End of life issues are hard for animals and people.
However, aged horses that are losing this much ground are not likely out showing.
I do think there are lesson barns where all the horses look in sad condition and may be malnourished in terms of nutrients or low quality hay. I would hazard a guess that the keyboard warriors have more experience with down market horse health issues and very little with fighting fit top performance horses
Right, FIT or HURT or OLD is different from THIN and while I don’t object to a light riding program with a thin horse I wouldn’t want to take it to a show or a lesson because that’s even more calories out than in. I recently listened to a podcast and the trainer had just imported a horse and she talked about a light program of mostly walk work to keep the horse from going feral and losing muscle but not enough to burn calories they needed to put back on.
That’s true - I just mean that keyboard warriors are out there and they view all things with the same lens when they have no idea.
Yep - going feral vs burning off the calories is a TOUGH one. We had one come in that was so thin I could feel the bones in his neck very clearly and his hipbones were pointy due to being at the shipper’s property for an extended period of time then the stress of going halfway across the country. But he had rotten ground manners and not doing anything with him would have been bad. We didn’t ride, but we did lots of ground work to keep him from being a 17h nightmare.
People are in general dumb and lazy. What I mean by that is they don’t tend to think for themselves and want the simplest, quickest answer. This is why social media “trending” is a thing. It takes very little time or energy to digest information and then the algorithim spreads and spreads and bam before you know it your whole explore page on instragram is filled with R+, LIMA, and signs of equine pain. These posts tend to take off because they give a very very simple answer to complex problems. Unwanted behavior…probably pain. Poor topline…bad saddle fit. Which sure, could be a reason for either, but so could a 1000 other things. Then take a new wave of horse people that are A. brand new to horses or B. got into horses purely to have them as pasture pets vs performance animals, and then it is the perfect climate for these internet experts to go around and look at photos of top performance horses and make wild claims.
Horse internet has “taught” me in the last few weeks:
All horses have back pain
Only way to build topline is from the ground
All horses have Leaky Gut
Then throw in some catch phrases with no definitions or incorrect definitions and you have media hysteria. “Biomechanics, Natural, Healthy, Restore, etc”
There’s posters here who believe that the cantle raising on a GP jumper cracking his back over a 1.5m fence = the saddle doesn’t fit. That the rider cares more about their sponsor than winning the big money prix.
One of those pictures was Beezie on Cortes C.
My eyes can not roll harder.
So, I have since blocked certain accounts which I’ve seen share material I didn’t love, it just got to the point the algorithm of social media was constantly showing me where it was re-shared and just made me ill to review.
I think though, while I think the algorithm of facebook and instagram do show you topics that you’re previous paused or clicked on, there does seem to be traction.
Imagine you, completely normal-minded individual, but interested in animal welfare, see posts that advocate a group of “money-hungry, adrenaline junkie group” and while the inability to buy fitting saddles is still a bizarre concept to me, it’s explained that we are so hungry we align with a brand for free saddles and can’t change. We, as eventers, assume and knowing how deeply we are pro-horse that the normal person wouldn’t believe it. But, here apparently, it’s actually catching on. The average-horse person seems to be going with it.
What do you do? On Facebook it doesn’t even to be just hate-comments by faux accounts.
It’s not doing it for me. Looks… weird.
Given your background, I’m also interested in hearing more about what you don’t like about the head piece? I actually saw that bridle the other day (scrolling IG) and my first thought is “I don’t like that”. I think it’s because it looks “different” to me and as I’m learning more about myself I’ve realized I am extremely resistant to change (I’m working on it!). Also the other thing I don’t like is that it appears you can’t change out the browband (unreal I’m this shallow, but here we are)
The more fiddly the fit of anything, the fewer individuals it will fit. In this case if the ears etc don’t line up right it won’t fit.
The whole crown piece poll pressure thing is caused by overtight nosebands, flashes and drop nose bands. If you don’t have these, there’s about zero poll pressure in a snaffle bridle.
The Stubborn in the photo looks like it’s based on a Micklem bridle.
