We spend so much time cleaning and caring for bridles... there's love invested there.
I was lucky that Charm came with a bridle of best quality English leather, and she had it all her life. Such lovely supple old leather after all those years of oiling and cleaning; except for the noseband, which she only ever wore once a year to the local show.
I probably spent a lot less time cleaning and/or caring for my riding equipment than I should, which may have contributed to this bridle's shortevity. I should definitely have checked those screws.
I have found it a lot easier to let things go. I am a pack rat by nature and some of it is sentimental and some of it is pseudo-practical (but I might use that sometime!). But it is nice not having to hunt for storage space for things I actually do use regularly and look around the house and not see piles of stuff. My tack room is another matter entirely and it is due for inventory and reassessment.
I also hate chicago screws and check them before each ride on the tack that has them. My least convenient experience with them I was in the desert riding Jed, a 17.1 hand Percheron. Asked for a little nose tip and turn and there was nothing in my hand but rein, no horse on the other end! Thankfully he was a good boy and stopped for me, but in the sandy wash there was no finding the screw and who knows how long it had been out! I was able to jury rig the rein and just barely climbed back on using the side of the wash, which was slick and unhelpful footing.
The funny thing is that in spite of Steve's warnings, I have never had a problem with the Chicago screws until the last clinic whereupon I lost two on the same day. I guess eight years was their limit. The new bridle doesn't have any, I'm happy to say.
My trainer is not sentimental about anything except bridles. There must be something about them. Maybe because it's such an important means of communication.
It's a big part of the picture, for sure. I have a few saddles that I really need to get rid of, but I haven't kept them for sentimental reasons, more because I would need to clean them up before I could sell them...
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I was lucky that Charm came with a bridle of best quality English leather, and she had it all her life. Such lovely supple old leather after all those years of oiling and cleaning; except for the noseband, which she only ever wore once a year to the local show.
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I also hate chicago screws and check them before each ride on the tack that has them. My least convenient experience with them I was in the desert riding Jed, a 17.1 hand Percheron. Asked for a little nose tip and turn and there was nothing in my hand but rein, no horse on the other end! Thankfully he was a good boy and stopped for me, but in the sandy wash there was no finding the screw and who knows how long it had been out! I was able to jury rig the rein and just barely climbed back on using the side of the wash, which was slick and unhelpful footing.
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