What Is a Snaffle Bit?
The snaffle bit is universal — trainers use it, hobbyists use it — and it is still the subject of more debate and misconception than any other piece of equipment I can think of.
“Shanked snaffle”. “Argentine snaffle”. The words get thrown around with very little agreement on what they actually mean. Is a snaffle a mouthpiece? A category? One specific tool?
Let me clear some of it up.
What a snaffle actually is
A snaffle is a direct rein bit. It has no leverage.
Pressure from the rein transfers to the horse at a 1:1 ratio, pound for pound. However much you pick up, that is exactly what the horse feels in his mouth. Nothing multiplies it.
That absence of leverage is what makes a snaffle a snaffle. Not the mouthpiece, not the rings — the absence of leverage.
So a “shanked snaffle” does not exist
This is where most of the confusion lives.
A snaffle is characterised by its broken mouthpiece, and people reason backwards from that: broken mouthpiece, therefore snaffle. It does not follow. A broken mouthpiece on a bit with shanks is a leverage bit, and it works on the horse in a completely different way.
When you see a bit with shanks marketed as a snaffle, stay away from the label. “Shanked snaffle” is an oxymoron. Whatever that bit is, its function is not a snaffle's.
If you want the detail on how leverage actually works — what the shank length does, what reaches the poll — that is set out in mouthpieces and cheek pieces.
How I use one
Because it is a direct rein bit, a snaffle is meant to be ridden two-handed. That is what makes it right for colts and young horses: it opens up every lateral exercise you need in the early stages.
My own bit of choice is a dee ring snaffle in sweet iron with copper inlay. And not only for colts — for horses of every age. Unless I am planning to show a horse, I keep him in a snaffle his whole life. That is how versatile the tool is.
It is not only a starting bit either. Teaching a horse to collect vertically and soften properly requires a direct rein snaffle and a solid foundation of lateral work underneath it. Neck reining gets introduced in a western snaffle. So do sliding stops, spins and rollbacks.
Even with performance horses ridden in leverage shank bits, I go back to the snaffle routinely for softening and tuning. Think of it as the foundational tool of under-saddle training — you are always returning to the basics to work out stiffness, and that is not something a shanked curb bit can do on its own.
Rings, and levels
There is real variety within the category. O-rings — loose rings — are notorious for pinching the corners of the mouth. Full cheeks are rarely seen in western riding. Dee rings sit flat at the corner and will not pull through, which is what we make.
On mouthpieces, we grade bits on a harshness scale where the lower number is gentler.
A smooth mouthpiece is the most common and the most versatile: a level 1. A smooth mouthpiece with an extra piece in the centre — a dogbone, or french link — allows more motion, which suits a mouthy young horse. Ours puts a copper roller on the dogbone as something for the horse to work at. Also a level 1.
If you are retraining a horse that leans on the bit or has gone stiff, you may need something with more bite. That is temporary. I do not recommend anything above a level 1 for daily use — a couple of days in a level 2 at the absolute maximum, which is plenty for an experienced trainer to work with. Then back down.