pelhams - curb chains

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wench

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can you use them without a curb chain?

Poss might need to use one this weekend, but no time to go and replace curb chain with an elastic/leather one (its for jumping xc)
 
i dont really see the point in using it without a curb chain
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Well I wouldn't, but some people do. Without a curb chain the cheeks of the bit are free to rotate quite considerably, so the amount of poll presure that can potentally be exerted is far greater than if the bit was fitted with a curb chain. If you do use one without a curb chain remove the hooks. If you haven't got time to go & get a leather/elastic one why don't you order one online & pay a bit extra for special delivery?The other alternative would be to wrap the chain in a strip of latex bandage, elastoplat, vetwrap...etc. if you do wrap the chain make sure you leave the fly link exposed for the lip strap.

NB. If you are gong to use the pelham without a chain make sure it's a half moon / straight mouthpiece, NOT one with a port, as again the excessive rotation of the cheeks could cause the port to twist in to the roof of the mouth.
 
well my reason for asking is going xc on sun, horse gets very strong. I have ordered some bits online, but they havent come yet. Saturday is the only day I will really get to try out whatever bit I am going to use, and a pelham is the only one I am going to have access to (apart from a copper roller) if the other bits dont come. And as I have never out horse in a curb chain before, I was a bit concerned about what his reaction to it would be, and what he would be like jumping with it
 
To be brutally honest with you, if you think you're going to have control issues you'd be better of not going XC until you've resolved them.
In terms of a 'quick fix' the answer to your problem though could well lie in a noseband rather than a bit? Although I have to say I've certainly never 'worked up' to a curb chain - I've always just put them on & substiuted a leather or elastic one if required-(once as far as I can remember - on a very thin skinned TB.) How you horse will react to it is very dependent on your hands, & your ability to soften them the instant you need to.
 
As the others have said there isnt much point, but I have had 'odd' as in weird horses that go well in something that wouldnt work on a straightforward horse, if it works for you then thats fine, but TBH if you are bothered about brakes you are leaving it a bit late to sort something out!
 
Going to go against the grain here - I had major braking issues with my horse XC earlier this year but only in comps - at home/schooling he was fine in the bit I was using, at comps he was just too strong. So there was no way for me to try anything at home and know whether it would work or not.

With a pelham, use the normal curb chain but start him off slowly so he is used to it - 99 out of 100 horses will be fine, 1 will hate the action of the curb because as they stretch into the contact on takeoff it comes into play. I literally walked and halted in the school for a bit, then trotted and cantered, then popped some small x poles and little jumps. Then I went PN with it - had only ridden in it once before.

Just walk the course and look for somewhere safe to pull up by circling if you have to - it's what I did. I played with the canter out of the start box making sure I could move him on and bring him back between fences, including right back to trot, and had picked somewhere just after fence 5 where I could pull up safely if it wasn't working. You should know by about 4 or 5 fences in if it is working or not - if it isn't then be prepared to pull up and call it a day and try something new next time.

It worked brilliantly for me by the way! I have now played about with it a bit more and know I need the curb one link tighter when competing than I do at home. Don't bother with a pelham without the curb, there's no point.

Oh and I recommend a call to heather at neue schule bits - she is a mine of useful information, gave me a list of which bits to try, in what order and why based on questions she asked me about my horse's way of going.
 
well i ordered some bits last monday... so time enough to see if they would work. but we are not going now so it doesnt matter.
 
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