lips being pinched. A more relaxed outline is often achieved due to both horse and rider feeling more settled.
The bars of a horses mouth are extremely sensitive in all horses, and even more so in finely bred horses such as thoroughbreds who have even less gum flesh covering the jawline occupying the interdental space. There is as little as three millimetres of gum flesh covering the bony jawline structure which has nerves running through it in abundance.
Often the horse uses the tongue as a great big pillow to protect the bars of the mouth when a bit is in use, and the tongue needs space to sit under any bit in-situ. Too little space for the tongue brings objection and attempts by the horse to relieve the pressure created, more often than not the tongue needs room to exist in the ridden world and we need to create conditions that accommodate the tongue not conditions that impinge or abuse it.
That said, some horses tolerate tongue pressure very well and have less objection to certain bits in use, but we then get into a whole new level of evaluation including rider experience, the horses level of work, and its mouth confirmation.
The Happy Tongue is a solid mouthpiece uniquely ported to give maximum tongue relief. Bombers say the standard Happy Tongue is curved to be softer on the bars and slow in applying tongue pressure. The comment that it is softer is more to do with the action, which is more beneficial given the ergonomic effect of its design. This has the effect of making the bit apply rein pressure more naturally aligned to the bars of the horses mouth. The result is that its use is softer than a straight bar which has the pressure coming on at an angle to the natural confirmation of the horses mouth.
A straight bar design brings an increased level of localised pressure on a smaller area of the bars of the horses mouth, at the same moment pressure is acting over the tongue area.
Whereas aligning the mouth piece in this way as Bombers have done, the pressure is spread more evenly under contact which would be softer. The port provides the relief necessary for the tongue to reside happily accepting a reduced amount of discomfort when rein pressure is applied until the horse responds accordingly.
The result is we achieve the maximum level of effectiveness with the least amount of discomfort for the horse.
In Summary
As we have said the action of the bit when the rein is taken up brings the contact onto the bars of the horses mouth earlier than it would if the bit was a straight bar based on the fact that it protects the horses tongue at this stage of the action when pressure is applied.
With the happy tongue bit the ported bit design allows for a relieved level of tongue pressure to come into play if the riders instructions initially acting on the bars of the mouth are ignored. This is a feature of all happy tongue bit designs.
By bringing the pressure onto the bars of the mouth earlier the horse learns that that further pressure will follow over the tongue area if the horses does not take note of the bar pressure at this point and the horse is forewarned of this, bringing a reduction in any anxiety the horse may have with protecting its tongue due to the mouthpiece action.
The rider has the benefits of the fast release with the ability to fit the bit closer to the size required without creating any pinching.
The other important factor is the ported area is reduced in thickness to assist maximise tongue space, and it is flattened across the middle of the port to provide a reduction in the likely hood of any palate interference.
The thickness of the bit contacting the bars of the mouth is 14mm which is designed to provide a large enough bit diameter to provide a healthy amount of surface area to reduce bar pressure, without making the bit so thick that it takes up to much mouth space impacting on the limited amount of room in the interdental space.