7 April 2005
I drove Ruby today after her increased feeds (and a day in the stable because of horrid wet and cold and VERY windy weather), and yes, she is back on form, full of bounce and curiosity and keen to show off her 16 kph extended trot at the least excuse. Very nice... sweetly on the bit and listening, but flying, with huge suspension between the downstrokes. This is why I drive!
But when I took her bridle off at home afterwards I saw that she has a bald, nearly raw spot at the junction of the headpiece and top cheek buckle. I have recently had to adjust the bridle to move the blinker rim off a prominent brow bone for the same reason. She does not throw her head or show any sign of discomfort, but obviously I want to deal with it before it gets to that stage.
It isn't the blinker that is causing the rub this time but the turn of the leather at the top of the cheek piece, round the buckle. I know this precisely, because the the skin that came off was stuck there! Browband is not too short - if anything it is a little long, to accommodate the Fell forelock. The leather is smooth and doesn't have sharp edges. It's just that the bridle runs over prominent bones on her face!
I may have to wire the winker stays to push the blinkers out at a wider angle. It won't be pretty but it will be possible.
I have never had a Fell with such thin facial skin and sharply prominent brow bones. If I can't solve this with my current range of bridles, I am seriously thinking that I shall have to drive her, as I did with my first Fell Rosie, in a riding bridle. I will test this of course before I do so - test the fit of the riding bridle, buckle positions, strap positions, before I even think of putting her in a vehicle - and I will have help and closed gates. (I don't believe Ruby will have problem with it; she was broken in with an open bridle and Rosie, who is Ruby's close relative and has many similar character traits, certainly did not worry about turning spokes at any time in our 5 years of driving sans blinkers.) But if the riding bridle runs over the same bones, and causes the same problems, I am no further on!
Have any of you come across this problem and if so how did you solve it?
Barb Lee replied:
Sue, I have a clicker die that produces a shaped crown. The crown is 24" from end to end. The billets will actually rest lower on the face than a conventional straight cut bridle crown. When used with your long-ish crown, this would perhaps drop the bridle below the bony ridges. I know it worked for a draft horse friend, whose percheron always came in with a rub about that same spot. I cut special shaped crowns for the boys' bridles, and the cheek then fell well below the critical spot. No more rubs. They also give lots of nice ear relief.
I would be happy to "click" you a crown blank, which you could then finish to your own requirements. I believe I have a piece of nice English bridle leather on hand. Also a piece of American harness leather, but it is excessively heavy.
Let me know if you would like to have a go with this idea!
Barb