Cob Jockey

I've been pretty scarce around here lately, but I promise I'm still here!  Work has been burying me lately, but I'm hopeful that I'll get on a good schedule again next week.

My own personal opinion time!  I wanted to comment on the noseband part of Jimmy Wofford's 'The Times, They Are a Changin'' article that has made the rounds of the online eventing community recently.  I am not one of the conservatives he speaks about in his article.  Especially being employed in the information technology industry, and being a scientist at heart, I firmly believe in the wheels of evolution, both in the natural and artificial worlds, and in the ability of properly conducted research to improve our lives. "Because that's the way we've always done it," is a poisonous level of complacency, and one that we get all-too-often trapped in as equestrians.

Science and stuff!  Want...

I don't have one yet, but I've made it no secret that my first good bridle is going to be a Micklem, once I can afford it. Growing up, I was taught that the noseband was appropriately tightened "as long as his nose isn't turning blue."  In college, it was the one finger rule.  In a sport in which you can get dismissed from the ring for wearing a non-traditionally colored shirt, it's no wonder that we're still using equipment whose fundamental design hasn't changed in centuries. 

I'm not sure on the specifics, but it only takes looking at historical paintings to know that the bridle as we know it has been around for quite a while, certainly before we'd mapped out the nerves and tiny, delicate immovable joints of the skull.  For someone like Bill Micklem to say, "This may be the way we've always done it, but if we put some research behind this, I think we can do it better," was pretty impressive.  Staking your business's success on this industry's willingness to forego tradition for science was a huge leap of faith, and it only takes one look at the number of "Is this bridle legal???" posts on CoTH to realize that it has been an uphill battle (one that he appears to be winning).  I admire that so much, I can't even tell you.

That is my opinion.  How about you?  Should science stay hidden applications like high-tech, but traditional looking saddle pads, or should the industry be ready for more things like the Micklem bridles?  Even subconsciously, can a judge look past unusual, but scientifically-sound tack?