I have been looking for a super gentle bit and notice that these two brands have mouthpieces that are curved so they are not so hard on the bars, and with the oval link in the middle - they both seem like really gentle bits. The Sprenger‘s are REALLY expensive so wondering if they are worth the $$ for the aurigan. Also - do horses prefer steel, copper or aurigan?
It's funny that you have your choices narrowed down to those two brands. My dressage bit is a Sprenger and my cross-country bit is JP Korsteel. I actually like them both, and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. I have had Korsteel bits for much longer and I have found that they last forever. I have one that I bought in the mid 80's and it has been in constant service since and is still spotless. I would not pay extra for the aurigan alloy as I have found no trouble getting my horse to salivate with stainless. I'm not sure you can say what horses prefer in general as some probably prefer one and some another.
I don't know if horses prefer a certain alloy, but copper is always a good choice. It increases salivation. Sweet Iron bits do this too but they rust pper doesn't. I personally haven't tried the Sprenger bits, but I'd go with the JP bits, they are cheaper and probably not too much different. I think they are so expensive partly because of their quality but mostly because of the brand.
If you can spend the money I would go with the Sprenger aurigan. It is a much softer metal than either the stainless steel or copper.
