Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Five Thoroughbred-Approved Pieces of Tack

Good tack makes for happy Thoroughbreds.

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on the tack she and her horses can’t do without.

Every day (except some Mondays… maybe) I swing my leg over between six and eight horses — most of them are Thoroughbreds. Between my horses, training, consignment, and clinic rides, it adds up to probably well over a hundred different horses a year. The great thing about riding so many is that you get to figure out what they like and pattern recognition gets to rise into the almost statistically relevant range.

You might think I had a tack room brimming with options for each new horse. That would be logical, but mostly the horses that come through ride in a similar set of tack with a few small variations. Sure, I have a lot of additional gear — a box of way too many bits stuffed in a trunk, and various cavessons lying in a very untidy pile, for instance. But those are simply because I’m a pack rat when it comes to horses (we’ll need all of it at some point or another). But what they go in day-to-day is usually pretty similar and all very intentional.

Good tack makes for happy Thoroughbreds. Major Spin looking quite pleased with himself here. Photo by Lily Drew.

So, on any given day my crossties will be populated by these five things:

1. County Saddles
2. Tapestry Equine Products Girths
3. Prolite Pads and shims
4. Micklem bridles
5. Two bits: the Herm Sprenger Eggbutt Duo and the Fager double jointed fixed ring Michael bit

There certainly are a ton of options for tack that make Thoroughbreds comfortable, and it’s cool if your gear and my gear are way different (hey, if it works, it works). But here’s the logic for what I use here.

County Xcelerator Saddle

Back a number of years ago when I was still in Georgia, I had the opportunity to hop on a young mare and take her for a spin at a show. We in fact did a lot of spinning… and leaping… and sometimes jumping (knees well beyond the standards). By all logic, I should not have stuck what she threw at me. But my butt didn’t budge from the tack and when I hopped off, I called the rep of the saddle that kept me on. Yes, yes, yes, good seats and all… but good seats benefit from gear that helps you stay on the horse too. So Cindy Adcock from County Saddles of Georgia came out, fit my horse and we got an order together for a saddle that I loved and my horse thought was pretty much the bees knees – the County Xcelerator.

The whole usual set up… My very broken-in County Xcelerator, Prolite Pad, Tapestry Comfort Monoflap Girth, Micklem bridle, and Duo bit. Photo of Box N Ben by Lily Drew.

I now have a few of these. The Narrow and the Medium Narrow (with Prolite shim combinations — see below) have fit most of my horses with maybe three exceptions. I like the Xcelerators because they’re comfortable, feel safe and put me in excellent balance close to the horse. But the more important thing is that my horses love them. The tree points and the flaps stay off the horses’ shoulders allowing their huge Thoroughbred scapula to slide easily without interference. The saddles easily clear their high withers and sit balanced on their backs without rocking or chattering. Oh, and they’re wool flocked, so when I beat the hell out of them from too many rides, I get to call in my local fitter (in New York it is now Lily Drew — also our regular photographer and one of my working students) and we add wool, even them back out, and it feels like I get a new saddle.

August (Starship Augusto) showing off his narrow build and high wither. Photo by Lily Drew.

Horses like August (Starship Augusto) ride in a narrow — he is slab-sided, high-withered and narrow-chested, while horses like Indy (Star Player) gallop around in the medium narrow and make me wonder if I keep feeding that horse like I am if I’m not going to eventually need to size him up.

Indy (Star Player) showing off his topline and general chonky-ness. Photo by Lily Drew.

Tapestry Equine Products Comfort Girth

I never thought much about girths when I grew up riding. There were girths that were annoying (usually those that had no or only one side of elastic) and there were girths that were nice — fancy leather ones. In the past two decades all that has changed. Girths have been designed and redesigned in so many ways that now trying to figure out what is good for your horse is like looking at the wall of toothpaste in the grocery store, wondering how there can possibly be this many options for cleaning the bones in your face.

Somewhere along the way, the founder of Tapestry Equine Products reached out and sent me a girth to try. I am always up for test running new gear, so I jumped at the opportunity. My horses and I liked it so much that I haven’t looked back yet.

Classy Cowboy showing off the Tapestry Equine Products Comfort Girth and Cover. Photo by Lily Drew.

I like the stability these girths provide my saddles. They tighten at the sternum, supported by a neoprene and leather pad there, and they allow the sides to breath and move owing to elastic panels over the ribs. Thoroughbreds are not friendly to tack that either gets in their way or impedes their comfort. Somehow in their simple and thankfully not overdone design, Tapestry has created a girth that the horses can simply ignore and get on with everything else. Add to that that for the more sensitive sided horses or the need for additional fanciness in dressage, there are fluffy protectors you can slide on (and remove to wash).

Prolite Multi Riser Thin Half Pad

These are a product that makes the rest of the set up work for my Thoroughbreds. Each horses’ back is, of course, unique. Some will have a bigger shoulder, some a higher hip. Others will be growing and butt high while some will be so uphill it’s hard to figure out where level is. Working with a saddle specifically tailored to a given horse is great. But that’s not how my world gets to work — these saddles need to fit simply too many horses to do that. I need something that helps bridge the gap between a decent fit and a good fit while also providing a soft material specifically designed to help with concussion and that allows me to adjust as they grow and gain topline. Prolite pads get to come to the rescue there.

