USEF and FEI rules at present require that a snaffle or a double bridle with curb bit (depending on the class) is used for dressage but, paradoxically, there is no such requirement for the more dangerous disciplines of cross country and show jumping. Actually, this does, on second thoughts, have an unintended logic. My research tells me that the use of a bit constitutes a hazard to both horse and rider. As the presence of one or more steel rods in the sensitive mouth of a horse is the source of many accidents, it is appropriate that bits should only be permitted when a horse is worked on the flat, in an arena, and exercised at relatively slow paces! I have hopes that the USEF/FEI may remove this imposition sometime in the near future, and so render dressage more humane and safer.