To answer the questions I am attaching pictures. These are all public pictures pulled off of commercial websites to sell the bridles. On the grey horse you can see how the shape for the ears, doesn’t line up with the ears. In the top picture you can see how it is digging into that part of the horse’s head. Also in the other bay pictures you can see how it is twisting and more pressure towards the front headpiece and the ears. I feel like the small strap across doesn’t provide stability. I also don’t like the edges in the middle so close to the connective tissues coming out of the spine. In a lot of the pictures the band is too low coming across the horses forhead and sitting on the zygomatic arch. You can see that in the grey’s picture.
I can see what you’re talking about. I don’t like this bridle at all. But I really doubt if it’s abusive.
I never said it was abusive. Peopled asked why I don’t like it so I answered the question.
Thank you. Do you have any photos that show what you want to see re: ear musculature and crown shape? All too often I feel like I see crown pieces that go right up against the ear - but it’s really how they are made.
I’m not a saddler, but two things strike me about the bridle.
First, a curved leather strap must have a different breaking point compared to a straight one. I suspect it is lower - but my physics lessons were a very long time ago.
Second, a throat latch so low on the cheek can’t stop the bridle coming off in a fall. Recently, I’ve been hearing “lose horse with no bridle” called out after a xc fall.
Form over function.
That is a butt ugly bridle
I’m sure a perfectly fitted and adjusted bridle would stay on - but I see a lot of bridles at shows that are… not. Low throatlatch + loose adjustment or sweaty horse. Add a fly bonnet and now you’ve got a perfect little slide over the ears for the bridle to come off.
I like anatomical and horse friendly gear. I also think manufacturers make the browbands really short on a lot of bridles and this is what pulls the crownpiece into the ears. My pretty standard cob headed gelding wears a horse or even oversize browband on his bridles. Personally I’ll take a simple traditional bridle with a long enough browband over all the padding and cutouts on earth. And it’s gonna stay on!
I think those are the initial freedom bridles. The one I posted is the freedom II which has a few differences (but still the small strap across the top). I’m curious to see how the changes affect it.
I would love to be able to try it, but not at the current price point. I have a horse who will go lovely in a rope halter but still struggles with bridles (rubs easy, shakes a bit, and we still haven’t found the right bit) and we have tried so many different bridles to see if it is a pressure point or nerve thing, worked with bridle and bit fitters and still just comes back to being super happy in basically nothing.
Not dressage legal but if you are looking for a show-proper bridle, the D’yon La Cense is basically a rope halter bridle made of leather. It’s under $300. Not the best leather quality but I do love the design. My gelding is also much better without a bit in dressage and goes well in this bridle. (As an aside - said gelding goes really well in the HS butterfly baucher single joint, if you happen to find one local to try.)
I’ll keep an eye out on more about the Stubben Freedom II. I don’t love the crownpiece but for different reasons than Shelton. I think the better solution to poll relief (JMO) is better fitting bridles and looser nosebands, versus shapes, cutouts, and contraptions.
I still like the look of the Freedom II though. It looks like they addressed some fit issues in the OG bridle, and tweaked the nose design a lot. I see they also changed the cheek piece design.
If I was to make my own bridle – which I have been putting off for a long time and should just get around to doing it instead of yapping about it – it would be a mix between the Freedom II and the Fairfax anatomic line. I think bridles are going in the right direction… now if we can just get USEF/FEI to allow bitless… 
Re: bridles falling off and cheek straps, all it takes is a fly bonnet. In the past I’d be bemused when I saw people lose their bridles at shows. Literally never happened to me - what, do they not fit their bridles or something?? But then one day on a hack my gelding got a fly in his bonnet in the literal sense – he shook the bridle right off his head. He politely stood while I got off and put it all back on, but I was humbled then and there and see now how quickly even a properly fit bridle can come right off if you have a fly bonnet on. That fly bonnet got retired from excursion rotation, but I still use it at home. It’s a thin polyester material that’s quite slick.
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