This elevated snaffle, like many of our bits, was created out of necessity for one of my horses who had come off the track and had the tendency to “hover” behind the bridle. By lifting the mouthpiece on this snaffle and elevating pressure points from the lip, tongue, and bar towards the corners of the horses mouth, it encourages a horse to reach out and extend their neck and jaw.
Many of the Camarillo designs are unique to problem specific correction. This is an excellent resource but because of its specific design it has been discontinued by Reinsman. This bit is now EXCLUSIVE to the Barrel Racing Superstore.
From a Bit User:
I found this bit for sale on a facebook bit trading site a number of years ago. It piqued my interest as I'd never seen anything like it and felt I needed to add it to my bit collection. In 2012 I bought an off the track quarter horse that I was getting ready to futurity. While he worked awesome in a snaffle at slow work it didn't offer enough lift or help for him through the turn as he got faster on the pattern. As he was so soft in the mouth, he would get pretty resentful of shanked bits, either with or without a curb chain and would get behind the bit and not go forward into my hand. I decided to try the elevated snaffle as I liked that it had horizontal lift and not vertical lift. I didn't want to back him off the bit, just needed to help him maintain his elevation through the turn while staying flat everywhere else. This bit did exactly that. He was able to stretch his head and neck out and allow me to help him through the turn without lifting his head, getting behind the bit or dropping his shoulder. Can't say enough great things about this bit really, I recommend it to anyone who likes the feel of a snaffle or has a horse that likes a snaffle but still might require some lift. Everyone should have this bit in their collection.
J. Fisher, Jan 2015