Eggbut Snaffle

My pony keeps chewing on his bit, can anyone help me find out why and fix it??

Here's my problem. I own a 8 year old quarter pony gelding. Ever since we bought him when he was a 4 year old he's constantly chewed on his bit. Not just softly chewing, but constantly working it in his mouth. Every now and then he's stop for a minute but not for much longer. I always had ridden him in a eggbut snaffle. Recently, I bought a new bit for my two year old filly. It's a three piece jointed loose ring snaffle. The other day I decided to try it out on him. He immediatly slowed his chewing and would stop for periods of time. Do you think the three piece bit is making the difference?? Any insights on why he does this?? It doesn't really bug me, but in any shows he is entered in he would be marked down for that. Any ideas would be appreciated!

sounds like a lot of nervous energy. is he like chomping with it? and yes sometimes switching bits will make a difference, he's learned to anticipate something negative and he takes the nervousness out with the over working of the bit. not that you taught him this, but somewhere he learned to do this. the loose ring snaffle is good in the sense that he can't lean on the bit and you can't balance on it as much because the rings just keep moving, which is why I love loose ring snaffles for young horses. they don't learn to brace on them. so switch back to a loose ring for a while, can't hurt. the other thing to do is tighten your noseband as tight as you can get it, move it so that it fastens higher on his jaw so that opening his mouth is minimal. this helps alot. if that doesn't help get a figure 8 noseband so that it will go over his mouth and that will do the trick. good luck and hope this helps