When people come to us to replace a Poponcini or Trust bit or perhaps get a bit with a new cheekpiece, one of the questions we will ask is “what size is your current Poponcini or Trust bit?”

More often than not, the answer we get back is, “How do I figure out what size my Poponcini or Trust bit is?”

If you don’t own one of the tools handy that can help you measure a bit, you may end up guessing or stuck without a measurement. Luckily, both Poponcini and Trust thought about this.  Both of these wonderful brands write the bit size right on the bit itself via a little-known secret code. You do need to know where to look and how to read it, though, as they don’t make it immediately obvious.

How to find the size of your Poponcini Bit

The way Poponcini writes information on their bits includes two numbers and a word. One number corresponds to the bit size and the other to the type of mouthpiece. The word in the middle is the type of mouth material.

The Bit Size Numbers correspond to a measurement, and are as follows:

• 3 = 125mm (5 inches)
• 4 = 135mm (5.3 inches)
• 5 = 145mm (5.7 inches)

The mouth materials numbers correspond to the rigidity of the material, and are as follows:

• 1 = more flexible
• 2 = more rigid

Poponcini bits write the bit size right on the mouthpiece itself, so it’s easy to find. It’s written there in the same color as the mouth, however, so it can be a bit tricky to read sometimes.

When they write it, they write it as follows: Bit Size Number, Mouth Material, Mouth Type Number. An example will be,  “4 Harmony 2.” Let’s look at an example!

In this picture here, you can see where it says Poponcini Bits pretty clearly. Below the line it says 4 Harmony 2.

What this means is that the bit is a size 4 (or 135mm), it’s made from Poponcini’s Harmony material, and it’s the more rigid mouthpiece (2).

This bit below is a 4 Harmony 1. This bit is also a size 4 (135mm) and made from the Poponcini Harmony mouth material, but it is the less rigid of the two as indicated by the 1.

How to find the size of your Trust bit

The Trust bits are a bit easier (pun intended!) to read as they only include the mouth size. Trust bits do come with different material makeups including leather, metal, and InnoSense, but each material doesn’t have different rigidity so it’s easy to tell the material just by looking at it.  Trust also uses numbers to correspond to a European measurement, but their numbers are different than Poponcini:

3 = 135mm

4 = 145mm

Trust puts these numbers on the side of the mouthpiece, so you can easily see the size even when it’s in the horse’s mouth. Let’s take a look at an example of where you can find the size on a Trust bit!

Whether you’re shopping for a new bit or your first bit from Popincini or Trus, we hope this guide serves you well to find the measurements of your bits. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us!