french link bits....

[canadianbeaver]

What sort of horses use them? Are they stronger than a snaffel mouth, but not as strong as a gag?

Thanks

[Mehitabel]

it's not a question of strength, it's a question of different action to the jointed snaffle.
a jointed snaffle (which is what i presume you mean by a snaffle mouth?) has a diferent action - a 'nutcracker' action as when you use the reins, the 2 sides come together, so it squeezes the sides of the mouth. some horses get on with this, others don't. the frnech link stops this, because of the central link, and also has more independent action of the side arms because of this.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

i wont say much because Es said all of it...other then i love french links and if i can get away with it i would have one in every horses mouth, but again.. some horses don't like them very much at all, its up to the horse as to what bit to use.

[Drummers mum]

a 'nutcracker' action as when you use the reins, the 2 sides come together, so it squeezes the sides of the mouth

Light has just dawned on me. Thats what Nutcracker action means!!

So how exactly does a french Link work? Sometimes Drummer opens his mouth a gets strong, so stopping is hard, he can be very dead in the mouth and the more you pull the worse he gets which is not doing either of us any good. I thought a change of bit may help.:confused:

[Wally]

We use a lot of French links also JP curved snaffles to do away with the "nutcracker" action.

A JP curved mouth has no nutcracker effect, it tends to curve around the jaw, the horse can use his tongue against the bit if he wants to as is the case with a French link.

All you can do is chop and change until you find a bit which he likes.