Cob Jockey

Time for an informal blog hop!  Stephanie of Hand Gallop asks, "What's your every day tack setup?"

I have spent the last few years slowly working toward my ideal setups on both the Dressage and jump side, (with some awkward moments in between, anyone remember the black reins on the brown bridle phase?) and I'm almost there on both!

For jump:

I know it's a show picture, but all of my tack pulls double duty.

1. CWD SE02 16.5" short/forward flap.  I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing how really really ridiculously life changing having a properly fitting saddle is, but one more time: life changing.

2. Ovation RCS Jumper Bridle (used)

3. Nunn Finer soft grip rubber reins (new)

4. Total Saddle Fit Wither Relief Girth, 42" (new)

5. Supracor half pad (used)

6. Compositi wide track stirrups (new)

7. For jump schools: Woof Wear front boots (used).  For XC schools: add Majyk Equipe XC hind boots (new)

8. I still haven't found a schooling pad I am in love with, but I go back and forth between a Toklat Tango and the Lettia Coolmax AP pad right now.

9. ETA: almost forgot, Nunn Finer 3 point hunt breastplate (used)


For Dressage:


1. Wintec Isabel 16.5" (used)

2. Micklem Competition bridle, small horse (used)

3. Nunn Finer soft grip rubber reins (used)

4. Total Saddle Fit Wither Relief girth, 20" (new)

5. JenJ's old Classic Equine Dressage pad with velcro girth loops which they sadly do not make anymore and I will probably use until it's a pile of shredded fabric on his back.  I only ride in something else when this one is in the wash.

Seriously, this pad.  I love it and I wish I could find more of them.

6. Majyk Equipe Dressage boots all around, because they're the best. #fangirlstatus #stillwaitingonsmallXCfrontsguys

You may have noticed Connor was wearing his new bridle in yesterday's post.  I did manage to get out and ride on Friday night before the storm hit, although it was only a few minutes of walking.  Multiple people told me I was crazy, but it was 20 degrees outside, heat wave!  Plus it was therapeutic just to sit on him after the weather keeping me from him all week.

The aftermath - 10" total.

The new figure 8 fit Connor a lot better than the Nunn Finer, but strangely.


He's on the second from the top hole for the cheekpieces (I moved it up after taking this photo, the bit is too low here) and middle strap, top hole for the noseband, second from the bottom hole on the "flash" strap and throatlatch.  I guess this means his head is short and wide?  Just like the NF, the cheekpieces once again have miles of excess:

Hard to see, taking pictures with cold hands is hard!  I'm holding the bottom of the cheekpiece excess.

That sheepskin disc really does cover his nose from one side to the other!:

I'm not sure what this means for future bridle shopping purposes - cob headstall with a pony noseband and cheekpieces?  But this one is definitely an improvement over the last one, size-wise, so it's staying.

Last fall, I bought a used and abused Nunn Finer Figure 8 Bridle off of the English Tack Trader Facebook group for $100.  The seller said it was cob sized.  Once I cleaned all the dirt off the straps (really!) I found that every piece was marked horse except the cheeks, which were cob.



Needless to say, it was way too big.   I used it a for a few months anyway, because it's not the show season.  I wasn't sure the seller even knew that it wasn't cob (and as SprinklerBandits pointed out, there seem to be a few of these not-cob NF's floating around, so maybe it's a quality control issue), so I didn't contact her and just decided to re-sell it.

We had to double some strap through the ring on the side!  Every strap had at least 6" of excess.

On Sunday I sold it on ETT for what I paid, $100.  I immediately turned around and bought the first cob figure 8 I saw on ETT, also for $100, in brand new condition.  I didn't ask questions, just knew it was an Ovation and it would get the job done.  I didn't realize exactly what I bought until it came yesterday:


The $221 Ovation RCS (Recessed Crown System) Jumper Bridle.  Way nicer than I thought I was getting.  #happylittleaccident #bobross4eva


I'll do a full review of it after I get it on Connor's head, but so far, for the price, I am impressed.  On a scale of painted India leather to French leather, I'd say it's a 6 or 7, and will improve when it's conditioned for the first time.  The padding on the crown and cheek pieces is very soft, and it's a raised bridle instead of flat, which looks classy and jumper-y.


I've never had a comfort crown bridle before, but it's pretty sharp looking.


The only thing I don't like about it is this MASSIVE sheepskin disc.  It's just excessively large:




I'm planning on trimming the sides of it, but not before I try it on him just to giggle about how it covers his enter face.

I'm going to try it on when I hopefully get a ride in tonight before an ice storm hits tomorrow!  Wish me luck!

GUYS.  The cute:


Thanks to JenJ alerting me to it, I scored this used Nunn Finer Figure 8 off English Tack Trader.  I always thought he'd look good in a figure 8, but since I had other bridles that worked, I wasn't able to justify buying one unless the price was right.

"Hello, there."

If only he'd had that bridle on here, to complete the faux-jumper look.

Photo by my mom

Maybe this all won't be amazing to me 20 years from now when I've been through this process a few times, but for now?  It's freakin amazing.  I can point to this one thing and say, "This horse LEARNED this thing, and here's the two year process it took to teach it to him."

Getting more rideable all the time.

Google keeps Instagramming my pictures.