Appearance of the Straight Bar Snaffle Bit:

A straight bar snaffle is simply a straight mouthpiece attached to two large rings. These bit are often found old and rusty at yard sales and farm auctions. Some will look quite primitive because they were probably homemade at a local forge. Straight bar snaffles are still made, and the one pictured has a rubber mouthpiece.

Uses of the Straight Bar Snaffle Bit:

The straight bar snaffle in the picture is called a Rubber Mouth Driving Training Snaffle intended for use when training a young horse. Solid metal straight bar snaffle bits were quite widely used on draft horses, and I remember as a child, seeing straight bar snaffles on the horses my family used to draw tobacco boats in from the fields. Probably the reason there are so many in dusty corners of barns and drive sheds is because they were cheap or easy to make back in the day when horses were the engines of the family farm.

How the Straight Bar Snaffle Bit Works:

This snaffle works on the tongue and bars. Many horses will be uncomfortable with a straight bar that always sits flat upon the horse's tongue and bars. The mouthpieces on these bits tend to be quite thick and heavy which many horses will also dislike, depending on the size of their tongue, and shallowness of their palate. The bit pictured has a rubber mouth which will be more flexible, soft and less heavy than the iron bits of old.