Hoofbeats All Around @fuckyeahhorse - Tumblr Blog

horsesarecreatures

Paint Horse

horsesarecreatures

Cool Standardbred

mylittlehony

Video source: [x] and [x].

kurhanchyk

horses in qazaq steppe near almatı, 2013

horsefigureoftheday

The more I look at it, the worse it gets

flatshod

I found pictures of this bit online so here those make it clearer what we're looking at

horsefigureoftheday

#there are versions with different shank lengths and this (& the one the horse in the OP is wearing) is the version with the longest shanks

Why do so many show jumpers think they need to apply crazy leverage to control their horse?? You could use the shortest shanks and still easily apply 5 kg of crushing pressure to the skull.

For those who don't know, this is how a leverage bit works (this gif is a mechanical hackamore, which is a bitless type of bridle, but the mechanism is the same as the bit above). The longer the shank, the higher the pressure:

Leverage bits are not inherently cruel, but they can be very harsh in the wrong hands, or when used for a fast-paced sport like show jumping where the rider may forget to use gentle hands in the heat of the moment. The shanks in the gif are applying 21 kg (46 lbs) of crushing pressure, according to the video I got it from.