War Bridle

A year ago, I gave the Head Honcho a war bridle for his birthday. Our version of a war bridle is a piece of nylon rope looped through the horse’s mouth, snugged up beneath the chin with braided sliders, and with bridle reins attached to the ends of the rope. One drawback is that it’s hard to lead a horse with a war bridle since any pressure tends to pull the nylon rope out of the horse’s mouth. In addition, since there is no headstall it’s critical that the horse doesn’t “spit the bit” on his own.

I made my own version of the war bridle but both times I tried it, my filly Windsor spit it out in just a few minutes. She did respond to the war bridle against her chest, but it was clear my design wasn’t quite right! The Head Honcho has also lost his bit a couple times, but luckily, it’s happened when his horse was drinking so he just stepped off and reset the bit a little tighter.

Horses seem to like the war bridle, and Gringo in particular, carries his head very low, nearly on the ground. He doesn’t do that with any other bridle. His older brother Gumbo wears the bit all day but when you start unsaddling him, he starts spitting and usually has the war bridle out before the saddle is off. That’s never created a problem since he’s only going to the nearest feed trough anyway!

The other day, the Head Honcho, using the war bridle, rode through the cattle about a mile from home when he heard a rattlesnake. He stepped off, took his hobbles off his saddle then swept them back and forth, concentrating on finding the snake in the deep grass. Although he wasn’t exactly leading Gringo, he was moving around while the horse was staying back to avoid the hobbles…and the rattlesnake.

The Head Honcho finished killing the snake then turned back to replace his hobbles but found the war bridle lying on the ground behind him with Gringo kicking up his heels as he galloped over the ridge toward home.

We’ve had several good laughs over this incident. Even the Head Honcho chuckles since he didn’t have to walk home – his son and grandson had been fencing and drove up on a 4 wheeler and Ranger. They arrived with – as the Head Honcho described them – shit eating grins on their faces as they had witnessed the entire episode.

Even though he’s turning 85 in a few days, the Head Honcho says this old dog learned a new trick and the next time he gets off, he’ll tie a rein around his horse’s neck!