Double Bridle Considerations

So, the good news since I chatted with Tanya about a month ago is that TC is WAY more into the bridle than he has been, potentially ever. Sometimes it almost sucks. 

It's gotten me thinking a lot about whether a double bridle might help us out. I wanted him in the snaffle for sure through Third level because I've heard from numerous judges that they double take when they see horses at Third level in a double. He is also so backed off the contact in the snaffle that I didn't think it'd be helpful. 

The SO and I carved pumpkins! Mine
was obviously TC with a weird chin

Now though, he's downright heavy in the contact, which is fabulous, and he also tends to get himself a bit stacked up and over strong. I have a pony I'm riding right now that does the same thing and it's very easy for me to provide the pony support in the stacked up-ness and help him find the contact again, then he goes back to the connection and everything is great. I am... not strong enough to provide that support to TC. I need like 6 inches and 75lbs on me to do that I think, he's not a small horse. So that made me consider that maybe I could ride him as I normally do in the bradoon, then pick up the curb when he gets a little over strong to help him find the bradoon again. 

On Tuesday, I decided to just throw him in my double and see what happened. He's carried it a few times, both on the trails (2019) and around the ranch (2018). 

He wore this exact bridle!

I think my biggest takeaway is how unbelievably complicated this horse can be. I picked up the bradoon and he reached for it okay (not as good as in his snaffle though), so then I touched him with the curb and he curled immediately. Cool, cool. So the entire ride was pressing him into the bradoon, using the curb when absolutely necessary, then throwing it at him when he didn't stay into the bradoon when it was used. 

This made the ride way more mentally challenging than physically challenging. TC is usually a good mixture of the two. Not heavy in the bridle, although at the canter recently he's been rather heavy, and not a horse you have to kick every stride unless you do and then he absolutely is (he is happy to do whatever you want him to do, including slowing down when you nag him). Challenging enough mentally but not so much that I feel like my timing has to be perfect or else. 

It shifted him completely over to a mental ride, which was fun but it hurt my brain. 

It's a pretty browband at least!

The biggest change I noticed was in the canter, which was a no-duh moment given how much more physically challenging he is in the canter vs how mentally challenging he is in the trot. Having that curb DID allow me to push him more in the canter and it made a huge difference in my ability to ride him positively forward. 

We were able to ride a lot of tempi changes, a lot of forward and back, and a bunch of haunches-in down the long side. The changes were SO much better, like way more through because I would put my curb rein at my fingertips and let him hit it gently if he came up in the poll. The forward and back was way better because I could get him back a lot faster, in a more finessed way, but especially without as much right rein, which he's been hanging on recently. The haunches-in was way easier too as he didn't get as stacked up in the neck and therefore didn't get as long in his body. 

The trot was... fine. I will say hands down that I prefer him in the snaffle in the trot. He was so backed off of it that I ended up kind of dropping the curb. And the bradoon was a french link, which he backs off of already, so that wasn't doing us any favors. But we still did end with some good work as he got more tolerant of the french link. 

The current setup, although it's a little
dirtier now

My thought is to ride him in it once a week or so to help me work on the canter at a higher level. I was hoping that the work in the double would help him in the snaffle, but it seems to have made almost no difference at least this one time. Oh well. I definitely don't want to ride him in it more than that, nor do I want to show him in it any time soon. I still think he's a little too green for it. 

Also, I think I'd like to try other bits to see about getting him super comfortable in the double. Neue Schule, who makes his snaffle bit (turtle top eggbutt), has some great recommendations on their website. I think I'd like to do a bit fitting for that though, rather than just guessing. So I'm asking around to see if anyone is going to put one on any time soon and in the mean time, I'll borrow some bits from dressage extensions and see if they make TC a little more comfortable in the double. 

Introducing the Double Bridle

With TC moving up to Second level this fall-ish, I figured that it was time to introduce the double bridle.

I've put in a lot of time thinking about the double bridle with him, whether it was even worth introducing to him with him being such a funny guy in the contact. In the end I decided that it was worth trying to eventually get him in it just because I think that selling a 3rd+ horse who can't be ridden in the double is just asking for some idiot to slap one on him and get flipped over on top of.

My plan then, is to take a long time to introduce him to it. Let him walk in it for 6-12 months, then do light hack rides just on the bradoon rein, then slowly pick up the curb rein after another 6 months, possibly longer.

He was a bit skeptical

So last week, I decided that on our "trail ride" day where we just wander around the ranch, I'd put the double on him.

I sold Rico's wheymouth to a client, so the only one I have is a medium port. This proved to be too much for Rico and I don't think it will be TC's eventual bit, but it's what I have right now. The bradoon is the one I used on Rico, a french link. Both bits are stainless steel.

In a perfect world, I'd want TC's bradoon to be the same as his snaffle, a KK ultra from Herm Sprenger, and his wheymouth to be Rico's old one, a mullen mouth curb. The problem is that the metals need to match, so I need to get a wheymouth from Herm Sprenger too. Hahaha. Those bits combnied will cost me probably $500. Worth it if I think he'll let me ride him in them. Not worth it if he'll rear if I ever touch the curb rein.

So for now he's in Rico's bits and will just be carrying them. I may see about borrowing some bits from my trainer to experiment with them, but for now I honestly have no idea how he'll respond to anything because it will be next summer before I even try to ride him in them for real!

Visiting the neighbor cows

On Thursday morning I hung both bridles up next to each other and adjusted the double bits to hang right where the snaffle bit does. That way I wasn't going to accidentally choke him with Rico's arrangement (actually I think it's been on several client horses since Rico I think... can't remember). I put the bridle on TC and he took the bits well, though immediately began messing with the wheymouth, which is normal.

I want the wheymouth up a about a half hole, but need to punch a hole. Lower is okay since it didn't hit his teeth or anything, and I obviously wasn't going to touch the reins. For now, he just needs to carry it.

He did a really good job with it though, we walked around the whole property before I took him back home. A great light day (I'm trying to give him more days of just walking since his workload when we do work has increased) and a really good first ride in the double. He'll probably start doing basic wtc rides in it next year and maybe we'll be showing in it in 2020! Or not, it's up to him.