Denmark looking at banning double bridle

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have successfully retrained contact resistant lesson horses to be light and responsive to just the snaffle (Wellep single & double-jointed snaffle, JP Korsteel Dr. Bristol D-ring snaffle with sewn on bit loops and the Fager titanium Bianca, double-jointed eggbutt snaffle with a titanium roller on the center dog-bone). After succeeding in getting mostly light and responsive contact and obedience with these snaffles I then changed to using the double bridle (Fager Victoria titanium Mullen mouth Weymouth curb and the Fager Alicia titanium eggbutt 3-piece bridoon whose mouthpiece is similar the the Fager Bianca mentioned above).

I got further refinement from these lesson horses. They further relaxed their poll and jaw muscles and their tongues became more responsive to my lighter hand aids. Two of them ended up giving me clearer and steadier contact when I kept light contact with just the curb rein and their poll and lower jaw muscles relaxed even more while they voluntarily reached out for contact with the bit.

Using the double bridle for me resulted in previously resistant horses learning to use the double bridle bits to communicate with me, which also contributed to the increased relaxation and responsiveness of their poll, lower jaw and tongue muscles.

With just the snaffle bit I can get light control and the horse can tell me somethings at a really basic level. With the double bridle I get light control with which I can give rein aids with a small properly timed twitch of the appropriate finger while on contact, and the horse can give me ever increasing subtle poll, tongue and lower jaw responses and both the horse and I get into an interesting discussion of how to do whatever I ask for RIGHT, and believe me the horses can tell if it is RIGHT (their soft snorts of contentment and accomplishment are music to my ears).

Any rider can use any piece of tack with brutality resulting in very unhappy, totally miserable and resentful horses.

Good riders learn to use tack with finesse and delicacy, limiting harsh aids for total EMERGENCIES where the horse has to respond immediately for reasons of safety. The rest of the time we aim for engaging the horse while the horse stays mentally relaxed and physically responsive to our aids.

Believe me or not, the added refinement from using a double bridle with light, responsive and educated hands blows just using the snaffle alone out of the water. Sort of like the difference between discussing a scientific subject with a very intelligent child in the 5th grade and talking to a PhD in that subject.

[cayuse]

Me too. It’s difficult to have a vet walk in cold, not knowing you or the horse in an emergency. No fun for the vet either, I’m sure. Nice to have a bit of history to go on.

[Cowboy_Girl]

So if you know how to order and give your own shots, can suture, float teeth and handle 90% of emergencies on your own, are married to a farrier, eradicate vermin and only call the vet for Coggins when you show every few years - you are an irresponsible owner because you happen to be a horseman? Got it.

[fivestrideline]

Ah, but you don’t go posting on Facebook that your horse ran through barbed wire and is three legged lame asking for advice, do you. Or leave your horses unattended for months to find one missing an eye and asking about drugstore ointments (cheap!) to help. Or asking how your yearling could be pregnant because you turned her out with her intact half brother - but you can’t separate them and won’t sell anything or get the male castrated.

That’s the difference.

[quietann]

That’s not what I mean. But if you had an actual emergency, you’d be hard pressed to find an equine vet in my area to come to you. We also have a couple of big clinics that you could haul to - they don’t expect to have an established relationship but will want a credit card up front. But not all areas have that.

[quietann]

Thank you! Yes the group on FB is horrifying at times. It’s not knowledgeable horse owners with no vet. Those people might post to get a second opinion. It’s people who don’t know what they don’t know, hence the “eyes are emergencies!” rule in the group. Or they do know but are too cheap to even try to have an established relationship with a vet. Or people who just “rescued a horse from the kill pen” and now it’s really ill or trying to kill them and they are just clueless. Or people with skinny horses who don’t understand that a grazed down, winter-killed 2 acre pasture will not feed their horse over the winter. Or …

[skydy]

It’s difficult to be sure with the translation, but this seems more like a case of “a group in Denmark wants Denmark to look at banning the double bridle.”

[RedHorses]

That’s the point you need to make:

@Jackie_Cochran

the added refinement from using a double bridle with light, responsive and educated hands blows just using the snaffle alone out of the water. Sort of like the difference between discussing a scientific subject with a very intelligent child in the 5th grade and talking to a PhD in that subject.

As this one suggests the curb bit is your strong arm tactic:

@Jackie_Cochran

It is safer for me to ride in a double bridle and I end up using the bits much more lightly (especially when there are “disagreements” between me and the horse) than I do when I use snaffle bits by themselves.

The quality of the argument counts more than we’d like to believe, because we are talking to people who don’t understand anything beyond the “look at how these people are abusing horses using this piece of equipment” click baits on the internet. Any suggestion of using that piece of equipment to overpower the horse just feeds into their misunderstanding.

I hope you have read my other posts after the one you responded to and understand my point is not about the curb. I do appreciate your description of your use of the curb bits. The connection sounds wonderful.

[RedHorses]

I hope you have read my other posts and understand that I’m not talking about using curb bits.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have not used a curb bit to overpower a horse for around 30 years.

After a drunk driver crashed head on into my little Ford Escort, leaving a nice “skull cap” in the windshield my Paso Fino mare discovered that I was too weak to haul her head up in the Kimberwick that she “told me” was her favorite bit when we were out on the trail and she saw something she wanted to eat I went to a tack store that had a wall with 50 Western curbs. After trying the ones that looked more humane on my arm (with a borrowed curb strap) I picked the one that gave a definite signal without causing any pain in my forearm.

It was a Walking Horse bit whose mouthpiece slid up and down the shank maybe 1/2" with 7 inch shanks and a moderate port. I could not keep direct contact with her mouth without her going behind the vertical so I rode on loose/sagging reins out on the trail.

She strode forth fearlessly in that bit and LISTENED to me when I told her “no, you are not going to eat that delicious grass right now”. Halting was by tweaking my fingers, not a pull.

Every other horse I used a curb on, as the Weymouth in the double bridle or the Weymouth on its own would reach forward without fear when I asked for temporary contact just on the curb. The horses just listen to my rein aids so much better when I use light, light contact or sagging reins with the double bridle.

I have told my riding teachers what I consider appropriate contact with the curb–NO going behind the vertical or gaping mouth(I do not use a noseband), and that I wanted to be cussed out by the riding teacher if the horse I rode ever went behind the vertical. I did not get cussed out by either teacher.

My first horse, the second year I owned him, taught me that a dead hold on the bit just encouraged a fresh, hot horse to go faster and faster. That was one interesting ride I never forgot.

The important thing I learned with keeping contact with the curb was that when I was keeping contact with the curb bit at the walk or canter that I had to move my hands further forward than I did with the snaffle when the horse reached out with its nose in response to my driving leg aids and moved its head during its stride. This is why I keep the curb rein under my little finger and why I am always ready to let the curb rein slip through my relaxed fingers. I am sure a lot of people would get down on me having loose fingers instead of a firm hold on the reins but the horses really appreciate it when I use the double bridle.

My riding teachers and their lesson horses trust my hands, and I have worked hard to make sure that they will continue to trust my hands.