(“I am a 5’4″ 120 lbs. now retired school teacher.”)

I don’t want you to wait a month for this one, so even though it arises out of a would-be Question of the Month sent in by a reader, I am sharing it now. She writes:

My horse is 14 years old. His preferred posture in motion is to poke his nose way out. He is big and strong and heavy. I am not. Before I knew any better, I let him run the show and drag me around—even in the walk—but especially in the canter where he was practically unmanageable. This went on for a long time until my new instructor pointed out the massive hole I was digging myself into. After observing our struggles and feeling firsthand what a brain dead tank he could be, she suggested putting him in a double bridle. Is this OK or will it hurt him or poison my relationship with him? It doesn’t seem very classical to me. [Name withheld]

Interesting that this question arrived because I coincidentally recently received the following email from Lubbock, TX.:

Dear Bill,

I was a participant in a clinic you conducted in Weatherford, Tx. I have applied and followed through with your suggestions for lightening my big galoot of a bay horse. (Andante is a 17+h warmblood cross with size 5 feet, and I am a 5’4″ 120 lbs. now retired school teacher.)

The picture (which greeted you) was one of a lazy sweet horse, heavy on the forehand, pulling rider out of any semblance of an effective position. After numerous exercises to supple the beast and get him in front of my leg in 100+ degree heat, you said, “Sandi, I have two words for you.”

I said, “New Horse!” You said, “Double Bridle”… Shock and awe! What classical instructor on the planet would have suggested … THAT ?… The long and short of the story is that Big’un, the affectionate West Texas barn name for Andante in his world of quarter horses (little’uns), is a getting lighter after about three months of work in the double! I’m alternating the double and a Waterford for his dressage work and using a Happy Mouth Pessoa for fence work which is very much improved as well. It seems that the double keeps the energy from dribbling out his forehand and gives us something to work with under the saddle and from behind. Woot!

Thank you ever so much (et cetera)

I’ve been around this maypole with you all a handful of times already. Question Number One: Does “classical” amount to a hill of beans if you can’t control your horse and he’s making you miserable? Two: Given that the double bridle recommendation was made both times with the provision that it be used under supervision, isn’t it less injurious to the horse to have the wherewithal to make him hold himself up and not cruise around endlessly with a set jaw and hanging on the hand?

In the best world this accommodation to reality would not be necessary. Riders would be mounted on appropriate horses, and problem horses would be retrained by experienced, tactful, clever trainers for their amateur owners. In the world many of us inhabit, that just ain’t gonna happen so we do the best we can.

I can’t endorse riders using artificial devices to create a false, coerced relationship with their horse and then blithely performing advanced movements with their partner under duress. But if a different bit can level the playing field, if I can continually remind the rider not to restrict and hold, and if the horse listens and sees the light, allowing them to progress towards more classical solutions, I staunchly defend this approach.

One nice thing about a double bridle is that its very presence can often be enough to persuade the horse to re-think the relationship. That permits the rider to keep him primarily (if not exclusively) on the snaffle with the curb available in reserve. The main thing is to be able to produce some roundness in an otherwise intransigent, flat horse and to get him off the hand—off the proverbial “fifth leg.”

I might also point out that in non-dressage circles (I’m thinking fox hunting), a double bridle is sometimes used on relatively young horses and without bad side effects. Ultimately, it all comes down to the tact and feel of the rider. If she is over-matched by a leviathanly lump dragging her around the arena, a bit of reinforcement derived from the double gives a rider a reasonable chance to come to a happier outcome.