Blog Archives
We’ve made our sidepulls even better!
One of our most enduring bestsellers through the years has been our sidepull. No matter if it comes in our traditional beta biothane, in our Almost Leather beta, nylon, or leather, that’s the design that attracts people across lots of disciplines and breeds.
One thing we’ve noticed through the years is that you can have a lot of different horse head shapes within the same size. For example, our standard Horse Size will fit a Quarter Horse, a Tennessee Walker, and a Morgan, but between and within those breeds you could be looking at relatively different proportions for brow width, face length, and nose width. (That’s just one of the reasons we leave a box to fill in horse’s height, approximate weight, and breed at checkout — so our tackmakers can estimate what your horse’s head shape is most likely to be.)
Generally, this isn’t a problem and as long as the appropriate size is chosen for the horse, our more conventional English or Western bridles will work just fine.
We did notice that in some cases though, the sidepull might fail to sit quite “right” on a horse’s head. Part of the difficulty is that third strap between the traditional noseband and throatlatch — horses’ skulls can be fairly different widths between the jawbones there — but it was also the width of the brow in proportion to the cheek lengths. This could sometimes cause poorly-fitting sidepulls to sit with the cheekpieces sitting too close to the horse’s eye.
This was as frustrating to us as it was to you, and we’re happy to announce we’ve workshopped this with some of our best tackmakers and found a solution. By making small adjustments to the standard strap lengths and proportions within each size (mini to draft available), we were able to correct the angle of the noseband, which keeps those side straps where they should be. These slight changes seem to have made this headstall work better for all our customers. The horses who were already comfortable in our sidepulls should still achieve the perfect fit.
Right now, our sidepulls start at just $20 for nylon and $48 for beta biothane, so what are you waiting for? Pick one up today.
No horse is too big or small…
…for Two Horse Tack, which Lazarus demonstrates. Lazarus is a draft horse who was rescued from a kill pen auction in New Jersey and is now loved by his person, Heidi.
Lazarus is wearing our blue sidepull bitless bridle, which starts at just $55 in our online shop (a flat price, whether you order a draft, a mini, or a regular horse size). The sidepull is one of two bitless bridles we offer; the other is the 2-in-1, which can be converted to either a crossunder style or a sidepull. Learn more about bitless styles here.
Bridles that are tough enough for Elby
Rebecca tells us that her mare Elby has a reputation for breaking bridles. We understand how that goes–our horses have a tidy pile of busted crossties between them. That’s why she was so glad to receive a bridle that not only fit Elby beautifully, but held up to her rigorous field testing.
“Received the new bitless bridle the other day and it seems to fit Elby perfectly! I love how sturdy it is, since she’s been known to break bridles before. Thanks for making such good quality tack for such a good price.”
Love Elby’s bridle? Buy it here.
Congratulations to Gaia!
Congratulations to Gaia, winner of our recent tack giveaway with the Behind the Bit blog! We love meeting our followers on social media, and readers in the blogosphere. Gaia is a 2-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse who has been hand-raised by her human, Susan. Gaia was a dystocia foal, meaning her delivery was complicated; in Gaia’s case, her dam suffered a fractured pelvis, which meant that she couldn’t take care of Gaia. Susan tells us Gaia didn’t have to be bottle fed but actually drank milk out of a Tupperware container.
Meet Gaia, the Tennessee Walking Horse
Because of Gaia’s age, she’s not ready to begin working under saddle yet, but will be starting ground driving soon and her people hope to use her new bitless bridle in her early training.
Susan tells us that because of the way Gaia grew up, she’s very people-oriented; sort of a “pocket pony” whose personality should help her excel at whatever she does. We’re expecting big things from this little girl!
Gaia will get a great start with our two-in-one bitless bridle, which converts between a cross-under bitless bridle and a sidepull. The cross-under style works with more generalized pressure than the sidepull, which focuses pressure on the horse’s nose. Many of our customers find that the bitless bridle gives them both extra control and a better sense of connectivity with their horse. The flexibility of the two-in-one makes it a great option for those trying a bitless bridle for the first time.
The (Bitless) Gypsy Life
Ashlyn the Gypsy Vanner
We’re thrilled to announce the winner of our most recent tack giveaway! Five-year-old Ashlyn is a 13.1 hand Gypsy Vanner mare. Ashlyn has some very unique breeding–she is a homebred for Gone Gypsy Farm, and as the daughter of Indigo Royal Night and Sweet Lil Liza Jane she carries the Appaloosa gene. Gone Gypsy specializes in spotted Gypsy Vanners, and Ashlyn has already produced a black spotted filly named “Tink.”
Ashlyn is accustomed to ponying off a golf cart, and has already completed a Level Three obstacle course in hand. She will begin working under saddle this year, and her people at Gone Gypsy are excited to use the bitless sidepull that they’ve won to begin her training.
Ashlyn’s black spotted foal
Our bitless sidepull bridle
Our bitless sidepulls include a noseband and a jaw strap to keep the cheekpiece stable and out of the horse’s eyes. The rein rings are securely sewn onto the noseband and triple-stitched for added security. The bridle is fully adjustable at the cheeks, noseband and throat latch. Love the sound of it? Buy yours here.
Go bitless!
Our April tack giveaway may give you a great opportunity to try something new this spring. We’ll be giving away a bitless sidepull bridle to one lucky winner. A bitless bridle can give you more freedom and more control, and can be a good solution for some horses over traditional bridles. Check out this post from the archives on the benefits of the two styles of bitless bridle.
This giveaway is for a single-color beta biothane bitless sidepull, which includes noseband and jaw strap to provide stability and keep cheek piece away from horse’s eye. Rein Rings are securely sewn into noseband and triple stitched for added security.It is fully adjustable at the cheeks, noseband, and throat latch.
Everyone who enters this giveaway will receive a $10 off coupon to our store. Also for the month of April, the sidepull is on sale, just in case you don’t want to wait to see if you’ve won.
What are you waiting for? Enter today!
Something’s missing here: Bitless bridles
One of our most popular products over at our shop is the bitless bridle. You may have seen these a time or two and wondered, ‘Isn’t something missing there?’
The bitless bridle has fans both in the English and Western worlds. Instead of placing pressure on the bars of the horse’s mouth, it may work by putting pressure on the bridge of the horse’s nose or on the poll, depending on how the bridle is constructed.
One of the most popular styles of bitless bridle is the sidepull, illustrated below. On a sidepull, the reins attach to loops attached to the cheekpieces.
Another style is the crossunder. These bitless bridles create leverage by crossing the reins under the horse’s nose, adding poll pressure to the equation.
(Sidenote: We sell a two-in-one bitless bridle that can easily converts between a crossunder and a sidepull. Check it out!)
Many riders prefer a bitless bridle, sometimes also called a hackamore, because it eliminates some horses’ need to fight and overpower increasingly-harsh bits, and gives them more exacting control. Others consider many bits harsh and unnecessary, and feel more connected and in tune with their horse when riding without a bit.
Some trainers like to start young horses off in bitless bridles since their permanent teeth aren’t finished emerging.
Learn more about the evolution of bitless bridles here.
Also, Happy Cyber Monday to all! Don’t forget about our Christmas ornament giveaway going on today. We’re still shipping orders in plenty of time for them to be under your tree, so don’t hesitate to stop by our shop.
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