Last week I finally got my leather snaffle.  Since I re-started riding Bobby I have been thinking hard about what might be irritating his mouth.  I read the ad about those super pricey titanium bits and I was looking for an alternative that I could afford that also was temperature neutral and did not have any electric currents or magnetism going through the bit.  I was really excited to get my leather snaffle, at least until I measured the mouthpiece, 2 centimeters wide and 1 ½ centimeter thick.  The mouthpiece of the bit is 1/8” thick leather going around a ½” wide flat nylon strap which connects to the snaffle rings.  The only metal in this bit is the snaffle rings.  Even though I feared the bit was really too thick for Bobby’s mouth I tried it on him anyway, hoping he would like it.  Since I had remembered from decades ago when I switched to a milder bit and ended up with my horse accelerating out from under me, I got my long and thin flash strap and used it to replace the chin strap on my Micklem Multi Bridle.  Since the leather mouthpiece did not taste that great and because I did not want the bit to rub on his gums I also put a lot of lard into the leather mouthpiece.  Before we bridled him I gave Bobby a little lecture, telling him that if he ground this super gentle bit between his molars I was going to put the chinstrap on, and if that did not work I was going back to the Pee Wee bit.

We bridled Bobby, and he immediately started mouthing this new interesting bit, and two seconds on he was starting to grind it between his molars.  I put the chin strap on hoping it may stabilize the bit enough so he would not want to chew on it.  Normally I do not tie my horses’ mouths shut, I do not use nosebands and I took the chin strap off each of my three Micklem bridles, but with a gentle bit I was not too worried about accidentally hurting him (much) if I suddenly could not control my hands.  Besides, I wanted to ride with my new bit before he chewed it in two.  Of course it did not work, probably because I refuse to go tighter than two fingers looseness, but the way Bobby was working his mouth I would have had to crank a noseband super tight with all my strength to prevent the chewing and then Bobby would have been really irritated with me.

Bobby hated the chin strap, but Bobby LOVED the bit.  It felt SO GOOD between his molars, and it was such a good chew toy!  Finally I had given Bobby what he wanted, something nice and comfortable to grind his teeth on.  And boy, did he grind his teeth on it, and though he let up a bit when we were moving, every time we stopped Bobby’s mouth was moving like he had a big wad of chewing gum in his mouth.  There was no hesitation whenever I asked him to take up contact and a few minutes into our ride Bobby took up full contact, acting like that leather bit was the most comfortable thing he had ever leaned on, at which point I was glad I had put the chin strap on.  But as far as turning or stopping Bobby got back into his old habits, pretzeling up, trying to refuse to turn, and refusing to go straight.  And most of the time he was happily grinding my beautiful new leather bit between his molars.  I was glad I did not spend that much money on it.

When we unbridled Bobby my new bit that had been nice and smooth now had a flat center part, teeth marks, and from the outside of the teeth marks it angled off down to the rings.  Bobby had also twisted the leather mouthpiece around the nylon strap core.  I was not pleased and decided then and there that I would never give him a nice comfortable chew toy again.  I now have a bit that clearly shows where Bobby’s front molars are.  It is sort of interesting, the center flat piece is two inches wide on the bottom of the bit .  His front molars are around 3/8 inch wide, and from there to the end of the mouthpiece it is 1 ¼ inch on both sides.  Bobby has thick lips and takes a 5” bit even though he is only 13.2 hands high.  There were slices in the surface of the leather from his molars. 

I do not think that this bit is suitable for a horse’s mouth any more and I wonder how long it would have taken Bobby to get all the way though the leather.

Today I rode Bobby in the Pee Wee bit again (hey, I had warned him!)  There were some residual problems with pretzeling, and Bobby ground the Pee Wee bit between his teeth more than usual.  It took me a while to get any straight movement out of him.  Bobby made it obvious that he missed his chew toy.  On a brighter note Bobby has lost more weight, I could actually feel a rib through his fat.  His crest is getting nice and loose.  I told Shannon that in two or three more weeks if he goes on losing weight I will be able to start trotting him again.  He is no longer foot-sore going downhill.  Yeah, soon I will be able to stop acting like Bobby is going to founder!

Since I am fighting a cold and I get tired more quickly than usual, I did not do anything exciting this week at Debbie’s barn.  No trail ride this week, which disappointed Mia.  It was so foggy out Friday morning that I was worried that Big Foot would appear in the fog between the trees.  I rode in the ring and mostly practiced holding my reins, the RS-tor and my crop in my hands and I found it was better to hold the RS-tor and my crop in separate hands.  I am trying to set up new habits in my hands because when I had too much in my hand I notice that I occasionally dropped the RS-tor.  I am working with keeping my thumb against the first knuckle of my fore finger  a little tighter than normal, so I can hold the reins where they come up out of my hand and keep the RS-tor in my fist.  Since I am not very coordinated I will have to practice a lot.

I got to show the RS-tor to Bev, the dressage rider at the barn.  She told me that the owners of the horse she’d been riding were getting interested in riding their mare again, and that she might have to go back to riding the ‘spook at everything’ Arab gelding she used to ride.  Her husband had put a grab strap on her saddle but that did not do her much good at all since she had to think about reaching down to grab onto it.  I showed her how the RS-tor limited the distance the rider’s hands could go up, and how it could limit how far forward the rider could go, and how I could use it to help lever me  or pull me back into the saddle if I lost my seat.  Bev liked it.  She said she would feel a lot more secure on a spooky horse with one in her hand.  Bev is an experienced rider like I am, and it is interesting that both of us want security on horseback without being tied to the saddle.  As she said, there are times when a rider needs to quickly bail off a horse not to get fallen on, and usually the rider does not have the time to fumble with any buckles.  With the RS-tor all the rider has to do is let go.

Next week I hope to go by the tack store and I will show them my RS-tor.  Hopefully I will be able to convince them that this would be a good thing to stock.  Ordering overseas is fine nowadays, but I really would like to be able to get the RS-tor in the USA.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran