bit and bridle

Woohoo - we hit a bit of a milestone today. I lunged Lutallic in a bridle!
About a month and a half ago, I started trying bits and bridles on Tal.
I tried Boo's good Hubertus bridle on him, accidentally, three times............. Is it still an accident by the third time? Possibly not! But I was trying it on him for fit, and obviously I had to adjust it, so, I'd pop it on, work out if it needed to go up or down or whatever, take it off, adjust it and so on. Turned-out I got it right on about the 3rd go!
We were standing in the corral, no headstall or lead or anything, and I still had the reins attached. I can't remember for sure, but I had taken a bit from Saddleworld to try on for size, so that might have been on it. I had thought I would get Tallic a gold KK Trainer, and Kerry had the equivalent stainless steel one in stock, so that's what I was trying. It was a 5" bit, and turned-out to be a little bit too small (no punn intended). For some unknown reason, bits no longer come in 5 1/4" sizes, so a 5 1/2 is needed.

Anyway, back to today......... I finally went and bought the SS bit; it's a lovely small style, not fat like the Horseland ones. Apparently they could get a finer one in, but I get sick of having to order everything. I'd been looking on the internet and discovered I could buy the bit I wanted from there, but in the end I decided to give the good ol' stainless steel a whirl. (I did put Cruiser's old bit in his mouth, and I had a really good laugh. They really are like chalk and cheese those two!)

So, today I decided to attach the new bit to a bridle (I think it's Flame's; no reins, no noseband). He threw his head straight down onto the bit and into the bridle (after I removed the throat lash from his gob!!) He had a really good chomp and lots of little head-tosses, but allowed me to adjust the height whilst on him. I put it on over the top of the rope halter. And off we went....

We walked on up to the round yard, and he was a little bit surprised by the wheel barrow that was sitting up against the rails from where Darren has been working on a new drain near the shed. No big deal, but I got him to circle around me and walk forward again.
We walked a lap of the round yard, did some yields and to-ing and fro-ing, bit of trot, and then I swapped the lead for the lunge rein and lunge whip. I decided I wanted to work him on a longer line so that if he decides to do his little bucking thing I've got a bit more room and a tool to move him away from me. Turned-out I needed it too!
Tallic tends to have a run around with his nose along the ground, which, I realise is good in terms of him stretching his back, but not so good in terms of safety (I DON'T want him putting a leg over the rein) and I'm also not sure how 'with me' he is when he does this. Therefore I tend to try to bump his nose back up when he's doing this. He also likes to go around with his nose poking to the outside. I dont' like this because I feel too much pressure on the rope, plus, I don't think his attention is on me when he does this (and his bum faces in towards me a tiny bit. I know that's 'fussy' but it doesn't seem right). Therefore, I find myself bumping his face back towards straight or inside. When I do this, he sometimes mistakes it for a slowing down signal, so the whip is handy for saying "no, go forward, I just wanted your face". I'm not sure whether I'm going about this the right way, but I'm not sure what else to do.

Overall, I think it was a really successful lunge session, with bit!!, and I think he'll get used to working with it on very quickly. I just need to be doing more of it.

Right, now I better go back and do the posts that belong before this one. I would have sworn I had done more than one since Nicole and I started our playdates, but where are they?

Post Script: Christine and I went to look at bridles at Horseland and then Saddleworld back when I was going to send him off to the breakers. H/L had one on sale that I thought I'd get, but after measuring better quality ones before I found the sale item, I realised I just can't stand the idea of buying yucky Indian leather (even though its usual price is $100, it left black crap all over my hands - yuek)
When we were in S/W, we found a Kieffer bridle made out of synthetic material. It was a hanovarian style, and I want a cavesson noseband, but I love the concept of having a bridle that's good enough to compete in and doesn't need cleanig, oiling and creaming the night before. I've since been looking into getting a weymouth bridle in the same style, called Seku, but cannot find a photograph of one anywhere. I think I shall persist in my endevours to find one, as it's my first preference.

But wait, there's more! I also decided to give Tallic a mini-wash after his little work session. I go the old purple shampoo of Cruiser's out (there's almost 5 litres sitting there) and gave his mane and neck a good scrub. He loved it, I think he's been a bit itchy from some dandruff, so that should feel better now. It's funny how well he handles these little adventures. I hose his lower legs after I remove his work boots, and that's also no drama, so I think all these bits and pieces I'm doing with him are adding up to a well handled neddy!