Side note- this happened to my trainer when a horse stopped (but no bonnet I think) and he put the bridle back on, while mounted in the GP ring at WEC Ocala. It’s on CMH and pretty amazing… (finished the class)
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My mare has a special talent of removing her bridle. There is some sort of quick head nod while she flattens her ears forward and then says “ta-da!” Always so proud of herself, and thankfully, at 21, never naughty about it in any other way. Wish I had an answer for you!
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Just curious - everyone this is happening to, do you have a horse that prefers the bit a little on the loose side? I would figure with a correctly fitted bridle that the tension on the bit would make this pretty hard to do. Some horses don’t like a traditional fit though, and prefer the bit a bit lower. That would take the tension off and make this easy to happen.
Also, I’d make sure my browband wasn’t too short, pulling the bridle forward on the face.
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I have had this happen and I am 100% guilty of having my entire bridle looser than the average person would have it. I have horses that would probably fit in a “traditional” way into a full size bridle on the last few holes but instead I have them in oversized bridles on the tighter holes. I personally just hate the way bridles look when they’re on the last hole or second to last hole for everything. I don’t really use ear nets that much so it’s not a huge problem for me-- but I have had a horse rub for a moment and next thing I knew the bridle was half off because the ear net caused a “friction free” zone that made it that much easier to pull the headstall forward.
My horse can get all his bridles off (jumping, dressage, western) with or without a bonnet on. I don’t have the bit low, but he pushes the bit back with his tongue, flicks his ears forward, off the bridle goes. He has pony sized ears which makes this easier for him. He shook one off by accident years ago, clearly found it amusing, now does it regularly. I can normally stop him, but every time a new person rides him he removes the bridle. Also manages to drop the bridle every time my husband gets left in charge of holding him at a horse show despite my threats to both of them.
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