Dr. Bess Darrow Teaches Bitting and Your Horse's Mouth
The Ultimate Guide to Bitting & Your Horse's Mouth
Most riders are never taught about the inside of their horses' mouths, but it’s such a critical component to a happy, healthy, high-performing horse.
In this masterclass, certified equine dentist and veterinarian, Dr. Bess Darrow, will teach you the fundamentals of equine mouth structure, how to maintain your horse's dental health and how to select the right bit.
Understand Your Horse's Mouth
Learn the anatomy of your horse's head and teeth, and how those different parts function on a physical level. This includes the teeth, tongue, head shape, and mouth shape.
Dig into Common Dental Issues
Discover the issues that turn up most often in your horse's mouth, and how they may effect both bitting and your horse's overall happiness and management.
Fit More than Just the Bit
Dr. Bess teaches you not only how to best fit a bit into the mouth, but also how fly mask and halter fits, and how to troubleshoot common issues in fit to make sure your horse is as comfortable as possible.
Watch a Sample Lesson: Bitting & Bitting Issues
Watch a lesson from this course to get a taste of the sort of knowledge you'll gain access to. In this lesson, you'll explore how different types of bits work, how they act in the horse’s mouth, the pros and cons of different types of bits. Learn about tongue pressure, bar pressure, and poll pressure. Find out how to troubleshoot bit issues.
Bitting and Your Horse's Mouth Lesson Plan
Learn the anatomy of your horse's head & mouth, the different types of teeth and what they do.
Find out how dental problems affect horses' health, happiness, and performance. Learn the most common dental issues and why most bitting issues are dental related.
Develop an understanding of the mouth types of different horses issues and the different types of issues they may face.
Find out why a dental exam is so critical, what can often be overlooked, and why
you should always be present at your horse’s dental exams.
Learn how to properly fit your halter, bridle, fly masks, and how to troubleshooting fitting issues. Find out how to know if a bit fits your horse correctly.
Explore how different types of bits work, how they act in the horse’s mouth, the pros and cons of different types of bits. Learn about tongue pressure, bar pressure, and poll pressure. Find out how to troubleshoot bit issues.
Meet Dr. Bess Darrow, your Masterclass Instructor
Dr. Bess was born a horse fanatic and never outgrew her passion for horses. She was an avid member of the United States Pony Clubs, testing through the highest levels, and also competed extensively in dressage and eventing.
As an adult, Dr. Darrow made her way through college at Mount Holyoke College in MA and Bryn Mawr College in PA. She obtained a B.S. in Biology in 1992 and continued on to be a large animal veterinary technician, a horse trainer and a riding instructor.
Bess realized a passion for equine dentistry after discovering the difference it made in so many horse’s lives. She became a certified equine dental technician with the International Association of Equine Dentistry in 2001, and soon went on to pursue her even loftier goal of obtaining a DVM . She received a DVM from Ross University and completed a clinical year at the University of Florida in 2007. Her love of teaching is still evident, as she insists on educating her clients and anyone who will listen about the benefits and rewards of proper equine dentistry for their horses.
