Pictures of horses in headstalls with Blinders.

[user 3234]

I have seen some minis in driving harness with and without blinders. Those with the blinders are set differently; some blinders seem to squish the poor horse's eyes and other that are extend way out that almost seem to have lost the purpose of keeping vision focused straight ahead.

Is there a correct way to make sure the blinder sit correctly? Can I see some head-on shots of horses in their driving headstalls that show the blinders in correctness to the eyes so I can get an idea?

Much appreciated.

Sherry

 

[disneyhorse]

It is very hard to find a mini bridle that fits well. I think that's the biggest reason you see blinders that fit funny! Lots of people are not willing to shell out the money for a decent harness, and fit/style definitely suffers.

Andrea

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Ditto Andrea!

...and other that are extend way out that almost seem to have lost the purpose of keeping vision focused straight ahead.

The purpose of blinkers is to prevent the horse from seeing the whip coming, the cart following or from scooting sideways as he goes by scary things, no more and no less. They are not to focus the vision straight ahead; a horse cannot see directly in front of himself anyway.

IMO they should be set narrowly enough to prevent him from seeing back and to his sides but no closer. Maybe I'm too much of a trail driver or maybe I'm just used to sensible horses but I can't imagine why I'd want to completely blind my partner! I count on my horse's surefootedness to keep us safe and more than once when he was green my gelding almost ran us into danger precisely because he couldn't see the ditch he was about to fall into or the car he was about to pivot into. I find when I drive open we have no such problems so I tend to prefer my blinkers set fairly wide when used at all. (Yes, the horse needs to learn to trust your commands to keep him safe and not make decisions like that but that's another issue.) Under no circumstances should the blinkers be touching the horse's eyelashes; there's no excuse for allowing such poor harness fit except ignorance.

My functional choice would be a set of KantCBacks, which are a sort of half-blinker that only prevents the horse from seeing directly behind him. Barring that I will set my full blinkers further ahead than strictly necessary to restrict his vision because if they are sticking out to either side of his head like wings they tend to catch on things and cause problems. I'll post a picture of my horse's bridle when I get home so you can see what I mean but generally I aim the blinkers forward so they give the horse about the same amount of vision as the path of light a car's headlights cast.

Leia

 

[RhineStone]

This is Alax's original bridle. Although it doesn't touch his eyes or eyelashes, I felt that it was just a little too close for my taste, so I ordered a new show bridle below.

Here is the best "head on" photo I have of the new bridle I custom ordered this year from Fully Equipped Outdoors. It has a little more eye room than my "old" bridle due to longer winker stays I measured. (I also ordered it with ornaments on the blinders and face drop. It is so cool! The tear drop on the false martingale also has an ornament, but you can't see it with the Freedom collar, so hopefully it can be seen with the reg. collar. Otherwise, that was a waste of $$.) I'm not sure I like still how the crown fits, but it doesn't pinch. I think I need to manipulate the winker stays more.

Myrna

 

[wiccanz]

The "arms" that hold the blinkers up have wire inside the leather outer, so the position can be varied a bit.

I love this harness

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Here's the first photo I could find of my old bridle back in our novice days, you can see how wide the blinkers were set. The blinker stays were too long for my horse's narrow head but they did no harm this way so I didn't worry about it.

This is a shot of my current bridle taken in 2008. The blinkers point forward instead of outwards but you can still clearly see both of the horse's eyes and the blinkers allow him plenty of vision. I had to send in custom measurements to get it to fit this way but it was worth it. I love my bridle ornaments as well! We now have a longer teardrop on this bridle and I'm completely happy with it.

(And Myrna, you know we need better pictures of that new bridle. Must see!)

Leia

 

[RhineStone]

The "arms" that hold the blinkers up have wire inside the leather outer, so the position can be varied a bit.

For an educational moment, those are referred to as "stays". Winker, blinker or blinder "stays". All are correct terminology.

Myrna

 

[RhineStone]

This is the best photo I have of my new bridle. (Ignore the rings on the top, they are part of a breast collar neck strap that is laid on top of the bridle to store it.) The bridle came with a double buckle patent noseband and rolled throatlatch, and I ordered it with open cheeks and the chain browband. I'll see if I can get better photos sometime.

