Help Identify a Piece of Tack?

[Churchill County Museum]

Hello everyone.

I am brand new to the forum, so if I have posted this incorrectly, please let me know.

I am the Director of a museum in northern Nevada, USA and we have recently come across a piece of tack that we cannot identify. I would post a photograph but perhaps because I am new to the forum, it will not allow it. If you message me directly I can send it. In the meantime I will describe it as best I can-

It appears to be an odd form of half-cheek snaffle bit. Made mostly of brass. The center piece is a thin flat spring, roughly 1/2" by 5-1/2" with loops at either end. Inside those loops are brass rings, roughly 3" in outside diameter, made of 1/4" material. The normal half-cheek that we've seen has two spoons that extend downward, or sometimes up and down, but this specimen's spoons are oriented outward, each with a gentle curve downward.

Thank you for your patience and your time, and I hope to hear from someone soon.

 

[blitznbobs]

Hi you can dm it to me — usually it’s the file size that is too big if you can’t post it

 

[Equi]

Is it a Tom Thumb bit?

 

[SpeedyPony]

If you screenshot the image it will usually allow you to upload the screenshot as the file size is smaller.

 

[MereChristmas]

A driving bit?

 

[Rowreach]

Bowman? Like a twisted wire sort of thing? Are you sure it's brass and not nickel?

Or a half spoon Dexter missing the big ring (I'm confused by your description with the number of rings).

 

[MereChristmas]

Bowman? Like a twisted wire sort of thing? Are you sure it's brass and not nickel?

@Rowreach
this?

Horse Equipment :: Bits :: Bowman Custom Show Bits :: Bowman Driving Bits

Show driving bit is handmade with a Sweet Iron mouthpiece and stainless steel rings The mouthpiece is a twisted wire arched bar with floating rings Bit can be hung from bridle cheek by loose rings providing a softer response

www.fennells.com

 

[Churchill County Museum]

https://imgur.com/UKeCI4P

Try the above link to the image.

 

[SilverLinings]

It may be an identifiable type of bit, but it isn't one I've seen before- are you able to post a picture of the mouth piece from a different angle?

Going back to around the 1920s and earlier there were many, many more types of bit available than still exist today, and who's names have since been lost. Blacksmiths and loriners would often knock up their own designs of bit, and farmers would sometimes cobble bits together. 'Gentlemen riders' would also sometimes try to invent the 'next best thing' and patent some design of theirs which never took off beyond a small number made. There will also be niche bit designs that were made in America and never made it over to the UK. It is a fascinating subject, but much of the knowledge around names and the designing of many bits has been lost. Old books and patents are a start, but bits knocked up by the local loriner for Squire X's wayward nag may not be documented anywhere.

Hopefully another poster on here will be able to provide more help than I

 

[Rowreach]

Oh that sort of spring.

Looks like a homemade thing.

 

[Churchill County Museum]

https://imgur.com/FUjMHHG

This might be a better view. Someone recently suggested that it might be a sort of Springsteen bit?

 

[SpeedyPony]

Could be- although from what I can see they are usually jointed and have two sets of rings like a wilson snaffle- could be, as mentioned above, something that someone has had made by a local smith/loriner along similar lines though.
Springsteen bit

 

[SilverLinings]

The mouthpiece looks rather uncomfortable for the horse where the middle section connects to the side bars. Having a springy section in the middle is presumable to make it more comfortable for the horse's tongue, but the joins would at least partly cancel that out.

 

[SpeedyPony]

The mouthpiece looks rather uncomfortable for the horse where the middle section connects to the side bars. Having a springy section in the middle is presumable to make it more comfortable for the horse's tongue, but the joins would at least partly cancel that out.

At a guess if it has been designed to work like a Springsteen the flex will be needed to allow the "spoons" to press into the jaw, rather than to make the mouthpiece more comfortable.
" The cheek pieces attach to the small rings and the reins to the larger rings. As pressure is applied to the reins, the spoons collapse and create jaw pressure but very little mouth pressure " - copied from the Zilco website regarding Springsteen bits.

 

[Prancerpoos]

With only a 4” gap, if I am reading the tape correctly, it must have been for a small pony?

 

[Maddie Moo]

Never seen one of those before, very fascinating!

 

[Maddie Moo]

Thinking about it, it almost reminds me of a lugging bit, used in harness racing, just without the side sections fully joined. Maybe like other posters have said, it’s a homemade style of one used on a driving pony?

 

[Lois Lame]

https://imgur.com/FUjMHHG

This might be a better view. Someone recently suggested that it might be a sort of Springsteen bit?

So interesting. I'd be thrilled if I found something like that.

 

[rabatsa]

The mouthpiece looks like a Bostwick's patented steel spring bit, which would have been covered in leather or rubber.

I found this mouthpiece in Mosemans' illustrated catalog of Horse Furnishing Goods, 5th edition, page 127.

 

[GrassChop]

I did a Google image search of it and could find similar bits which say it is a vintage iron driving bit from possibly around 1800s.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Maybe try posting here?

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[Glitter's fun]

This is the nearest I can find. It's just described as "19th Century Driving bit", though.

 

[rabatsa]

This is the nearest I can find. It's just described as "19th Century Driving bit", though.

View attachment 131741

This is a J I C bit, also in the catalog on page 130.

 

[Churchill County Museum]

You folks are awesome for trying to help us out. I think I can safely say that it's a fascinating piece but no one's seen anything exactly like it. Sometimes in the museum world one needs to be liberal with the terms 'circa' and 'similar to'. There is some sort of maker's mark but it is unreadable so we think that it was not custom built, but perhaps more of a "Gentleman Rider's next best thing" that got into production but never really took off.

Thank you for all of your efforts and suggestions. If we find out a definitive identification we will let you know. In the meantime, we wish you a good new year, stay on the saddle side of your horses, and give them ol' ponies a pat on the neck from a fella' in Nevada.