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Horse Bits for the Team Roper

By Clay O'Brien Cooper, Kendra Santos

One bridle a couple different guys make is a hinge port with a medium to long shank that hinges on both sides at the top of the port. The bridle's pretty soft, yet it has some stopping power to it if you set it up with the curb right. It has some flexibility to it, because you can pick up one side of a horse's mouth without pinching him. Tom Balding and Gordy Alderson make the bits I have like this, and I like them both. For the most part, the shanks are loose-sided on the bits I ride and like the most. I like an s-curve that rolls back to me in the shank. I like to have my bit set in the horse's mouth, as a general rule, right at the top of the corner of his mouth with one wrinkle. Then I set my curb to where there's a little relief there and it'll take ahold at about an inch to an inch and a half of movement, as the shank comes back to me, before the curb takes ahold. On a horse that has a little tougher mouth, where I need a little more, I'll set my curb to where it takes ahold immediately. STW

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