07/06/2026
“Why does my horse chomp and chew on the bit?”
This is one the most common questions I am asked in consultations, and it’s sometimes a tricky one to answer as there are many reasons why this happens.
A bit of gentle mouthing can be perfectly normal, the contact should feel consistent in your hands, pliable and steady, but when a horse is constantly fussing in the contact, it will feel all over the place, and it’s usually because your horse is trying to tell you something isn’t right.
It’s easy to put it down to tension, a quirk in their behaviour, or just one of those things. Often though, the bit itself is doing far more than people realise.
I often see riders using popular bits, and yes they can work well for most horses, but may still cause problems for a particular horse. Too much pressure on the tongue, instability, mixed signals, or simply too much movement in the mouth. So much depends on the horse’s own anatomy, their way their way of going, also the riders hands. So when the conversation coming down the rein isn’t clear or consistent, or the bit is too mobile giving unclear signals, many horses just get busier and busier in the mouth. It’s a viscous circle.
If the pressure feels wobbly, late, too strong, or hard to make sense of, the horse starts reacting to the contact rather than settling into it and trusting it. You might see a horse who chews or chomps a lot, feels inconsistent in the hand, leans or pulls, backs off the rein, works the tongue around, tenses through the jaw and neck, or simply ignores the rein aids altogether. Many horses respond well to stability and even pressure in the mouth.
The tricky part is that horses are good at coping. Many of them quietly learn to put up with discomfort, so the small signs get brushed off as normal long before anything more obvious shows up. It’s also why swapping bit after bit, without working out why the horse is reacting in the first place, can leave them even more muddled in the contact.
Every horse is different. Mouth shape, sensitivity, training, balance, the rider’s influence, it all plays an equal part. So finding the right bit is rarely as simple as copying what worked for someone else’s horse.
I’ve written a new article on the most common reasons horses chew or chomp on the bit, and it gives you more insight as to why this may happen, and also tips to help your horse be happier in the contact. Have a read, it may help you solve the problem. *Photo below shows a bit fitted too low in the mouth, which is one reason that horses may chew and chomp with a bit.
Full article linked in the comments.
