WINDEREN BITS – A YAY OR NEIGH?
So Arianna my young horse was started as a late four year old, had a break before started more work last year as a 5 year old. I bred her out of my retired jumper Scarlett. Just like her Mum, Arianna turned out to have quite a fussy mouth. They both have quite thick, fleshy short mouths – so probably conformation plays a part in their comfort and a bit that is too thick or too moveable is annoying.
I tried a couple of the usual, kind snaffles on Arianna and then tried a mullen Nathe loose ring – which she nearly loved but not quite enough. So I searched up something that would be a similar alternative and came across the Winderen site and their gel bits.
Intrigued I did a bit of research – I had seen a friend jumping with one of their bits, I recognised the orange colour, so after chatting to her and finding she was a fan I sent for the softest bit they do.
What is really clever about them is that if you find the right mouthpiece you can buy different cheeks for it and just change them if there are occasions where you might need a little more or less bitting but want to keep the mouthpiece your horse likes.
First thing to say is that the softest mouth piece is incredibly soft. I choose the eggbut sides. followed the measurement guide, choose white rather than their signature orange mouthpiece and waited for it to arrive.
Coming from the States didn’t take too long and I was excited to try it. It was a success right from the start. My mare took to it immediately. Much stiller in the mouth but happy to take a contact and importantly – take it forward gently. She has a very soft mouth and does not need anything strong. The eggbut sides kept the bit stiller, so I think that contributed to her settling down nicely in it, and apart from the first ride where I guess it felt a little different, she did not try to chew it overmuch.
The bit itself is not as light as you think it is going to be as the metal-work sides are fairly heavy – they seem to be very well made and the mechanism for putting them on or changing them is a simple allan key and takes just a few moments to do, (I have since sent for another mouthpiece and two other sets of cheek-sides for a different horse and it is a doddle to change them)
Arianna really likes the bit, so yes I am very happy with it. She happily has come to take a contact on it as her education level has grown and has stopped playing with the bit all the time as she was with anything else I tried. I have not needed to upgrade to anything stronger as she is happy to jump, gallop along the beach and x country school in this bit so a win-win from me.
What I love about them
I love the softness of this particular bit, so far it has held up well and there are no chewing marks on it. I absolutely love the changeable sides that is a genius idea – if you have a mouthpiece you love but just would like to downgrade or upgrade your cheeks you can! I also like the thickness of the mouthpiece it is neither too thick or too thin – so would probably suit plenty of mouths. My young horses both like these bits and go sweetly in the variations I have.
Not so keen on
Ok when you order from the US there is a minimum price order so I ended up buying a saddle cloth with each bit – (they are gorgeous by the way) but that made my order more expensive.
You can now buy Winderen bits in the UK, but at the time I could not get the white mouthpiece with the sides I wanted.
The white mouthpiece does go yellow where it is in the horse’s mouth but the bit you see stays white if kept well-cleaned.
BE AWARE if you order these from the US site into the UK, that a few weeks later you will get an import duty charge from UPS delivery service. I actually thought the letter that arrived was one of these hoaxes and ignored it! Doh – turns out it was real and I had to pay an extra £42 (which added a lot to the overall cost of the bits.
The Upshot
I love these bits, they are well made and both my horses love them, but next time am hoping to buy from the UK as the import duty was hefty from US.
