Tack Touchpoint: The Infamous Whistle Bit

One of the more intruiging pieces in my current tack collection is the infamous whistle bit. I've gotten a ton of questions about it, so here's the top 8 facts you need to know about whistle bits:

1) They don't actually whistle. Horses breathe through their nostrils, not their mouth. Sad face.

2) There is precious little information available about them ANYWHERE. Here's what I've got.

3) They are most commonly used on the racetrack--either in the stall to help curb windsucking or on the track to encourage salivation.

3b) Windsucking actually doesn't cause colic. Keeping a bit in your mouth all day seems wildly uncomfortable. I'm not testing this out.

3c) The idea behind encouraging salivation is that the saliva builds up in the holes in the bit. Maybe like a spit swimming pool? Hard to say.

4) I have one for the very technical reason that I heard of them and was like "wtf", then found one for sale cheap while doing extensive research. I didn't buy it to address an issue. I was just curious.

stolen from internet

5) There are several permutations of this bit. The simple tube seems to be for stall use, the hexagonal option (that I have) has edges to discourage leaning on the bit while running, and there's a pessoa/three ring that is commercially available.

6) I can't tell if this is an old bit losing traction or a new bit taking off. Needless to say, it will probably come back around if you really want one.

7) Courage did have a little more foam than usual when I rode in this. He rarely has a foamy mouth at all, and there were traces of saliva on his lips.

stolen from internet

Whether that's because the whistle bit did it's job or whether that means it's just super wide for his mouth, I really can't tell you.

8) While I didn't buy this bit for a specific reason, it's actually been fun to play with and I've be curious to try it in a galloping situation with Courage--he doesn't do well with bigger bits, but he's comfortable in a mullen. That said, he'll run right through a happy mouth mullen and this has a little bite... so maybe? Definitely worth keeping it around.

And that's what there is to know about whistle bits for now.