Prolite half pad. Shown here from Advanced Saddle Fit.

The horses like the quick rebounding padding and I like the ease of getting shims in and out. There’s no velcro, no difficulty of shim placement. There are just big pockets that fit small or medium shims as you need. Flip the pad over, toss it on the horse, tack up and you’re good to go.

As an aside: Not all half pads or shims are created equal. Foam (not neoprene) shims compress and don’t rebound well. And  I have found that the fluffy pads on the market work for certain set ups, sure, but they tend to make me feel super disconnected from the horse — adding more ‘stuff’ between my legs/seat and their back. The pro-lites or other thin, neoprene based half pads work great to aid saddle fit and keep backs happy.

Indy (Star Player) bombing around in the usual set up with the Pro-lite shimmed in the back. Photo by Lily Drew.

Micklem Bridles

I have used lots of headstalls on my horses. Some are simple snaffle bridles, some are fancy padded things that cost more than I would have expected for a few straps of leather and attachments. But after flouncing around the land of so many bridle options, I have come to really appreciate the simplicity and design of the Micklem on the Thoroughbred head. Now, hanging next to my crossties are a couple of size options, but always the same design: Small horse and Horse sized Micklem bridles with two different bits (see below).

Sue (Lakota Territory) shows off his pretty head and the Micklem bridle. Photo by Lily Drew.

Most Thoroughbreds will fit in either the horse or small horse variety, but I keep both on hand to be able to get the best sizing for their given head shape. Frankly, I like these bridles because they keep the cheek pieces off the nerve centers in their face and they add stability to the bit without forcibly closing their mouths or reducing airflow.

Thoroughbreds are fantastic at figuring out how to get around things — often gaping around the bit when a rider puts leg on and asks for a half halt or for them to come onto contact. The Micklem’s design helps encourage acceptance of the bit without forcing the matter.  And oddly, despite riding a range of horses in a wide range of nosebands and headstalls, most have thrived in this simple set up.

Tetris (Not A Game) showing off the bridle and the Herm Sprenger Duo bit that he prefers. Photo by Lily Drew.

Soft Bits

I learned a long time ago that the answer to one’s problems is rarely a bigger bit. Adding severity when a horse is green, having behavioral issues, or strong is akin to responding to an argument by yelling louder. It rarely works. So, we start them all soft and figure out their preferences from there.

My bridles have a Herm Sprenger Eggbutt Duo attached and a Fager double jointed sweet iron Michael or Martin fixed ring bit. Sure you could get away with a happy mouth nathe or a simple double jointed eggbutt, but here’s why I like these:

The Duo is flexible but durable. It provides enough stability in their mouth, while also allowing them to push it into arcs that make sense for them. The bendy nature of the nathe take the severity out of the bit and the fixed rings on the sides add additional stability and direction. Sensitive horses I start in this from the get-go. Others graduate into it if I feel the metal of the Fager is a little too much for them (ahem… Neil.)

My sensitive horses are usually big fans of the Herm Sprenger Duo bit. Photo from DoverSaddlery.com

The Fager on the other hand is nearly equally gentle of a bit, but just metal. The biggest thing I like about this bit is that it has excellent stability in how the pieces “lock” together and the lozenge in the center is small and barrel-shaped. I have found Thoroughbreds too often have narrow pallets and the big lozenges that come with many of the double jointed bits tend to just be a little bit too wide, too much. A low profile double jointed bit helps them accept contact and be able to move forward from leg to hand. The sweet iron on this bit just makes it more appealing, but isn’t a deal breaker for me either way. Overall, I have currently 18 horses in the barn and all of them are happy in one of these two bits for training rides at home (XC might be a whole other discussion for another day).

I’m partial to the Fager Sweet Iron Michael or Martin bits. Michael bit featured from Fagerbitsusa.com

So between saddles, half pads, girths, bridles, and bits, we do what we can to keep the wide variety of Thoroughbreds moving forward as happily and correctly as possible.

Even though it’s not a tack item, I have to throw out a shoutout to another product that serves all of my Thoroughbreds well (and any horse, really) — natural Vitamin E. I’ll be discussing this in more depth in the nutrition-based article next week, but be sure to have this on your mind when thinking about your Thoroughbreds. So, why Vitamin E? It cannot be synthesized by the horse; therefore, it is considered an essential nutrient. The best source of vitamin E is fresh green grass; however, the potency of vitamin E declines very quickly once forages are harvested and dried. For my horses that work hard, Vitamin E helps support their performance and recovery. Horses with an inadequate reserve of vitamin E may experience muscle soreness or stiffness during an exercise bout and prolonged recovery following strenuous work, so I like to make sure I keep mine on it year-round. I use Kentucky Performance Product’s Elevate Maintenance Powder. It’s palatable and a fairly economical way to keep my large number of horses on the supplement.

So go ride folks. Enjoy the tack that makes you and your horse comfortable.

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