Sometimes the Magic Changes... in Tack Choices!

Last year we found an amazing bit that helped elevate the BHB's front end. This magic bit is a Myler comfort snaffle. 

The Magic Bit: Myler Comfort Snaffle

In the past few months, this bit has lost it's magic :(. It did a great job of helping teach him how to lift up his front end and carry himself, but now he has a tendency to stay above the bit and brace with it. It also does not provide much room for rider hand error without upsetting the horse. He's been preferring one of his $5 bits instead-- a single joint German silver mouthpiece eggbutt bradoon similar to the one below:

The BHB's Current Favorite: $5 Single Joint Bradoon w/ German Silver (aka Copper) Mouthpiece

The BHB likes to work in a variety of different bits and nosebands (or lack of). I found this bit hiding in the bottom of a box of mine this month and decided to toss it in our rotation... and he loves it! He's been going in this bradoon for most of the month and really doing quite well, with much reduced bracing. I felt he was leaning a little too much the other day and switched back to the Myler the next ride, and he was not happy at all about it. There was bracing, head tossing, and overall unhappiness of both horse and rider. So the bits were switched back immediately following that ride, and will likely stay that way until the end of the show season when we'll start working more in a double bridle.

Horses just sometimes change their minds about what tack they prefer. It just takes some experimenting to discover! I'm sure trying curb bits out on him this winter will be boatloads of fun.

Products We Love: The Boots BHB Wears

I like to put boots on Mark's front legs for rides. He's never needed them before with his short legs, but I'd rather not risk any freak leg injuries. The same reason I wear a helmet for every ride or wear a seat belt when I'm in a car. Better to be safe than sorry!

Stock picture of the XC Lite boots, because mine are not this clean

I really like our New Equine Wear (N.E.W.) boots. Mark got his first pair of X-Country Lite boots as a 4 year old when we had eventing dreams, and I still use these almost every ride for schooling 3 years later. They're still holding up quite well too! They are very lightweight, flexible, have extra protection for the back of the cannon bone, and (most importantly) fit Mark's short and wide cannon bones better than any other boots I've tried.

The super-fluffy fleece brushing boots

Last year I picked up a pair of the N.E.W. fleece brushing boots. They don't get as hot and wet as most other fleece or wool-lined boots do. The fleece is actually quite lightweight and fluffy instead of dense like the Valena or Dover boots, making the entire boot fairly lightweight. These are in my show box right now and I use them primarily when we school at shows. With the seemingly-endless rain we've received in the past year, saturating the ground, I haven't used these for schooling at home as much as I'd like.  I tend to grab the XC Lite boots first instead of these since I can easily hose them off and immediately put them away after riding. Also, the XC Lite boots have been through millions of mud puddles in the past 3 years, so I don't feel bad about getting them filthy.

Products We Love: Taming the Tail

Since every horse person seems to constantly be searching for the perfect products, I thought I'd start to share some of the products that I really like.  

It takes effort to keep those wavy curls from turning into dreadlocks!

The BHB grows hair as fast and dense as any fuzzy pony! This includes mane, tail, and body hair. His tail is the most difficult thing to keep looking nice. His mane can be difficult to keep on the short side, but he will get actual dreads in his tail if it's not maintained. Everyone one dreams of having giant, fluffy tails on their horses, but keeping it from becoming a tail full of dreads takes frequent maintenance, and I'm not just talking about once a week brushing! I used to bang the BHB's tail nearly to his hocks at the first frost of every year for hunting, but Amber nearly had a heart attack when I chopped 8 inches off in fall of 2012. It grew back to his fetlocks by the spring, but now I pretty much let her handle the tail trimming to avoid any future panic :)

I was gifted a bottle of Carr & Day & Martin's CANTER mane and tail conditioner for Christmas of 2007 and have been hooked ever since! It's so much better than any other equine hair product I've ever used. It's just as effective, maybe even more so, as Cowboy Magic detangler... yet it leave the tails incredibly soft and silky without stickiness. I find that it stays effective for nearly a week, so I only need to apply it once a week. 

Perfect for horses prone to dreadlocks!

The only downside to this stuff is the cost. It runs around $16-18 for the small bottle. I go through around 2-3 of these bottles a year using it liberally once a week and everyday at shows. So while it's not the most budget-friendly, it keeps Mark from running around with a tail full of nasty dreadlocks! With that in mind, I vote this product well worth the cost for a single/double horse-owner. Maybe not so much of a good value for the horse trainer though, unless they can bill the clients with bushy tailed horses for it.