See, those silly OTTBs are pretty versatile-in one week we did a dressage lesson with an upper level dressage rider, took our very first sidesaddle lesson, AND went first field with Piedmont in a simple leather bit, no bridle. Last week we took a jump lesson with Jimmy Wofford in it and Rory was fantastic. He’s made it pretty clear he was just waiting for me to figure out this unique bitting thing, and I felt comfortable because I rode in our trusty old neck rope that I know I can steer and stop in (we have also hunted in this alone), but being able to have a bit he likes means we can do so much more. And it was amazing! He was so good, so happy in it, it was also his first time in first field and I was so proud of him. Then came Saturday and off we went to hunt with Piedmont in just the jaw bit. So to test it out I decided to take a dressage lesson with Allison Spivey in it, and he was fabulous! He was willing, soft, happy-what more could I ask for? I found one made called the Meroth Freedom Bit and ordered it, skeptical I was buying another bit Rory would hate but sincerely hoping it was just what he wanted. On a website about the way the plains Native Americans started their young horses, there it was, what’s called the ogalala jaw bit. It’s a simple leather strap around the lower jaw with two rings. Rory was thrilled to dump me and trot on home while I walked back!) to about to want to give up! I’ve bugged custom bit makers, vets, and dentists, about what would make a horse happy going in a bit whose upper jaw had a displaced fracture.Īnd then I found it. Rubber, foam, leather, sheepskin, biothane, baling twine (don’t try this at home kids, trust me, it didn’t end well for me. Nathe from Australia, titanium from England, a rubber $15 one from the tack shack at Charlestown racetrack, you name it, I’ve tried it, or borrowed it, or even had my husband Dustin make it for me! I might own the largest or second largest collection of Mullen mouth bits in Virgina. We won the Ambassador Award and I’ve been on a mission to show what us OTTB lovers always have known, the extreme athleticism, versatility, and kind nature of the breed.īut in order to do that, I wanted to show Rory, and most recognized associations really, really, REALLY want us to at least use a bit. So the bit search started… Last April after a U-Haul truck and trailer t-boned my dually and trailer (causing Rory to break his upper jaw, totaling the trailer and severely damaging the truck), we started our bridleless journey to the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover last year. I’ve been a member of Piedmont for the last three years and am honored to be one-going first field over the most gorgeous country, jumping big jumps and hearing the amazing sound of the hounds in full cry is my happy place, so I thought long and hard before leaving the barn that morning on Rory, without traditional hunt tack-namely, a bridle! It was about a half-hour walk and the whole way there I couldn’t decide if I was about to get myself politely asked never to attempt to foxhunt again, or have the best hunt of our lives. 11, I decided to hack Youmightbearedneck to our meet at the Stettinius’ farm, Oakfield. My family and I are lucky enough to live on the Woffords’ gorgeous Fox Covert Farm in Upperville, Va., which means we are within hacking distance to many of the Piedmont Foxhounds meets.
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