...2007 was definitely Charlie's year, and he went from being incredibly green, unsure of himself and physically weak to this :-) We are really pleased with him..
Today Andy took him, and I took Felix, to our neighbours' lovely New Years Day meet. Andy hasn't hunted Charlie for a while, and I have possibly made a mistake, as they both had far too much fun and I have a feeling I may have lost the ride... Still Felix was raring to go and was a joy, as always. We weren't the only ones having fun and taking photos, either, though I'm not sure how successful our young colleague was...
The other horses had a day off, of sorts, or at least self-exercised, as the hounds and field came through the farm a couple of times and kept them all trotting along the track and watching with interest!
I guess he's strong, looking at that hanging cheek/noseband combination there!
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We ride him in a Myler snaffle normally, but he did get strong out hunting on about his third or fourth time out (which is classic, of course!).
ReplyDeleteHe is normally very light, even though has such a stonking neck, and I wanted to make sure he never learnt to be strong, so put him in this bit (a Myler combination) to nip the habit in the bud. Its exactly what I did with Felix in his first season hunting, and then went back to a snaffle. Charlie is back to being light and not leaning, and isn't strong at all in this bit, and I expect to be able to go back to a snaffle for him too.
Although it looks terribly complicated, its actually not a particularly severe bit, as it relies on using some nosenband pressure before the mouthpiece (a sweetiron snaffle) engages. Its handy for us because most of ours have been ridden bitless as well, so respond really nicely to the combined pressure.
A bit is only ever as severe as the hands on the end of it anyway :-) I thought it looked very useful with the noseband pressure. I've heard of Myler combination bits and didn't realise that's what they were. It's a sound strategy not to let him discover he's got a strong neck in the first place!
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Thanks :-) Its a handy piece of kit, I just hope it carries on working ;-)
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