Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Rockin S Snaffle.

When I first bought Gracie, she was three years old. She was started in a Snaffle bit, and seemed to progress nicely. As the time went on, that bit seemed to become a problem for her, she would shake her head, run through it, and dip her head past the vertical. I`m telling you all this, as a sort of confession. So stay with me on this!!

I tried all sorts of bits, from Mullen to Happy mouth bits!! It was crazy. Eventually, I got the message, and we went Bitless. It has worked like a dream.   So much so, that I have started Sunny straight away in the Bosal, and I know it should be the snaffle first. However if it ain`t broke?  All this because Gracie has a low palate, and a thick tongue. Sunny has a similar set up in her mouth, she has a wide and fleshy tongue which seems to really fill her mouth.

So here we are today.  Every thing going according to plan.  As some of you may know or not as the case maybe, I like a bit of Trec, and did well several years ago, in the Scottish National Champs. But lo and behold, they`ve changed the bloody rules. No Bosal!!!

Anyway as luck would have it, I have a friend who has ranted on about this chap Mark Rashid.  On and on she went, so with my ears bleeding, I finally relented and read his blog.  After I got through it, and to say the least, it is interesting. I saw the Rockin S Snaffle. Well, I did some research, and there are three,  a simple snaffle, one with a Dog Bone, and the third, a raised Dog bone snaffle. The third looked really promising, claiming to give good tongue relief, and working only on the bars of the mouth, without the nut cracker action of the usual snaffles.

Generally the feedback from other Forums indicated a good result.  So bought one the other week. (I know, perhaps I should desist from comps, but sometimes I do like to compete.)  Anyway, the item arrived.  I have been playing with the horses this last few days with it. Today, was the first big trial. Gracie and me in the forest. I fitted the Rockin S,   first off, there  was no resistance,  no indication of any of the old issues. Three hours later, much stopping and starting, lots of “give”,  lots of “on the vertical”, plenty of lateral flexing, and a happy horse! Its still early days, and I miss the Bosal, but perhaps Gracie needs a rest from that, anyway, thats where we are now. Tonight, Sunny did well in this Rockin S, it seems to be acceptable to the horses.   But we`ll see! 

9 comments:

  1. I think you know my horse Pie is now in the raised Rockin S snaffle, due to exactly the same issue - very large tongue and low palatte. (As you probably also know, I've been riding with Mark Rashid for over 10 years now and probably qualify as someone who talks about him a lot . . .)

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    1. hi kate, no didnt know you used a Rockin S raised snaffle, but did know you liked Rashid.
      I should read more!............But it is a good piece of kit, it seems to be working for me!

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  2. There are so many different kinds of bits out there, I am glad you found one that works for Gracie and hopefully Sunny too. I like my bosal too, but not all my ponies do, some like to carry around a bit.

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    1. Bits are a real nightmare! i love the Bosal, so does all but one of mine!

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  3. Hi Story, its a bit on the expensive side, but worth a look see.

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  4. I've read Kate's blog posts about that bit, glad it's working for you. Please give us an idea what the Trec competition is all about, maybe some photos of you competing?

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  5. I have a friend who uses one of the Rockin S snaffles with great success, but I'm not sure which variation she uses. According to her if your horse likes it they really, really like it, or they hate them as much as any other bit. In her experience she hasn't seen much in between the two responses. Glad your girl liked it!

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  6. Well I can report, tht Gracie really, really likes it! She has never put a foot wrong since using it. However, we`ll wait a few weeks, as things can change!!

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