Just, damn. Really?
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Torture Device Tuesday
A reader sent me this photo, apparently it was found on a sale ad advertising this horse as a kid's lesson horse. I am not sure I would want a child to ride a horse that needed this contraption in order to control it. It looks to me like Duct-Tape wrapped wire or cable and a rusty old chain mouth gag bit. Surely we could have found something a bit less, well, jury-rigged to put on the creature for a sale photo.
Just, damn. Really?
Just, damn. Really?
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I myself am not a fan of draw or gag bits. IF the occasion arises that one of my horses would need one I would NEVER put something like this on them. My God have they never heard of Weaver Leather? Weaver has a super nice gag headstall that is nice soft cotton rope! And Ozark Leather has a leather gag with rope slides and action has an all leather gag... see there are numerous options other than duct taped wrapped cable or what ever the hell that is. These folks are probably the type that say if you can'd duct it @#$% it! Ugh idiots. Whats sad is the horse looks super sweet and has such a kind eye. I hope he/she found/finds a home where someone with knowledge and sense will love him
ReplyDeleteAt least we can hope someone bought him so he doesn't have to put up with this anymore :)
ReplyDeleteUGH.
ReplyDeleteI found a similar contraption in the trash at the barn where I board JUST LAST NIGHT! Except someone had made a bosal/noseband out of baling wire & duct tape, and the headstall out of a couple of layers of what looked like thick speaker cable & duct tape.
Yeah, gotta love the Western Pleasure folks.
I'm hoping it belonged to the person who moved out... it appeared not to have been used in awhile, and broken.
Gag bits are NOT for people who are so clueless they won't even get their horse a real bridle. I would say that gag bits are not for at least 90% of riders.
I have some friends that have recently gotten into horses. They were told to always buy the bit the horse is currently being ridden with when they bought a new horse. Sooooo...they bought a new horse for their 11 year old daughter that looked very much like this one except it had a very thin steel cable going over the poll too. I saw that thing one time in that 11 year old just learning to ride kid's hands and about had a fit. They have since replaced it with something more humane...thank God. Many people use these things as a quick fix instead of spending the time to train properly. Many others use these things out of sheer ignorance. I think that if the time comes that I need something like this to control my horse I'll just have to find another hobby, like stamp collecting or something.
ReplyDeleteoy,yoy,yoy. Let's hope this rather pleasent looking horse finds a loving and capable owner.
ReplyDeleteI saw this on the HorseGroomingSupplies.com forum. Most members said they would be cautious if the horse needed this harsh...thing. And not only does it look to be a duct tape gag, but it's an old rusty chain bit too.
ReplyDeleteAnd the HorseGroomingSupplies.com forum is great if you're looking to buy tack. Other members sell pretty much anything you can think of. And it's just full of very informative members too.
What worries me the most about this picture, the duct tape is there for a reason. Probably not to provide padding either.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is the tape is there because the bridle (if you can even call it that!) has been sooooo overused on the poor horse, that it may be falling apart.
Hopefully someone will step up and take this horse out of the hands of those who obviously don't deserve him.
I also saw this on HorseGroomingSupplies.com, and I agree with what peaches1111_00 said, its very helpful, and fun too look around.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I hate to see such a lovely horse with that thing on his/her head. Gah! The more I look at that horse, the more I like it : /
A gag bit can be a very useful tool IF IN THE PROPER HANDS! I have one (blue steel snaffle with soft cotton rope headstall) that is used as a training aid when working on cattle or for starting a horse to game. Nothing harsh about it if used PROPERLY. A pity it's being used on a supposed "kids horse"....shows me that the horse is obviously NOT something for an inexperienced kid! The duct tape....well I can only say that once the headstall on a leather gag bridle breaks, it is hard to fix and pretty much can only be replaced by a thin cotton rope if the bit is to be useful again. I have a thick snaffle gag which I believe used to be on a polo bridle, but when it came to me the leather was so rotten and broke I cut it all off and saved the brass bit. I looked for years and finally found a replacement nylon gag headstall that was able to be put on the bit and is now successfully used as a gaming bit on my Marsh Tacky pony mare. Once again, a nice training tool if used properly in the right hands.
ReplyDeleteBest Possible Spin ~"Oh, we use this to teach 'em it's a bad idea to pull on their mouth... use your seat!"
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of where I bought Apache, my first horse that I just got home again (yay!). The guy had an old parade saddle on which the stirrup fenders were held on by staples. He also would duct tape parts of bridles that were coming off. This guy was a CHEAP bastard, and he was abusive to horses to boot. I wonder if that cheapness is the same situation here.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a chain bit to me, and folks, I have used one on myself, on the inside of my arm. I thought for sure it would be a torture device. As long as it's large links that lay flat, they do not pinch and do not hurt. My friend's 3 yo filly rode in one just fine--we tried it on her because she was mouthing the snaffle so much we couldn't get her to concentrate. But we couldn't get her to coordinate her hind end with her front end in it. It's an amazingly mild bit, but since we don't realy know how to use it to it's maximum then we switched her to a double jointed snaffle with a copper roller in the middle, which worked out just great.
Hey scaeq, how do we send you a potential post subject? I have a good one for you and wanted to let you know about it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHey scaeq, how do we send you a potential post subject? I have a good one for you and wanted to let you know about it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJust email it to me at tackytackoftheday@yahoo.com!
"I saw this on the HorseGroomingSupplies.com forum."
ReplyDeleteThat's where it was posted to begin with. ;)The whole thing is jsut so nasty looking, I can't imagine anyone actually using it and I bet they end up with more negative results than positive. :(
I love going on here, to see all the rude comments people make when they know nothing from the other side.
ReplyDeleteWe ride our barrel horses in this at home. Its actually, not very harsh and my horse loves this bit. His is actually a twisted three peice dog bone mouth piece. Keeps him very nice and soft.
Theres nothing wrong with this headstall, i've made my own headstall for these bits because SORRY that im not made of money. Its cheaper to just make it.
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ReplyDeleteamen^
ReplyDelete