Lol, just looked at saper58’s link…that’s the bit.
[QUOTE=goodhors;7539334]
Until the Settlers had been around a while, Indians had no access to steel, steel objects, to use on horses. Indians had NO forge history to let them work metal as hard as iron or steel. Navahos worked silver, but not the other Tribes. One of the reason that steel or iron Tomahawks, knives, arrowheads, were so prized in Trading with the Fur Trappers, then other later people going into the Western areas. Steel and iron items were harder, stayed sharper than stone used previously. Guns they had, were traded for, stolen or gifts. They could not make their own items from metal.
So calling that leather bit with steel rings a “war bridle” is way off base when related to Native Americans. Might have had access to steel rings to add to horse equipment by the end of the 1800’s, early 1900’s, but not much before that time period. I did find some old photos of Native Americans riding horses with real bits on them, in portraits for historical use. All later time periods.[/QUOTE]
Speaking of calling something a “war bridle” related to Native Americans - S.C. Gwynne, in Empire of the Summer Moon says the Comanches were the only tribe to actually wage war on horseback. Other plains tribes rode to the battle but then fought on foot. I thought that was pretty surprising.
But he says the Comanche just used a loop around the horse’s lower jaw.
I can just say that with our gentler training methods a war bridle would not be necessary these days. It is not gentle and presses on the nerve points on a horse’s head.
[QUOTE=runwayz;7534138]
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Has anyone ever used one of these/ You know, the leather bit with chin strap but no headstall? Curious because a fellow horse owner wants me to make one for her young mustang. She has been reading up on Native American horsemanship and wants to try one. Thank you![/QUOTE]
My first farrier was an Apache and he told me that those bridles were made to break the horses jaw if the rider was killed in the war so the rider would have his horse to ride in the afterlife.
I took it with a grain of salt but after some mulling over if a war bridle was on a lose horse they ‘would’ eventally step on the single rein getit caught on something. Well a broken jawed horse would starve to death but it seems a hard way to go.
[QUOTE=5;7545261]
My first farrier was an Apache and he told me that those bridles were made to break the horses jaw if the rider was killed in the war so the rider would have his horse to ride in the afterlife.
I took it with a grain of salt but after some mulling over if a war bridle was on a lose horse they ‘would’ eventally step on the single rein getit caught on something. Well a broken jawed horse would starve to death but it seems a hard way to go.[/QUOTE]
It was common to several tribes to tie the horse below where the dead warrior was laid to rest, so he had the horse to go to their heaven.
The horse/s may be killed and left to lay there, or they would starve to death.
Those ideas have been common for many old cultures, some had pets buried with them, some even slaves, so they would keep helping that person in the nether worlds.
That is all part of the spiritual imagery of all kinds of earlier religions.
Native American bridles were made of braided horsehair, they consisted of ONE rein not two. A horsehair bridle would have been very easy to make and if the horse responded well to the riders weight, legs and hand, would have been very functional. It was one rope wrapped around the horses lower jaw.
The rider would be relying more on his relationship with his horse, his riding ability, and less on equipment.
This doesn`t talk much about bridles but it is interesting for those
who would want an overall idea of the relationship an Indian might have with his horse.
http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/indian-blanket.htm
For more historical information on native American equipment, I would look up paintings by C.M. Russell and Caitlin.
A War Bridle is most likely a name that has been given to an Indian Bridle by someone who is not familiar with Native American history. I come from a time when a war bridle was a contraption used as a means of forcing a horse to submit as a last resort by it`s way of applying pressure to certain sensiitve parts of a horses head, similar to what a twitch or lip chain would be used for today but much more severe. I have seen them used, but have never personally had to resort to one.
[QUOTE=Plumcreek;7539300]
I think the OP is using ‘war bridle’ in the American Indian sense of the word - the leather jaw loop with a couple of eagle feathers dangling not the cowboy lariat war bridle.
I rode my childhood mare around bareback in this leather jaw loop during my ‘indian period’ at about 11 years of age.[/QUOTE]
Glad I’m not the only one who did that. 
I have use the loop that fastens under the chin “indian bridle” before, mine was out of a polypropylene rope to prevent mold and stuff.
I also feel the need to mention that I used it on a mare that nothing else would stop. The bit before I tried the rope was a double twisted wire gag (We also tried snaffles, hackamores, halters, assorted shanked bits, kimberwicks, etc etc) her mouth was just so dead when we got her and she was quite a bit older but still very hot. The pressure the indian bridle applies is very different and although she never stopped on a dime, it did stop her. Just think about the total lack of tongue relief. Personally, I wouldn’t use them unless it was on a horse that wasn’t totally broke or on a horse that wouldn’t stop.
