This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi all,
Just thought I'd brag about Gunthar's new bit. His trainer found it used at the tack shop she works at. A D ring "mullen mouth" snaffle from Myler. I put "mullen mouth" in quotes because it is, strictly speaking a mullen mouth, I guess, but with a difference. Where the bar of the mouthpiece comes off the D ring (hinged joint) it bends - about 1.5 inch length. Then the remainder of the mouthpiece is a sort of continuous series of joint, with little barrels covering the joints. Sort of reminds me of flexibility of a bicycle chain hackmore as it both twists and bends - at a number of different joints. If it had a shank it might be awfully severe on the horse's jaw, but this is pretty mild. (Not a lot of stopping power.) However it has great bending power. Where Gunthar was able to set his jaw and avoid bending before, he now has no choice. Maybe someone else can explain this better - but just wanted to let everyone know that it is a great bit for lateral work for a horse that is prone to stiffness. Suddenly Gunthar has developed much more talent at moving sideways and bending. I gather these bits came out of reining horse circles and are all the rage. I also gather not dressage-legal, but it sure seems to work. The CD-L talked about these bits recently - that horses that had a terrible time in a broken snaffle are much happier with them because they do not poke the roof of the mouth. Act mostly with tongue pressure. On other "Gunthar news" - he is doing much better at the canter. Even managed a canter on his left lead, *under saddle,* *in the round pen,* and without getting hysterical about it. His new trainer is willing to back off when he starts to have emotional fits about cantering - and try another day or another way. The former trainer would push him too hard, then provoke total resistance on all fronts as Gunthar "lost it" and then punish him because he would not do things she knew he could do. After watching him for a while I can see that there is no sense pushing him too far beyond his comfort zone as he just seizes up and forgets everything and ends the training session on a very poor note. You can actually see it coming on from the look on his face. And, if it happens enough with a particular person, he immediately seizes up whenever that person tries to ride him. I encourage everyone to be really careful with who trains your Fjords. As near as I can tell Gunthar is not stubborn or resistant by nature, he just is smart enough to know he needs to take care of himself. I think this is a very psychologically healthy - if perhaps occasionally inconvenient! Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
