mikmar bits!!!!

[bsjajumper]

I have purchased a Mikmar bit, anybody else got one?
My friend had given me the mikmar dvd and I was amazed when i watched it how all the horses (including international showjumpers) went in it! so after parting with my £156 for the combination bit, i couldnt wait to try it!
I was not dissapointed, my horse went amazingly in it, and has been for the past 2 weeks ive been using it for! I have a TB so always a bit of speed demon, and sometimes very hard to ride, and getting her to lighten up on a contact was a battle, she is now as light as a feather, and I can ride her on buckle length reins and she she goes round in self carrige! its amazing. Her jumping has now improved immensly, she does not pull going in to the fences, and waits for my instruction. all i can say is that this bit is a miracle! she is so happy in it. Just wondered of anyone had tried them and if they got the same results?
I ride her on the bottom ring, i tried riding her on the rope noseband but she did not like that but she seems very comfortable with the bottom ring leverage.
be interestesting to hear your thoughts if you have tried them! All I know is, is that my horse is so happy in it, and very willing!

[casey]

I was put off the Mikmar after a dealer i'm aquainted with stated she wanted one. (She isn't known for her patience) And referred to it as a 'dealer bit'. So I think of them as quite severe. But have no personal experience with them.:)

[AllEquestrian]

i think they're severe too, although i have no problem with the top jumpers using them i worry about the less-experienced riders using them (not having a go at you in particular - i haven't a clue at what level you ride at!!).

however i do worry if once the horse 'gets used to' the bit, that he will just revert. so maybe keep it for special occasions?

another thing ive noticed is how large the mouth piece is :O

[charlotte+jill!]

My friends showjumper is now ridden in one after her instructor tried him in it........ works really well for her and he seems alot happier in it than the pelham he was in before..... thats the only experiance ive had with them.

[bsjajumper]

i quite agree they look very severe, but they are not. they are made of aircraft aluminum and they are so light, my mare is very fussy about bits, but has taken to this one so well, i will say though that you do need to have light hands with them, i think in the wrong hands they could be fatal.
if you go to www.mikmar.com they have online videos showing you how they work.
all horses are different though, and im sure some horses wouldnt like them. its trail and error with a bit!
I also agree about keeping them for special occasions, ive found my mare goes lovely in it at a show when she tends to get a bit excited, yet at home i can still use my waterford snaffle.
I am really pleased with the results, but i know there not commonly known of so just wondered how many people had heard of them.

[Just.Jump]

They look painfully severe to me. Even top level showjumpers will have a stumble or a stop in front of a jump- and almost every rider that I've seen clings to those reins for dear life, even if they get catapulted off of their horses- and almost always catch and drag on that horses mouth. In reality, there is only one way out of those rings, and people are standing by for such an event. Whenever I fall, I tend to let the reins go to save the horses mouth, and to save from startleing it should it turn and go the other way or jerk up.

In short: any bit can be severe, and MOST bits can be very light. However, even the best riders in the world will have incidents, issues, and accidents somewhere along the line- despite these bits being light, all but the traditional styles are MASSIVE. Clearly not for the horse with the small mouth, short lips, and low pallate. I wouldn't want something that huge in my mouth if I were a horse, but I'm sure there are some that need something too large to latch on to.

I wouldn't trust a company dubbing metal rings around the face as training halters. I don't know anyone who uses one of these bits (contraptions in my eyes), but it seems like they are just getting around training issues with gadgets and the possibility of pain. But if your horse goes in it and you have very light hands.. and no accidents, go ahead.

[Styric]

Sustainable dressage has some stuff on it...

though I ask, how can the bit be that harsh and severe when it's marketed as a bit designed to save a horse's mouth from the hands of a learning rider?

[Just.Jump]

I'll answer with aquestion, since I've never witnessed one in use- how can something that massive in the mouth be comfortable or safe in heavy hands? I mean geez, it's giving me the image of machinery in the mouth.

[casey]

After having a better look at the site, I can now say with a little more insight, that the Mikmar looks quite severe to me. Look at the high ports and long shanks.

