First Double Bridle for Star

A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of meeting lovely Angela Fenn and her gorgeous mare, Star.
Angela has owned Star since she was very young and trained her beautifully. She is a sassy mare with oodles of talent and is inspiring to watch, definitely a real star in the making!
Angela rides Star in a very sympathetic way, using the mares natural ability to make her paces expressive as she is naturally very supple and balanced. So, it was now time to have Star fitted with her first double bridle to begin refining her carriage and impulsion for her dressage career.
Star is a very forward thinking and moving mare and so I didn’t want a combination of double bits that would make her feel that she couldn’t move forwards, feeling as if she had the handbrake on. This can sometimes happen when a horse isn’t in self carriage with a supple neck, as they rely on the riders hands to balance and then have too much force down the reins, so when you add a curb bit, the handbrake goes on. However, Angela has light, giving hands to allow Star to travel forwards freely.
After inspecting Stars mouth and watching her being ridden in a snaffle, I chose an appropriately sized double set that wouldn’t impose too much restriction in her mouth so Star was able to chew and swallow easily and not feel too full in her mouth so she could remain supple through her jaw and neck to maintain a nice relaxed frame.
As you can see from the video, Star took to wearing a double bridle extremely well. Canter half pass is a good exercise to show if the horse is happy to travel forwards and laterally in with the double bridle. As we can see, Star was still happy to travel forward, with a supple neck and showed no dislike to the action of the curb at all.
Angela has put a lot of time and effort into making sure Star is a happy horse in her work and it certainly shows. They have a wonderful partnership, and are aiming for Grand Prix, and I for one am looking forward to following their journey.
If you are contemplating trying your horse in a double bridle, and don’t know where to start, please send us a message.