"I recently bought myself a two-year-old cob x WB. I have been working with her in the stable and in hand and we are making some progress in the training stakes. She will be three in October and I am hoping to have her lightly backed this summer and into more serious work next year. I have been looking around for info about bitting a young horse and there is a lot of conflicting advice out there! I was initially thinking I would get a rubber straight bar for her to get used to something in her mouth before moving onto a bit for riding, but I have seen some folk saying they would use a snaffle or French link from the start. I just wonderd what you thought about going straight to this with my girl or is it really better to get her started in a rubber type? Thanks for any advice, Anna."

H&C blogger and Olympic eventer Sharon Hunt replies: "I would always put a rubber straight bit in to start but one that's not too thick. I then tend to go to a happy mouth with two joints, and only then onto a metal bit, but everybody has personal preference. I find this works well, but my horses are not in the rubber bits too long as they don't give a nice feel as they do more and tend to not be too sensitive to use! Watch my video on how to bit a young horse - the link is just to the right of this text."