It also seems that the Mikmar is covering up issues, like the part on the video where the horse is tossing his head and then when the Mikmar goes in doesn't.:rolleyes:

For me personally, its too much metal. I'm a sucker for a snaffle, and havent seen many horses whose schooling issues couldn't be solved in a snaffle or English hackmore.

Good luck.:)

[Just.Jump]

I completely agree, Casey.

My theory for the moment is that horses aren't stupid- I wouldn't exactly act up if I had one of those things in my mouth either. If the headshaking video hasn't been chopped up and it is indeed the bit alone, I'm going to assume that the horse either got caught in the mouth one good time, or he's smart enough to realise that if he acts up, the (giant) bit would catch him painfully.

[Styric]

http://www.sustainabledressage.com/tack/bridle.php#mikmar

Seems to be interesting :) I love that site..

[casey]

This is a couple of paragraphs from the site. Though I must say the site is biased to towards anything other than dressage by the looks of it. Quite controversal Styric ;)


From sustainable dressage

So, to put it in clear text, this is a bit for people who can't ride. And people who can't ride shouldn't train horses for dressage, they should train themselves. Wether they do so with a Mikmar or something else, is up to them, I don't think it will hurt anyone, except those who spend the $150 without really being able to afford it, because they find no better way. But that's volontary.

Top jumping riders use it, even though they presumably know how to ride. But they school what I earlier stated as "go, stop and possibly flex vertically" and they also try to clear fences. In the show jumping arena, a hot horse can pull or throw the head up hard because it wants to go, or because it wants to manage its own head, or because the traditional bit hurts like hell when the rider pulls. If any of this is made easier with the Mikmar, shoot. But in dressage training, you need to handle that with schooling, trust and skill instead.


I would like to add not all top jumping riders use it. I have only seen maybe two at the most.

[Just.Jump]

The only incidence of me 'witnessing' one in use was pictures a girl posted on an equine blog sometime last year- she was indeed a hunter or a jumper.. or both. Claimed it worked also. I'm still banking on a lack of stupidity or a fear of pain.

[Styric]

Oh I know, I'm just seeing what people think.

I didn't say what my preference was! I personally think it's way too much hardware.

[Jetstreem]

I'm sure they work, but did you look at those elevator bits!! :eek: I mean what the heck!

Cerys :)

[Little Gem]

Have a friend who swears by them but only for certain horses. There are plenty of horses esp competition horses who just cannot be ridden in a snaffle or similar.
I think if the individual horse goes well in it, then why not.

[Sarah-B]

Personally, I don't care whether these bits work or not - how anyone can put something like that in an animals mouth and be able to sleep at night is beyond me.

(Now donning tin hat and retreating to bunker).....

[showjumper-zoe]

I'm not sue about them but they're not as strong as people make but they were laughed at at a myler demo thingy out here's an intresting article about them here : http://www.sustainabledressage.com/tack/bridle.php#mikmar

[helenc]

I've seen a couple of people use them at BSJA shows near me. One woman I used to see quite often (very experienced lady, works for a stud) she was riding a young stallion in a snaffle every time I saw her - he started rushing fences but never knocking them or refusing & he was just generally being a young stallion, prancing about, spooking at things, arching neck, jogging etc. She changed him from that snaffle into a Mikmar & he turned into a napping, spinning, bolting rearer who would refuse to jump or bunny hop if he was even slightly on the wrong stride!

The other person was a dealer - he made his horse's nose bleed as the rope cut into it!

Needless to say - I am not a fan at all!

& whoever thinks these bits aren't harsh has obviously been taken in by the Mikmar marketing people!

[Laura+Phantom]

I just wouldn't go there...not any of those bits, not for any horse :(

[BecknSkye]

It's not a bit I would consider being useful in my situation, and I don't plan on getting into a situation where I think it would be useful, no offence meant to anybody who uses/has used them.
I noticed in the Mikmar Testimonial : Nervous Horse(Western section), in the first part showing the horse in the snaffle, the rider rode with very high hands compared to the way he rode in the section showing the Mikmar, and he was also much 'busier' and more aggressive on top of the horse, it seemed to me he was winding the horse up?
Watch it again, and look at his body posture, first part he's upright with shoulders squared and hands way up, in the second part, he's got low hands and a more relaxed seat, anyone agree with me?