CalmBlue Baucher Snaffle (Demo Condition)

No. Nothing is missing from the bit as it arrives, and you do not need a curb strap, curb chain or chin strap to ride in it.

A Baucher is a snaffle. The reins sit level with the mouthpiece rather than below it, so the bit has no leverage, and a curb strap only does something on a bit that does. There is nothing here for it to act against, so adding one will not create curb action or poll pressure.

If you want to use one anyway, and some riders do purely to steady the bit a little further, it buckles onto the small top ring where the bridle cheekpiece attaches, not onto the large rein ring. It is not traditional on this cheekpiece and it is not necessary.

Horses with sensitive tongues that still want more conversation than a mullen mouth gives. At 10mm it sits well under the 14mm most horses have room for, so it fits small mouths and fleshy tongues where a bulkier bit would compete for space.

It is the bit the brand started with. Elina developed it working through her own mare's head tossing, which in the end turned out to involve saddle fit too.

The cannons rotate around the barrel link and there is some inward movement as well, so more overall movement than CalmGreen but noticeably less than a conventional double-jointed snaffle.

The copper roller sits on the barrel link, which encourages a horse to mouth the bit and salivate, and that tends to bring a softer jaw.

Not in this version. Standard CalmBlue measures 10mm at the cheek and its copper roller rotates, and neither meets FEI requirements.

CalmBlue Dressage is the competition version: 12mm at the cheeks tapering to 10mm at the centre, with a fixed copper strip instead of a rolling one. Check your own federation for the class you are entering.

On the barrel link only, as a roller. None of our bits have copper on the cannons. The cannons here are sweet iron.

Copper adds warmth and a sweet taste exactly where the horse mouths the bit. A copper patina is normal and beneficial.

It is right, and it is the point.

The blue is not paint or dye. Sweet iron is treated at high heat while the bit is made, which makes it react with oxygen and form an oxide layer, and that layer is blue. As you ride, it oxidises further and turns brownish grey. Eventually the blue areas lose their colour completely. Every stage of that is normal and the bit is safe throughout.

We use sweet iron because the patina tastes warm and slightly sweet, which encourages a horse to salivate and soften. Trust the rust.

Every sweet iron bit on the market does this, whoever makes it. If it is not what you expected, a metal bit that is not final sale can come back within 30 days.

Wipe dry with a cloth after every ride. That is the whole routine.

Do not soak it and do not leave it to air dry. If it gets properly wet, dry it fully and put a thin layer of food-safe oil, canola or flax, on the hinges and barrel. Store it somewhere dry with air moving around it. Rough patches can be smoothed with superfine wet-and-dry sandpaper.

Almost always too much water rather than too little care.

Frequent soaking or washing lets rust build up inside the hinge, which fills the space the joint needs to move. Humid storage does the same thing slowly.

To free it up, dry it thoroughly, work a little food-safe oil into the hinge and move it back and forth. Then switch to wiping dry after rides instead of washing.

If it is properly seized, send us a short video. If a hinge left the workshop too tight, that is ours to fix and we will replace it.

What size do I need?

Bit size is the width of the mouthpiece. We list inches. Some bits are stamped in centimetres, so a bit marked 13.5 is 13.5cm, which is our 5.5".

Measure your horse rather than going by their height. A 17hh horse can have a 5" mouth. If you already have a bit that fits well, measure that instead and match it.

Fixed cheek (eggbutt, Baucher, D-ring, full cheek): about 0.5cm of clearance each side. Loose ring: up to 1/8" between the corner of the lip and the bore hole each side. If you ride in bit guards, or your horse has fleshy lips that catch, order a quarter inch up from your fixed-cheek size.

Too wide slides side to side and can pinch the corners. Too narrow presses on the lips. If your current bit fits with no room at all, stay at that size. If it "just" fits, go up a quarter inch.

Send us a photo of your horse in their current bit and we will tell you what we see.

Can I return it if it does not suit my horse?

Most of our metal bits, yes, within 30 days, for a refund or an exchange, and we do take them back used. That is the point of the 30 days: a bit you have not ridden in tells you nothing.

What happens to it then is that we resell it as a Demo unit, clearly labelled and priced lower, rather than as new. That is also where the demo units on this site come from.

Three things cannot come back: rubber mouthpieces, Final Sale items, and Demo condition bits. Rubber because it cannot be brought back to a saleable state, and the other two because they have already been through this once. All three are marked in the product title and description.

You can add return coverage at checkout, which gets you a free return label. If you skip it you can still use the returns portal, and the label cost comes off your refund.

We do not run a trial or loaner program.

How do I know if this is right for my horse?

Ask us. We would rather look at your horse than have you guess.

Useful things to tell us: what they go in now and what is not working, your discipline and whether it needs to be competition legal, the size, and what their mouth looks like inside. Peel the lip back and look at the tongue. Is it fleshy and full, or thin and tucked? Is the palate low? Are the bars sharp to the touch?

A photo of your horse wearing their current bit tells us more than a paragraph.

One thing worth saying up front: the bit is one variable. Saddle fit, dental work, noseband tightness and rider hands cause a lot of what gets blamed on bits. If your horse has changed suddenly, get the teeth and the saddle checked before you change the bit.

Does mouthpiece thickness matter?

Our range runs 10mm to 16mm. For reference, 10mm is narrow, 12mm narrow to medium, 14mm average, and 16mm wide. 14mm is an ordinary thickness in the bit world, not a thick bit.

The counterintuitive part: a horse with a big fleshy tongue usually wants a thinner mouthpiece, not a thicker one. The average horse has around 16mm of space from tongue to palate, so anything over about 14mm starts competing with the tongue for room. More material in a mouth that is already full makes things worse.

Which way up does it go?

Lay the bit flat on a table. The roller or centre link should sit as the highest point. The Agador's lettering and the size should read upright, and the "A" points toward the nostrils.

Our logo placement is not perfectly consistent across the range, because where it lands depends on the bore hole the cheekpiece rings pass through, and some bits work either way up. If it looks odd, send a photo and we will confirm rather than have you guess.

When will my size be back in stock?

A restock is usually 4 to 8 weeks. Canada tends to land first and the US follows about 2 to 3 weeks later, so if you are in the US and it shows in stock for Canada, ask us. We can often ship one across the border, which adds roughly $10 in duties.

Sign up for the restock alert on this page and you will hear the moment your size lands.

Two honest caveats. Some cheekpieces get discontinued and will not return, and we will tell you plainly if yours is one of them. And sizes 6.5" and up are not something we stock regularly, because the orders are too few to justify holding them.

Can I get a custom one made?

Not right now. We have stopped taking new custom bit orders and we are not quoting turnarounds or a relaunch date.

If what you are after is close to something we already make, tell us the spec and we will find you the nearest match in stock.