Cob Jockey

We're a month out from the clinic and parts of my clinic order have arrived.  (She did say it would take that long, which is fine)


That's not quite accurate.  The entire bridle has arrived, minus the reins, but the noseband arrived with a flash, so we're exchanging it for one without a flash, and rocking the western look in the meantime.

LOVE this crown design!  It lays so nicely over the top of the head.

I had hoped to replace the throatlatch with a smaller one, because he's on the last hole on both sides.  The throatlatch comes tagged and barcoded separately from the crown, albeit in the same bag, which made me think you could swap that part out, but sadly they don't sell them separately.  The horse crown is definitely the right size, so we'll deal.

Look how much room the little guy has for his ears, I'm so happy.

I'm going to do a proper review of it once I have the whole bridle, but even with all the hassle, I'm so happy with it.  Remember the whole reason I went down this bit/bridle fitting clinic path was because I knew the PS was too tight on his head, and then at the clinic I learned it was also resting on some sensitive nerves:






The properly fitted Schockemohle, compared to the PS, is practically loose over the top of his head. 


I'm not throwing PS under the bus here, I'm just saying mine wasn't the right size for him, and I don't think there was anything I could've done differently to get it sized correctly.  The straps are not sewn in the right place on the noseband for him on the cob, but the cob is already too big in diameter on the last hole, so the horse size wouldn't have worked either, even with a chin pad.  Bridle fitting is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more complicated than I ever realized.

Our temporary loaner bit

Finally, the bit hasn't arrived either, but a barnmate had almost the exact same Bombers bit lying around, just with a forward curve to it.  We rode in that one at the clinic and it wasn't as dramatically life changing as the straight version, but it's still better than the baucher for him.

Our real bit

It's nice to know our improvements lately have NOT been due to my tack changes, BUT it's also nice to realize how much more comfortable he is in this new setup.  There have been multiple times lately when I thought he got his tongue over the bit, to the point I actually stopped him to check, only to realize that the lightness and movement I felt in the reins was due to him softly mouthing the bit with a relaxed tongue.  He hasn't even thought about getting it over in any ride with either of the Bombers bits, and that's a ringing endorsement from Connor.

Happy, happy pony

Once we had the bit settled, she took a look at the bridle.  She had Tota Comfort, Schockemoehle and Passier bridles to play with.  I explained that I've had him in traditional bridles, a Micklem, a figure 8 and the PS of Sweden he was wearing, and I've felt like all of them were tight behind his ears.  I also had concerns about the amount of pressure the PS of Sweden was exerting on his poll, and I told her about his regular brief but violent headshaking episodes (that seems to be partially related to my hands).

Long story short, she ended up putting him in a Schockemoehle mix and match that looked something like this, but without the flash:


When I asked why she chose that for him, she said this bridle is basically her secret weapon for uncomfortable horses and the one she's had the most success with.  She showed me how well it fit behind his ears, and sure enough, this is the best fit yet in my opinion.  His ears have actual space, not just the idea of space that the PS has.  The crown (which I would describe as "pseudo-articulating") is designed to have as little pressure as possible on the first vertebrae.

Finally, and most interesting to me: when we were deciding what sizes to order for which parts, she was on the fence between cob and horse sized noseband.  Purely in terms of nose circumference, he needs cob, but she ended up ordering the horse size and here's why: the placement of the cob cheek straps would have sat right on top of his extra prominent (she says) cheekbones and irritated them.

Guess what noseband is appropriately sized in terms of diameter and sits right on top of those cheekbones?

...oh.

She said she had to make a compromise - the horse size is likely to stretch out to be too big in diameter at some point - but she said that stretching was a better outcome than the cheek pieces permanently sitting on top of his cheekbones, and that if it did stretch, I should put a pad under the noseband.  I appreciated her talking me through it and her honesty and told her I was on board with the horse size noseband.

Here is what we ended up with, immediately after that amazing 10 minute lesson I referenced yesterday, which we wore the entire new bridle/bit setup for.  (Keep in mind this is just a demo bridle and not every part is sized correctly - the noseband is though):

Some serious foam

I did end up buying both the bridle and the bit from her, but she didn't pressure me to do so.  I got the feeling she wouldn't have minded if I just thanked her for her time and left.  But honestly, I was floating so high off the ground after the way he felt during that ride, I went all "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!"  Anything to make him comfortable and feel THAT good during a ride.

I knew I wasn't getting a deal, of course.  The bit was about the same price as I would've paid on my own, the bridle and reins each were about $10 more than I would have paid online, so hey, you know what, consider it a tip, you earned it. (Shipping was $9.95 total).

All in all, it was an outstanding experience.  Kim's expertise and deep toolkit saved me from so much hassle, time and money throwing bits and bridles at the wall and seeing what stuck.  I can see taking advantage of her services again sometime as our needs change (and maybe someday we have a double for her to evaluate!).  I would also LOVE to do a ridden clinic with her someday too.

Oh one more detail.  I succumbed to peer pressure (LEAHAIMEERENATEMEGANAUSTENTERESAKARENALLI) and bought it in brown...

A story for another day