 

[Sandee]

Here's some good; some not so good pictures of my "gang".

The top one I have pushed her blinkers out as far as the staves will allow. She'd drive without blinkers probably and her headstall originally had them almost touching her eyes and that bothered her.

The big guy has on a harness that was measured and ordered by the dealer made to fit him and the silver dapple has one that after I purchased it from the dealer they came to the stall and cut it down to fit him. Both of these boys have smaller than "average" heads so they required someone better than me to fit their headstalls.

 

[wiccanz]

For an educational moment, those are referred to as "stays". Winker, blinker or blinder "stays". All are correct terminology.
Myrna

Lol, thanks Myrna

I knew there was a correct term, just couldn't think of it right there and then

 

[RhineStone]

Both of these boys have smaller than "average" heads so they required someone better than me to fit their headstalls.

I found that true with almost all my minis. I have a B-mini that has a "A" headstall, a B-mini that wears a B headstall and the rest of the harness is A-size (she is really short bodied), a big B mini (pony) that barely fits in a B harness, but the B headstall is just right, and a 48" Shetland who wears the B mini headstall. That is one reason why I am a big promoter of getting a custom, not "off-the-rack" harness for minis/ponies. I think I finally have it down better to be able to measure a horse's head to get that custom fit. There is only so much room on a mini head, and even a 1/4" makes a big difference.

Myrna

 

[Kendra]

Here's my newest bridle:

The blinkers are good, but I wish it had more keepers. I keep meaning to get out the black tape.

 

[Peggy Porter]

Butch Cassidy is wearing an Iowa Valley bridle and harness. However, the browband is actually from a COB size riding bridle. My daughter's standard joke is "Butch's forehead is so wide, it's actually a fivehead!" I think he just needs lots of space for his brains.

 

[Rebecca]

Here's the best close-up head shot I could find to show the bridle/blinders. This is my gelding Rusty. The blinders look a bit low on one side in this photo, but other than that fit very well (and have since been adjusted). They do not touch his eyelashes and give him space while doing their job.

Rebecca

 

[RhineStone]

The blinders look a bit low on one side in this photo, but other than that fit very well (and have since been adjusted).

I don't know if this is the case in this photo, but sometimes mini's bridles can get "cockeyed" from the "fat" forelock. Reducing the size of the forelock can help the bridle sit "square" on the mini's head.

Myrna

 

[Rebecca]

Thanks Myrna. I think it may have just been "cockeyed", but it certainly wasn't from his forelock, as he only has about 20 hairs in it haha!

I agree though, having a small forelock with a driving horse makes it easier (personally) to braid and tuck to the side where it can't shift anything around.

Rebecca

 

[hobbyhorse23]

It's funny, my horses are the opposite of most of yours! Kody wears an A-sized harness on the second-tightest holes all over but requires a B-sized halter and bridle. He's got a long, narrow head that is very deep from bridge to jaw so everything tends to be tight except the winkerstays which are always way too long.

Turbo's much shallower from bridge to jaw but just as long and narrow so he'll probably be a fitting challenge too.

Where did this guy's harness come from? That bridle is to die for!

Leia

 

[Sandee]

Where did this guy's harness come from? That bridle is to die for!

Leia

His harness was special order from Ozark Mini Tack. Because this gelding measured pony for part of the harness and mini for the rest. It was something Jason Prince and (wait - senior moment - the lady that runs Ozark) "cooked up" for me. The only way I was involved was to pay for it. LOL

 

[hobbyhorse23]

His harness was special order from Ozark Mini Tack. Because this gelding measured pony for part of the harness and mini for the rest. It was something Jason Prince and (wait - senior moment - the lady that runs Ozark) "cooked up" for me. The only way I was involved was to pay for it. LOL

Ah-ha, awesome! I thought it looked like an Ozark harness but the browband was the one from the Ozark CDE harness and back when I got that browband as a thank-you from Lisa you couldn't buy the brownband without buying the whole harness so I thought it might be another brand.

I love Ozark bridles.

Leia

 

[Sue_C.]

This is one of my Country Carriages bridles. I really like the blinders on this compared to many of the beta harnesses I have seen. (The winker stays and blinders are leather, the rest of the harness is beta only.)