Can I justify spending £170 on a "treat"?

Triker

Congratulations Mrs Tine on your news :j, hope you have a smooth and lovely pregnancy.:T

hypno06

Congratulations :T :T :T

MrsTinks

Jesthar wrote: »

It's actually an old endurance bridle we don't have any more - it was custom made for him in the days when he was a top level endurance racehorse. We still use the bit, just on a different bridle - it's a cantilever plastic bar bit, and is there purely for the brakes as he can get rather excited! Normally he's excellent and we ride with loose-ish reins and minimal pressure (he actually neck-reins quite well a lot of the time), but if he gets wound up stopping him becomes fun!:rotfl:

So the cantilever means than when neccessary he can't escape the bit and has to listen to the rider. We use it carefully, though, as he has a light mouth and the cantilever can be harsh if used incorrectly. I'd actually like to try him on a modern bitless bridle, as I've ridden him bareback in fields with just a halter and lead rope, and he enjoys that and responds quite well.

The more unusual part about the old bridle is the metalwork near the eyes - that is a metal clip (like a spring lead rope clip) which holds the bit onto the actual bridle. There's an identical one the other side, and the idea is that during an endurance race, rather than have to carry a separate halter for when you stop, all you do is unclip the bit from the headpiece and voila - instant halter!

Ahhh that would explain why it doesn't look familiar!
I'd definitely try a hackamore in that case... there are several versions as you know - I used to cross country on a 20 year old horse (she was nuts and no-one else would ride her - strangely she would plod like she was 50 in the school but you showed her a jump and she was 5 again!!!) once in a while - she had such a sensitive mouth that you couldn't put a bit in her mouth at all. Not even rubber snaffles - she'd get sores so easily. Trying to control an insane TB but NOT pulling hard enough to hurt her when she's trying to jump off the top of the steps is interesting... you start to appreciate the plodding lazy horses

Gemmzie

Congratulations MrsTine! :T :T :T :T