My gelding loves the bridle, but is constantly wanting to rub his mouth- if the flash part is tightened to anywhere near useable tightness, he absolutely hates it. So i’ve been keeping it on the last hole where it serves absolutely no purpose and he’s much better, but honestly i think he’d prefer if it wasn’t there at all.
Has anyone done this?
What would hold it on his face? Just the piece under his jowl?
Yeah, I wouldn’t do it. It would look funny.
I did it. On all three of my Micklem bridles.
The reasons I did it were: One mare loved the Micklem bridle until I buckled the chin strap. Then she was not happy since I had to force the bit up 2-3 wrinkles and she did not like that at all. I think it put too much pressure on her poll and she did not like having her lips stretched that far. Since she is an elderly Arabian mare I indulged her, and she is quite happy now with the Micklem bridle on her beautiful head.
The other horses I ride did not seem to be bothered by the chin strap, but when I took it off all the bridles the horses I ride became much happier with me! They are more responsive to my rein aids and their mouths are soft and mobile.
Yes, it looks weird. Since I do not show I really do not care how odd it looks as long as the horses are happy. It may look better if the rings for the chin strap were cut off, but I kept these rings for the far off chance that one day I will need them to keep a horse’s mouth shut (a long flash strap will work, ending up with 2 layers) or if I tried the bitless options again (I have the multi-bridle Micklem.)
I did rip out the stitching instead of cutting the leather off. That way if I ever desire to I can have a saddler sew the straps back on to the rings on the noseband.
What would be the difference between cutting the “flash” off the Micklem bridle, and just using a regular snaffle bridle with no noseband?
[QUOTE=Scribbler;8447028]
What would be the difference between cutting the “flash” off the Micklem bridle, and just using a regular snaffle bridle with no noseband?[/QUOTE]
This, I think removing that strap would make the bridle very unstable, and would totally defeat the purpose of the bridle.
Yeah, I would just use a regular old bridle and remove the noseband. The whole point of the micklem originally was that it closed the mouth without interfering with the jawbones or nerves or anything, and that it could be used as a bitless bridle or lunge caveson. I’m assuming you don’t want to use it for anything other than a bitted bridle, so if you don’t want to use the noseband, might as well get an english bridle without a noseband.
Use a regular bridle…go old school with a regular cavesson with two fingers fitting underneath!. Also remember the Micklem is designed so that you can put the noseband above the bit as well as below.
The old Arab mare that inspired me to remove the Micklem chin strap was already being ridden in a regular English hook-stud bridle without a noseband.
She STILL approved of the Micklem bridle, until I did up the chin strap. How do I know she approved of it then? The first time I put it on (nose band open, of course) she let out a BIG sigh, her eyes softened, and her ears relaxed. I think that the inside of the hook-stud attached cheek piece had been irritating her head.
All of my Miclem bridles are the Multi-bridle. I’ve read that the competition bridle is somewhat different with the nose-band (the ad said it was not suited to the bitless options of the multi-bridle?) I do not know if removing the chin strap of a Micklem competition bridle would give the same results that I got.
Ya, that is the strange thing - I’ve tried a traditional bridle either with an adjusted, loose noseband (and by that I mean trying it up a little higher or lower and looser/tighter to see if there was a preference) to no noseband at all. For whatever reason, this horse prefers his micklem, even with the chin-strap/flash loose, over a traditional bridle.
Quite honestly I’m not so sure what that strap is doing at this point because it is so loosely fastened for him, and the bridle itself feels pretty stable this way so i’m not sure there would be much loss there if i were to remove it, apart from it looking a bit weird. I also wonder if it is the thickness of that chin strap that he is opposed to. I would’ve never given it a second thought as I’ve never really had a bridle issue with any horse before, until this one. All of my other horses have gone in a traditional bridle. Learning something new every day with this one! 
Thanks for the experience, Jackie - and also the advice on how to remove it should I do it. I’m still on the fence about it but you are giving me a bit of courage, haha.
Hi myhorsefaith, I also wondered about the width of the chin strap since it was so much wider than the chin straps of the dropped and figure-8 nosebands I used to have.
So to see if it made any difference with this mare I took a thinner flash strap, ran it through the nose band rings, and tried it out on her. She did not like it any better. FWIW she also had a totally negative reaction to the curb chain on a Myler Kimberwicke, her owner thinks she might have been abused with a Western curb sometime in the depths of her past.
The mare also did not like having the Micklem chin strap being loose when I tried that. I don’t think she liked it bouncing off her chin.
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