Yep, that is the purpose of the rein chain - but also signal. The slobber strap might protect a nice mecate, but most are used with poly anymore and who cares if those get wet lol
I have a truly nice hand twisted horse hair mecate and I do not want that ruined 
The slobber strap is just to save your good reins. Replace 4 inches instead of losing it of your regular reins. if you don’t use romals.
I’m going to quote myself, and add something.
Whether or not the cheeks swivel doesn’t matter. It’s still a curb if the mouthpiece doesn’t slide. Lots of solid mouth curbs with swivel cheeks, lots of broken mouth curbs with swivel cheeks. If it has leverage that does not slide, it is a curb.
Those “curb straps” on snaffles to keep from pulling them through the horse’s mouth are usually called bit hobbles. I used one when riding my older mare in an English snaffle without a noseband. They’re a regional thing. I don’t know about the pulling through the horse’s mouth thing, but they do provide some stability.
Nevermind! Deleted.
yeah…I’m feeling the same way these days. LOL
I’m not describing a gag. I’ve never used one. and the rest of your statement is accurate. Not disagreeing with any of that.
I get that. And after 45 years of training professionally, and having started many, many young horses, I can tell you that this has never happened to me. I have started young horses in a full cheek, but not for that reason. I don’t care if the horse goes into hyperspace in a rocket, the entire bit is not going to end up in its mouth unless you are hauling on it with all your might. If that really is the reasoning behind it, then why don’t Western folks start their youngsters in a full check or with a noseband since you seem to think that works for the English riders?
A chin strap on a snaffle is pointless and I stand by that assertion. I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone who disagrees gives a red rat’s arse about my opinion, though. I won’t change my mind. I’m sure others won’t change theirs. Shrug.
I have to say that I agree with you on the chin strap.
I will also say that I’ve had a bit go through a mouth on a full blown bolting horse. Hell yyes was pulling on one rein with all my might. I think western riders tend to hang the bit a little lower, and that combined with no noseband can spell trouble.
If I used a western type set up with just a head stall and snaffle bit, I would use a strap on the snaffle, especially with a young horse. If sh!t hit the fan and I had to do a one rein stop, I would be grateful it’s there.
Yup. It doesn’t do anything unless things go sideways and then you’d be damned happy it’s there. I don’t understand the dislike of it expressed by some. I would have been happy if I’d known about it back in my Shetland pony days when I thought a snaffle would be kinder to my pony, until the little beast ran off and I tried a one rein stop. By the time I got him stopped the cheek piece of the bridle was in his mouth. He’d run blind sometimes or so it felt to a 10 YO kid. 
Back when I worked for a TB racehorse trainer, most of the bridles I cleaned had chin straps on the snaffles.
All the racehorses at the training center where I worked went in snaffles with chin straps. It’s for safety.
I don’t know why you got all salty with me - I was just explaining the function since someone asked. I don’t have to convince you of anything, nor was I remotely attempting to do so. Don’t use a chin strap if you don’t want one. I really don’t care what you use on your youngsters. I don’t even care if you ride at all.
Yes, you’d have to be pulling hard to turn, which could be the case on a youngster bolting in open country. Which would happen more frequently than in dressage-land since the western tradition typically only rides a few times in an enclosed arena and then goes out into the wild.
I’m not solely western rider, in fact I grew up in a dressage and hunter/jumper tradition. My horses wear all sorts of different tack including baroque, dressage, hunt seat and western saddles. Some of them even drive. I enjoy learning about different traditions as I believe firmly that there are useful tools in most equine traditions and having them in your toolbox expands you as a trainer and rider.
If western dressage were open to modifying the tack rules to snaffle bits only for the lower western dressage equivalent through 2nd level, then maybe the USDF would be open for recognizing it as a dressage sport?
I dunno, their disavowal seems rather strong - https://www.usdf.org/faqs/western.asp
I do have to say, as someone who sees the benefits of multiple disciplines, this wording is really rather offputting and comes off as very gatekeepy. I’m not sure why it has to be quite so strong, whether that was pressure from the WDAA or the USDF, but…yeesh.
Considering they repeat this statement twice in your link, yeah I’d say they feel pretty strongly about it.
“USDF will in no way imply or encourage a position that “western dressage” or “gaited dressage” and dressage as defined by the FEI are the same thing.”
They sound upset. Like someone pooped in their Cheerios.
Yes to all this.
I say this gently, not to be argumentative, but there is more than one way to start a horse; and different sports will put young/green horses into scenarios where it is possible that a bit could end up through the mouth. I don’t like bit hobbles as a general rule, and I take them off my own racing bridles at home, but they certainly have their place when you are galloping out in the open on a horse that may not have the world’s best steering. If you start horses in a round pen or enclosed space until they are 110% calm, obedient, and “broke,” you’re quite right that you’ll never have risk of pulling a bit through the mouth. But if you’re taking a 2yo with 30 days of farm/field jogs to his first gallops on the track, and he bolts when horses breeze past…yeah you may end up pulling hard on one rein to avoid going through the rail, and the snaffle ring just might end up inside his mouth. It’s not a “training method;” it’s utter survival when stuff hits the fan. We do everything we can to give youngsters a proper education, but when you leave the safety of a quiet, enclosed space, sometimes Things Happen and the right equipment can help prevent escalation of a problem.
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