Finding a Fit

When the Tack Doesn't Match the Horse

Auggie inspecting someone's grooming kit in his new bridle and running martingale. 

    The first roadblock I encountered with Auggie on day one, was finding tack in my collection that would fit him appropriately. He not was thick as a draft horse, but he was certainly much larger than our Quarter horses and not as fine boned as Tony was. At 17H in height he was a large horse, but something more like a big Dressage horse and not like a racehorse. He had an enormous head, that wasn't going to fit into any of the English bridles that I had at home.

    I was left with the choice to simply buy a brand-new Bridle and martingale. Since I didn't have a whole lot of time that week, I ordered an inexpensive dressage bridle by Henri Di Rivel from Amazon ( Henri Di Rivel ) and had it delivered very quickly. It was anyone's guess whether or not it would actually fit, but it was the best option I had at the moment. There is always trial and error when it comes to tack, and poorly fitting tack is never worth it, no matter how good it may look. 

    I pulled three different bits from our old tack room at home to try on Auggie. I didn't know exactly what size his mouth was, but I did remember the rescue using a D-ring snaffle on him when I rode him. I had a French link- loose ring snaffle, an Egg Butt Snaffle, and a rubber oval-link Egg Butt snaffle that were all about 5 inches in size. The process of trying them proved to be tedious.

    The first day of trying out tack on Auggie was not easy. I quickly learned how head-shy the horse was once he was in his new environment; he had been easy to tack up at the rescue, so I was really thrown off guard by this on the first full day of having him. Grooming him in his stall wasn't an easy task either, as he seemed agitated and nervous in these strange surroundings. I knew it was going to be a journey for sure.

    Attempting to bridle Auggie took a solid 20 minutes the first time, although it felt like a good hour to me. The first bit I tried was the rubber oval-link snaffle, which clearly did not fit the shape of his mouth at all; he was clearly annoyed by all this, which made it more difficult to adjust the buckles on the bridle. I was beginning to regret trying to do this alone as he tossed his head around violently. It was humid and the air was stagnant in the old part of the barn where he was stalled.

    Off came the bridle and then the process of un-buckling the poorly fitting snaffle all over again. I felt myself getting frustrated already, and I knew I still had a long way to go with this horse; he was a project and not a finished product. I had to find some patience and try again. All along the way, patience was going to be key in getting anywhere together, and I certainly learn to have a bit more of that.

    I hammered two holes into each of the cheek pieces to position the bit in the correct place in his mouth and buckled on the simple Egg-Butt snaffle that I had used on Tony. After another 20 minutes of struggling with the head flipping of a 17H Standardbred, I had the bit in his mouth and correctly adjusted for his size. The two little wrinkles appeared at the corners of his lips and seemed to be a comfortable fit for him. The simplicity of the snaffle bit seemed to suit him and I decided to keep it that way. 

    Fitting a saddle for his back was a whole different story, and one that required a couple months of trying different things. When it came to finding a way to have a correct fit for his unique shape, I had to consult a professional saddle fitter, which is a good idea anytime you have a new horse. In Auggie's case, his breed and size made him a particular challenge as Standardbreds have a much different shape than the typical thoroughbred or Quarter Horse. Auggie's journey to becoming a riding horse was in its infancy, and we had a long journey ahead of us.