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Fitting the Bit 
Three things

When I bridled up Mia, I found out that as nice as the equipment was, it wasn't fitting her properly.  The bit, which looked nice in the hand, actually had a couple hot spots, and how the bridle had been adjusted was contributing to issues.  As well as finding a nice bit, there are three other things to keep tabs on. 

how high

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was taught that to fit the bridle, the cheek pieces should be shortened so there would be 2 creases at the corners of the horse's mouth from the bit.  I think the idea was to keep it high in the mouth so the horse couldn't spit it out or something.  Also, a lot of times I heard things about avoiding the teeth.

I have found '2 wrinkles' is unnecessary, and possibly annoying to the horse, too.

To find out where the horse will carry the bit, you can put the bit in without the bridle (hold the rings on either side with your hands on the horse's face) and simply observe where the horse holds it.  The horse will move it around until it's in the most comfy spot.  If you already have the bit in the bridle, loosen up the cheek pieces until there is some slack in them and let the horse move the bit around some.  When the horse lets you know where the bit is comfy, shorten the cheek pieces so that the bit sits in about the same spot.  I would err on the side of shorter rather than longer, but not a lot shorter.

You can check no teeth are getting hit by sliding your finger in from the side.

Horses have an amazing ability to find comfort, though, so chances are, they've put the bit where it sits best.

how wide

Before I went to a talk on bits, we loosely put one finger width extra on both sides.  At the talk, I believe she mentioned to put one inch extra.  It is important, in any event, to get the joint from the bit off of the flesh.

What I have found is that horses will slide the bit from side to side anyway.  They almost never hold it in the center of their mouth.  So if you have extra bit, it will usually be hanging out one side or the other, alternating.  (Gah!)

While this looks a bit sloppy, it's not a big deal.

What is a big deal is if the bit is too small it will catch and pinch the lips, which will hurt your horse as it's being ridden, and that will leave the horse rightfully rueful with you.

how thick

Also 'back in the day,' I was told the thicker bits were softer -- especially when you had new riders who had unsteady hands, so when I got my first horse I dutifully got a thick bit.

A while later someone (quite horrified) told me to get that bit out of my horse's mouth!  She didn't have that much room in there.  Which was true.  She seemed to have barely enough room for her tongue, never mind a bit.

Many bits later, I ended up with a racing bit - very thin.  Insanely thin.  And to my amazement, she went incredibly better.  (Gah!)   

The clip below has a clever way of figuring out how thick the bit can be.

putting it together

When it's the horse's first bit and you have no bits, you could use one of the measuring devices or a measure a piece of lead line to find the width.  You can slide you fingers in the side of the horse's mouth to get an idea of the space the bit will sit in.  

If the horse came with the bit, and it's not a 'bad' bit, I see how well that one fits and go from there.  If the width and thickness are good, all I need to do is check where it sits on the tongue and adjust the cheek pieces.   If it's off with either the width or the thickness, and I don't have another bit in my stash that will work, I will take it with me to the store for comparison.

The internet is such a fun thing! This clip has some pretty good examples -- 

Books: Amazon Assoc. / Old Favs

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