…or lack of tack. RIP Confessional.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/238364/1998-frizette-winner-confessional-dies-at-age-24
Reminds me of Youmightbearedneck “Rory” who competed in the 2016 RRP after a huge trailer accident that mangled his mouth for quite some time.
https://www.facebook.com/Youmightbearedneck-277216819283728/
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There was a pony at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derbies that only used a neck strap. Haven’t seen it for a while. Is this the same one?
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There were a few bridle-less ponies around…my recollection is that the racetracks told the pony people they couldn’t do it anymore.
My old mare used to ride bridleless over jumps. This was back when I was a child and Parelli just came out touring. I just assumed all horses could go bridleless! Why not? Now i have a very headstrong mare that if you give her an inch, she takes a mile. She will never go bridleless, a halter perhaps. She’s not malicious, she just has her own ideas about what she wants to do. If she sees a bike path, she wants to go exploring and you have to discuss it with her.
We got lost on a trail ride one time. Instead of taking us home, she took us to the perimeter trail and we ended up riding the entire park. We made it back to the highway crossing just before dark and still had 5 miles to go back to the barn. In hindsight, I should not have listened to her and picked the opposite direction! She just wanted to go exploring. From now on I’m using my gps. Although the one ride we had in pitch darkness, she did take us home that day. I could barely see the horse I was sitting on, and couldn’t even see the trail at all. Somehow she remembered the trail from 5 years ago and took us straight back to the barn. She’s smart, but she has an opinion about everything.
My track pony – non-raced TB I raised from a baby; owned his mom – wore a bridle, but once I picked up a horse from whatever barn in the morning, I could drop my reins and didn’t have to pick them back up at all for the duration of the ponying session = my pony knew his job to a T.
He even remembered which barn we had just come from and would head back there on his own without me having to steer him through any aides, so I can totally see how the pony in the picture could go bridleless. Very cool!
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