11/08/2025
On the Bit
Ah, “on the bit” — three innocent words that have caused more equine misery than a saddle that doesn’t fit (and that’s saying something).
Generations of riders have yanked, seesawed, and gadgeted their way to glory — all in the noble pursuit of putting their horses “on the bit.” The arched neck, the tucked chin, the “look at me, I can ride” pose. The term has made us worship the picture, not the process.
But here’s the twist - it’s all built on a translation mistake.🤓
The original German never meant “on the bit.” It meant something closer to “going to the hand” or “working toward the rein.” A dynamic, living process - a horse reaching out through balance, posture, and activity from behind.
Which, if you think about it, is the complete opposite of “pull and seesaw the horse’s face into submission.”
Dressage rider Steffen Peters once translated it more simply: “muscle them up.”💪
And that’s the point - it’s about building posture and strength, not sculpting a neck like a pipe cleaner.
I was lucky enough to experience the missing piece of this puzzle firsthand, thanks to a ten-year-old girl I once coached.
Her mum had her learning training with me and riding position with a show rider. She had a lineup of ponies that had been rejected by her pony club friends as “naughty,” so we restarted them from scratch, from the ground up, and I showed her how to do it.
Then something magical happened. Every time we reached the riding phase, when the ponies were ready for her to pick up both reins, within a couple of minutes they would move into a beautiful frame — no pulling, no pushing, no drama. It was intriguing, because I had a process for achieving this, yet we never had to use it.
Out of curiosity, I asked, “Are you doing anything with your hands?”🤔
She said, “No way — Anna (my riding instructor) banned me from doing anything with my hands. I’m not allowed to move them. My hands must stay still.”
That was the lesson.
When a horse is relaxed, understands its work, and isn’t busy surviving your corrections every half-second, it has a chance to find a functional way of going. It goes to the hand. Its spine flexes, its back muscles stay dynamic, and its posture finds harmony all on its own.
And it didn’t come from a clinic, or a German masterclass, or an expensive biomechanics workshop.
It came from a ten-year-old kid who didn’t have a clue how to do all the typical things people do - she just knew she had to keep her hands still. And in doing so, she showed me more.
I actually think this has had larger ramifications for how we understand the training process, especially in disciplines like dressage. Our fixation on head position has disrupted the understanding of the deeper process that involves both mind and body - not just the head and neck.
Moral of the story? There are two:
1️⃣Translations can get us into trouble.
2️⃣Never underestimate who can teach you incredible lessons.
This is Collectable Advice Entry 75/365 and my series on the words and terms we use in the horse world. Please hit SHARE for others to benefit from this as well, or just hit SAVE so you a keep this collection of work. But please, no copying and pasting as that is not cool.
