I found a photo of Lava Man’s setup - it appears to be from his racing days:
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When I first took a quick glance at the picture on my phone, I was thinking, that’s a really weird body clip they have on him. Is it some sort of modified trace clip?
Then I realized it was actually the overlay on the photo of the words The Blood Horse. Lol!
The horse in its racing days is wearing a curb bit with a single chain and no noseband. No problem. Now with three curb chains, one sitting on its lip, a running martingale on the curb rein, the bit shanks several inches long… If I saw a horse in that much hardware, I’d assume it was a monster not a coach! Maybe someone just pulled a random dirty bridle off a hook in a dark, dusty corner of the tack room and stuck it on the horse’s head?
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Doug O’Neill has been very candid about the fact that Lava Man did what Lava Man wants. 
The horse’s personality is larger than life.
He also said that while he was a good pony for the horses due to his self-assured presence and no-nonsense attitude, he wasn’t an easy horse to ride.
A lot of ponies and outriders use a lot of “hardware” in their horses’ mouths mainly because they need them to listen NOW if the proverbial 
starts hitting the fan. Not unlike a lot of other working western horses. I’m not defending the practice, but a lot of working western horses go in very severe looking bits.
I went to visit Lava Man last spring at Old Friends. He gave our tour group the equine middle finger and refused to even look up from his grass. I felt like I received an authentic Lava Man experience.
He’s the horse on the far left partially behind the shed, eating.
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I love it! He says “I’m the coach, I tell you, you don’t tell me.”
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Yeah, here are visitors coming to admire him, and he does look like “I don’t care” is his default vibe. 
Looks like the top “curb strap” is actually just an aged noseband running through the loops at the bottom of the leather cheekpieces where the bit attaches, not attached to the bit. This bit is extremely long between the mouthpiece and the attachment ring for the headstall cheekpieces, probably had to significantly shorten the cheekpieces and modify the noseband to keep the headstall stable. Hope that makes sense, It is in a different place then usual.
The bottom chain is not a curb either, cannot tell if it is a keeper for the center chain or runs between the shanks. First impression is it has loose jaw or swivel shanks and that would keep them from moving too much.
That is a stiff curb but it does not have three curb chains. It was probably a good choice for that horse with a competent rider when he had the often tough Pony job.
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On a curb bit, the strength of the bit (the amount of leverage) is based on the RATIO of the length of the shank above the mouthpiece to the length of the “shank” above the mouthpiece. In this case, BOTH the length above the mouthpice is ALSO quite big, so the ratio is not that “harsh”.
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I don’t understand what you’re saying. “The length of the shank above the mouthpiece”. What is the ratio being based on?
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A curb bit act as a lever, with the mouthpiece as the fulcrum. To quote Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever ) " A lever amplifies an input force to provide a greater output force, which is said to provide leverage , which is mechanical advantage gained in the system, equal to the ratio of the output force to the input force."
In a curb bit, the idea is that, by putting small amount of force on the rein, you apply a larger amount of force on the other end (the end connected to the cheek piece) of the bit. The mouthpice acts as the fulcrum.
If the distance from the mouthpiece to the end connected to the cheekpiece is A, and the distance from the mouthpiece to the end connected to the rein is B, then any force F,applied at the rein, produces a force of B/A x F at the other end (the force shortening the distance between the mouthpiece and the poll, thus putting pressure on the poll and the lips).
In a conventional curb bit, B is big and A is small, so the force is amplified.
In the bit shown, B is large, but so is A, so the force is not amplified as much.
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Jeff Lukas was on the ground when he was trying to stop a loose horse, Tobasco Cat, who zigged when Lucas zagged. It was tragic, but unless they had a rule requiring unmounted people to wear helmets, he wouldn’t have been protected.
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Of course. That wasn’t the point of my remark.
It was that Jeff’s dad is exposing himself to a brain injury. By means of a horse, knowing that serious accidents of all kinds can happen around horses. That’s all. 
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The Queen was my first thought too! At a certain age I think they were entitled to do what they want.
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He could have been hit by a bus while crossing the street too, Wayne is almost 90 years old and if he wants to take that chance I think it’s his business. We all have to die maybe he would prefer that it be on a horse.
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