Mouse has the kindest eye of all the horses, excellent temperament, and quiet personality. There's not much else to ask for when your looking for the right prospect for trail riding. He's easy going, doesn't see a lot of buggers and never gets riled up. Poking along the trail with little be excited over. He almost seems to be in another world. Most likely dreaming of greener pastures and that purple feeding bucket we haul his feed to the stall in. Awe! The feed bucket. Just when you think he hasn't any personality, rattle the feed barrel. He flies into another gear. Impatiently pacing about the grounds, nickering, throwing his head about and kicking his heals up. When the feed lands in the trough, he's back to low gear. He's such a nice character. Ron has been riding him every evening, for the past two weeks. And just when I thought he couldn't get any better, he proved me wrong every time he was saddled. I did change head gear on him. We were using a O-ring snaffle. He didn't respond the way I thought he should, so one day I rode him with just a rope halter. He did wonderful. Since we really don't know anything about the way he was ridden before we got him, or what they used, it seemed like the right thing to do. He reined a whole lot better and backed much easier with less pressure. Since we ride on the streets around light traffic, my bit of choice is the Weaver Stop and Turn.
I know some folks wouldn't agree, because it can be extremely harsh in the wrong hands. However, my husband and I both are very light handed. I rarely get into a horses mouth and if I do, it's warranted for one reason or another. My mare gets head strong when she sees something at a distance when were riding in an open field. And it certainly isn't because she's not broke to death. It's just that once in a while. I feel it's better to be safe than sorry.
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| Here, were using the "Weaver Stop and Turn" on both, Jerzey and Mouse. |
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We use a sweet iron snaffle on this horse. It has a copper roller in the middle. I like it because it doesn't pinch the corners of his mouth, and it gives him something to do when he stands tied for longer periods. The bit doesn't have any stopping power unfortunately, but it's easy on his mouth when our Grandaighter get's heavy handed. Thankfully, the horse responds well to her in most situations.
