On the bit!!

Having ridden showjumpers and worked in this industry for a few years in Germany I did actually learn to put a horse in a frame. Technically probably more so on the jumpers as they were and always had to be forward! After a few years of grooming I went off to a place in Harrow called Suzannes to train for a few BHS exams. After a few months a dazzling chap from the Netherlands arrived as a new Instructor (he was an I)and we waited with baited breath for our first lesson. On entering the school he shouted,'I want you all on ze bit, on ze bit now!' Poor Sophie who was sixteen at the time and riding a 20 year old pony, looked aghast at me, 'I have a bit in!' she cried. How I didn't fall off laughing I will never know! On ze bit was not, in those days, required by the BHS, in fact I had been berated in my first few days there for trying to get some sort of flexion at the poll on the horses I rode. However, our enthusiastic young trainer deemed that all must be on ze bit but never quite got across how this was done. He could do it. His horses were on ze bit and training at GP. He even rode a young school horse and got it on ze bit, but for us it was an elusive task.
Needless to say there were many variations of on ze bit. Hands wide and in the side rein position were very common whilst legs and whip went like windmills to keep the poor horse going. The wanging of head from side to side also played a big part to little avail. So why is on ze bit not taught from the start? I have never understood why the progression from learning to stay balanced and make a horse walk, trot and canter, gallop and stop could not encompass riding on ze bit. Many left with qualifications in teaching with no idea of it so what hope their pupils? Maybe that is why I thought teaching was not for me until now in my latter years where I find solace in being able to explain on ze bit. Its funny because we were taught inside bend, no doubt on the inside rein! All that had to be unlearned when a real trainer taught outside aids. What a waste of time, all those years spent looking for on ze bit when in reality all we had to do was ride forward to a contact that was acceptable to the horse and that he could take from us. What a great beginning those 16 year old students would have had in those days. Even now on ze bit is taught in so many different ways as so many have a different take on it. We see riders leaning back so far if you cut the reins they would fall off, or pulling back hands, or horses hoiked up in front but little going on behind. On ze bit is still as elusive as it ever was its just that people have got more clever at making the horse look like it is on ze bit. Nobody does this on purpose. Its the way they have been taught. There are some masters of training out there and we all need to appreciate them and glean as much knowledge from them as possible in this short life time so that on ze bit does not haunt us beyond the grave.