Aurigan is a copper
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
made of 85%
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, 4%
silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...
, and 11%
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
.
It is patented,
and is used on high quality
bits for
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s to encourage increased salivation, which leads to a softer and more responsive mouth on the horse. Aurigan is similar in appearance to other copper alloys, but has different oxidation properties due to its composition. One advantage it has over other copper alloys such as
German silver
Nickel silver, Maillechort, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the eleme ...
is that it is nickel-free; some horses have
been known to have a nickel allergy which appears as pimples in the mouth.
[http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ponyclub.org/resource/resmgr/hm_resource_page/bits_and_bitting_from_allen_.pdf ]
References
*"Dr. Hilary Clayton Offers Many Prescriptions for Bits. ''Horse Journal,'' March, 2008, p. 14
Bits (horse)
{{horse-stub