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Monday, March 30, 2009

What the heck?

I found this "training" headstall online, and cannot figure out how excatly it functions (or fits for that matter) on the horse's head. It looks like some kind of freakish mechanical hackamore/sidepull combo thing. It is called a "Pro Stop", here is the ad text...



If you have ever used a traditional fast stop on a young colt and found it turned sideways, you will appreciate the additional rigging on this Pro Stop. It will stay in place! The wider curb piece distributes the pressure evenly across the nose and chin. The pro Stop is fully adjustable and gives a very fast release. Ideal to teach a collected stop.






15 comments:

  1. That would put a lot of leverage on the horses head if the reins attach to the fartherest 2 rings. REally nasty piece of equipment. That would be much worse than a chain hackamore. Direct pressure on the chin and downward pressure on the nose. I think you could easily break a horse's nose with this one.

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  2. Scary. Reminds me of medieval torture devices.

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  3. *sigh* Another shortcut.

    Let's assume you *teach* your horse, using this. Let's assume he *learns* wearing this.

    What happens when you use a regular bridle on him????

    Yeah, that's what I thought, too.

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  4. Awesome! Someone found a way to make a fairly mild sidepull into a torture device! I'm almost impressed.

    /end sarcasm

    I'm honestly almost impressed at the ingenuity it took to come up with a device to add to a sidepull that would turn it into something capable of basically ripping your horse's nose off if he didn't comply...

    What the hell happened to actually TRAINING your horse?!?!? Seriously?! If I can ride my 4yo recently gelded colt in a plain old French link attached to only a little headstall....or a plain old halter if I'm feeling lazy... I'd think just about any horse could be trained without a torture device on its head. I guess that's the key though...training....

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  5. I wonder if that really does stop a horse or just causes the horse to rear/buck/flip over/run faster? That much pain will more likely cause a horse to freak out mindlessly.
    Where I lived previously, a neighbor had something like this on his Arab. It did not work & the horse got worse. Amazing, huh?
    I have heard of this thing, without the side pull part, referred to as a "jaw breaker" by tack stores & people actually using it.

    sagebeasties.blogspot.com

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  6. I've never actually seen that, but I do own a quick stop (which I assume is what the ad means by fast stop) It's not meant for young horses or horses that are not really well broke to a bridle. It's not for the unexperienced and you don't rip a horse's face off with it.

    It's commonly used to freshen and lighten up cutting, cow and reining horses who have become a little show smart etc.

    So everyone has their bit bitch so to speak. I personally have a thing against gags, but as it is always said, any bit in the wrong hands is severe.

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  7. please tell me that hunk of metal in the middle is not the BIT...


    I'm around a fair number of showing ropers and reiners, and to a person, they all stop light and instantly in SNAFFLES. Normal, fat, loose ring, D ring, eggbutt snaffles. They show in curbs, but rarely do I see them actually use the reins for a stop.

    And they win.

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  8. Right out of the gate I thought, too much crap to adjust, why bother? Why not just train the horse?

    Then I sat here staring at it, blinking...

    Clicked on the pic to enlarge, blink, blink.

    When you pull on the reins, presuming attached to the lower rings, the rope noseband exerts pressure as the top of the bar presses into the horses lower jaw. With all the attachments to the upper noseband, there would also be some degree of poll pressure going on.

    My guess is the horse will stop, probably go up and hopefully over backwards landing on and severly injuring the ignorant fuck using it. Injuring them to the point they no longer ride, but can think about what they have done while trying to shortcut good, solid training.

    Maybe their family can sue the manufacturer, put them out of business and we won't see these available on the market anymore.

    One can hope

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  9. When I see stuff like this I can't help but picture the clusterf*ck of baling twine, coat hanger, and chewing gum that the wack-job "inventor" used as a prototype.

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  10. Whoa. Hold on. That what I think it is? A bridle, a drop nose band, four leather curb straps (that don't even match the bridle), and a tom thumb that someone left in the driveway and was sadly misshapen when the saw truck ran over it?

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  11. Thank you CCH.. I agree.. The rest of you dont assume every piece of severe looking equipment is severe in the right hands.. I have seen a well known multiple world champion cowhorse trainer make a horses mouth hamburger with a simple smooth mouth snaffle.. USED SEVERELY EVERY PIECE OF EQUIPMENT CAN CAUSE INJURY!!!That is why it is the human's resposibilityto know how to use equipment correctly..

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  12. fordgrrl & CCH are definitely right. It's all about knowing how to use equipment the right way. I use Wonder bits and regular D-ring snaffles, but I know if I pull hard I can crack the top of tehir mouth and it would really hurt.

    CNJ said,

    Injuring them to the point they no longer ride, but can think about what they have done while trying to shortcut good, solid training.

    No no no, you silly girl! Then they must SUE the manufacturer for making such a torture device and convincing them in their 3-sentence paragraph in the tack magazine to buy it! Where's your American spirit? It's ALWAYS someone else's fault! Oh, and don't forget to shoot the horse because he's a monster and dangerous to everyone around him!

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  13. Katphoti- I didn't leave that part out.

    >>Maybe their family can sue the manufacturer, put them out of business and we won't see these available on the market anymore.<<

    And SillyPony, I cracked up reading your post. I can almost picture it too.

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  14. Ah, I see how this works. Now I wish I hadn't figured that out.

    So there is there a rope noseband practically on the nostrils, which of course is a great way to suffocate them, that'll stop the horse fast! /sarcasm.

    Not only that, we have a delightful shank bit, that sits directly underneath the horses jaw. So now when you haul on that equipment for a "fast stop" the horse will not only wrench his head in behind the vertical, but he might flip or roll too!

    I agree, that any equipment is harsh in the wrong hands, but this is just begging to be abused. I can think of maybe a handful of trainers and riders in the world who could use this kindly :(

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