 Bristol insisted that this bit was intended to be comfortable for the horse because the central plate would lie flat onto the tongue thus lowering the pressure.The action has been a topic of controversy with many popular texts describing it as having a harsh action due to the plate's edge orientation to the tongue.Academic research has clarified these claims, showing that harsh action occurs when the bit is placed into the mouth such that the feature angle, as defined from a left hand side view, is +45 °.