Hanging cheeks / bouchers as bradoons

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Pongwiffy

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I know it is BD legal, but does anyone actually use this arrangement successfully? it is not commonly seen and I wondered why as hanging cheeks are popular snaffles.

My horse works better in a single joint hanging cheek snaffle than an eggbutt or loose ring version. I dont use it for 'poll pressure', brakes or pulling his head in, I just get a better quality contact. i assume he like the quietness of the bit but also the fact it is suspended so sits higher. Therefore seems logical it to use one as a bradoon but I am worried I'd be comitting a faux pas and should use an eggbutt or even a loose ring?
 
Subbing - would like to hear opinions too. I ride in a baucher, but got told by one of my instructors not to use a baucher as my bradoon, as it sits too low? But that particular instructor hates my baucher anyway. He goes ok in an eggbutt bradoon just with the same mouthpiece, but I'm looking at trying a lozenge instead of french link so would love to know if a small ring baucher would do for both snaffle and bradoon instead of buying two...
 
Khalswitz, I always thought bauchers sat higher than normal snaffles rather than lower?:confused:

Perhaps we'll just have to try both an eggbutt & a baucher as a bradoon, see if there is a noticeable difference in how they sit in with a weymouth and if there is a difference in feel/way of going..and then sell the other one!
 
I wouldve thought they would've sat in the same place, just with the cheek higher on the baucher. However I'm just quoting what she told me...

I suppose that since a baucher has a head lowering action, whereas the bradoon in a double is supposed to act to lift and open (opposite to the weymouth which lowers and closes), then maybe this makes it a less successful true bradoon?? Just a pure guess on my part though.

Interestingly, although my boy hated an eggbutt single joint snaffle with a passion when I tried one on him before, he LOVES it as a bradoon! Goes better in the single joint bradoon than the french link... my conclusion is that horses are WEIRD.
 
Yes I do, although I don't ride in a double much any more.

Pony likes a very still contact so use a NS tranz angled lozenge boucher/hanging cheek with a NS Slimma weymouth (fixed cheek)
 
Thanks for your input Crazy Mare :)- with regards to fitting did you find the hanging cheek needed to be fitted the same as an eggbutt/loose ring bradoon i.e. 1/4-1/2" wider than your weymouth?


khalswitz I found that a single joint hanging cheek (as a snaffle anyway) does have a head raising action however the lozenge version definitely seemed to have a head lowering effect on my horse.

Interesting to hear your horse was happy in the single joint eggbutt bradoon even though he hated it as a snaffle. Out of interest do you use a thick or thin weymouth?

Thanks for your help :)
 
Yeah, it's weird - last tried him with a single joint snaffle when I first got him and he just giraffed and ran through it. However, I actually jump him in a single joint Cheltenham gag now too, as he was getting that he ran through the baucher between fences, and he seems to love the poll pressure combined with the single joint, which is why I was cheeky the other day and tried him in a single joint bradoon and he was much better than the french link...

My weymouth is nothing fancy, a bog standard Korsteel Cambridge fixed cheek - didn't see the point in spending on it when he's just starting out in the double this summer, so it's just a starter weymouth really. Not particularly thick mouthpiece, but not a thin one either. He seems happy enough in it though!
 
Mine are both 5". Pony could really do with 4 3/4" so yes, a little wider.

4 3/4" bits are a pain to get, so I mainly have 5" bits. Other pony does have a 4.5" snaffle though.
 
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