Cob Jockey

Once we had the bit settled, she took a look at the bridle.  She had Tota Comfort, Schockemoehle and Passier bridles to play with.  I explained that I've had him in traditional bridles, a Micklem, a figure 8 and the PS of Sweden he was wearing, and I've felt like all of them were tight behind his ears.  I also had concerns about the amount of pressure the PS of Sweden was exerting on his poll, and I told her about his regular brief but violent headshaking episodes (that seems to be partially related to my hands).

Long story short, she ended up putting him in a Schockemoehle mix and match that looked something like this, but without the flash:


When I asked why she chose that for him, she said this bridle is basically her secret weapon for uncomfortable horses and the one she's had the most success with.  She showed me how well it fit behind his ears, and sure enough, this is the best fit yet in my opinion.  His ears have actual space, not just the idea of space that the PS has.  The crown (which I would describe as "pseudo-articulating") is designed to have as little pressure as possible on the first vertebrae.

Finally, and most interesting to me: when we were deciding what sizes to order for which parts, she was on the fence between cob and horse sized noseband.  Purely in terms of nose circumference, he needs cob, but she ended up ordering the horse size and here's why: the placement of the cob cheek straps would have sat right on top of his extra prominent (she says) cheekbones and irritated them.

Guess what noseband is appropriately sized in terms of diameter and sits right on top of those cheekbones?

...oh.

She said she had to make a compromise - the horse size is likely to stretch out to be too big in diameter at some point - but she said that stretching was a better outcome than the cheek pieces permanently sitting on top of his cheekbones, and that if it did stretch, I should put a pad under the noseband.  I appreciated her talking me through it and her honesty and told her I was on board with the horse size noseband.

Here is what we ended up with, immediately after that amazing 10 minute lesson I referenced yesterday, which we wore the entire new bridle/bit setup for.  (Keep in mind this is just a demo bridle and not every part is sized correctly - the noseband is though):

Some serious foam

I did end up buying both the bridle and the bit from her, but she didn't pressure me to do so.  I got the feeling she wouldn't have minded if I just thanked her for her time and left.  But honestly, I was floating so high off the ground after the way he felt during that ride, I went all "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!"  Anything to make him comfortable and feel THAT good during a ride.

I knew I wasn't getting a deal, of course.  The bit was about the same price as I would've paid on my own, the bridle and reins each were about $10 more than I would have paid online, so hey, you know what, consider it a tip, you earned it. (Shipping was $9.95 total).

All in all, it was an outstanding experience.  Kim's expertise and deep toolkit saved me from so much hassle, time and money throwing bits and bridles at the wall and seeing what stuck.  I can see taking advantage of her services again sometime as our needs change (and maybe someday we have a double for her to evaluate!).  I would also LOVE to do a ridden clinic with her someday too.

Oh one more detail.  I succumbed to peer pressure (LEAHAIMEERENATEMEGANAUSTENTERESAKARENALLI) and bought it in brown...

A story for another day