Lighting the way - from Spade Bits to Riding Bridleless

Lighting the way – from Spade Bits to Riding Bridleless

I love the old traditional style spade bits that are a work of art both in the silverwork and craftsmanship of the bit itself, and in the training of the finished spade bit bridle horse. This is where the Californios influence on my childhood shines through. I love finely trained horses and the old Spanish missions. I love the golden rolling foothills dotted with oak trees. I love the time spent in creating a work of art, be it time invested by a carpenter, silversmith or horseman.

Please bear with me on this subject. Many horse owners will gasp at the thought of using a spade bit, but what they don’t realize is that these bits are built with lots of pre-signal. They work through vibrational signals. The rein chains help contribute a vibration into the shanks. The “loose shanks” have a tiny bit of play that rattle a pre-signal to the horse. All this happens before pressure is ever applied to curb strap through tightening of the reins. Correct adjustment of the curb strap is essential to prevent the tall spoon of the spade bit from damaging the roof of the horse’s mouth, the palate. Horses are never put into a spade until well into their 5 yr old year because that’s when the mouth changes shape. That’s when the palate rises higher off the tongue. There is nothing quite like the feeling of riding a true spade bit horse. I imagine it’s like dancing with the stars.

My adult life has always been focused on training barrel horses, but for me, it takes time to create a solid foundation long before any speed is applied. I want my horses to be so well trained that they can do their job bridleless, and I’m simply the dance partner.

As life would have it, I’m back to building another young horse from scratch, and in doing so I’ve discovered a few steps I missed teaching to a mature horse I bought a few years ago. My intention when buying a pre-trained horse, was for me to be able to skip all the foundation training work and seasoning, and just buy one that does it all for me. But after a few traumatic events this horse has forgotten what he learned in kindergarten, or he simply got by on his good looks and charm. Either way, he’s back in pre-school.

Trust is a difficult thing to earn and regain, so we’re working on teaching both horses to become trustworthy. And I’m also teaching the young horse “King” everything needed to become a trustworthy partner:

To stand quietly with patience.
To respond at the lightest touch, yet to be bold.
To think through problems instead of getting angry.

That third step is King’s thing! If he gets confused, he becomes angry. He will then strike the ground, and try to dig his way out of the puzzle. He will try to escape from the lesson.

Recognizing his frustration before it escalates to anger, is a very fine line with him. Of course then I have to evaluate if I’ve broken the lesson down to small enough pieces for him to understand. Can I make a change in the lesson plan to help him learn? Though all of this I feel the most important step is teaching King emotional self control. Instead of getting angry, just stop, breathe and think. One of the ways I’ve been preparing him for a training session is by putting him into the calm, learning, Parasympathetic, mind set. Where rather than being in the explosive “fight or flight” Sympathetic emotional state, we begin the training session in the Parasympathetic state. This is where the body can rest and digest, not just digest food, but to calmly think about and mentally digest the information of the day’s lesson.

I do this with Photopuncture Torches and apply targeted red or green light to acupoints that rapidly shift the horse into the relaxed state. It takes about 2 minutes while grooming and has made such a positive impact on my training program.

The older horse “Fueg”, feeds off of drama. He is the ultimate Drama Prince, and quite frankly, I’m tired of this behavior. It’s no longer cute. Yes he has had some terrifying experiences such as being chased by a bobcat and getting tangled in the electric fence, but it’s time to deal with life.

He is learning emotional self control in order to remain calm and composed. Whenever he feels himself becoming wound-up, he’s learning to stop, breath deep, and relax. It’s quite interesting to observe when he does this. We can be out riding anywhere, and he’ll just stop, and breathe, and calmly look around. Then maybe a minute later he continues on with the ride. This is self regulation.

For him, I also use PTI Red or Green Light Photopuncture Torches to put him into the Parasympathetic state, but then follow that with a 15 minute session with a Light-Ease Poll Wrap that utilizes both Red and Near Infrared light. It has a wonderful relaxing effect on a horse’s mind. Often I just go ahead and ride Fueg while he’s wearing the Light-Ease Poll Wrap. He has learned that saying “Be-Easy” means for him to relax. Fueg is very well trained in so many ways but until he gets a grip on his emotions, he cannot become trustworthy.

Finding a bit that is both comfortable for the horse and feels good in my hands is an important part of my training.

For daily riding, Fueg likes a stiff bit with a copper wrapped 5.25 inch mullen mouth, with a cricket and 7 inch shanks. He doesn’t like much movement in the shanks, but he loves to play with the cricket. For running barrels we need more pre-signal. So we had a custom bit built with the same mouth, same shank, but had the mouth set on a reverse shank attachment. His flat curb chain is set with contact so there are no surprises when curb pressure is applied. This gives him all the signal he needs with the lightest touch.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is 3 yr old King. He is still a baby, but he can be strong when doing baby things. He feels best in a thinner 5/8 inch diameter mouth, he really likes the diffuse signal of a 4 piece mouth of a Butterfield design loose ring snaffle. We had his first shank bit made with the same 4 piece, 5 inch wide mouth piece on a 7 inch locked shank with curb slots. The leather curb strap is hanging loose. It feels very similar to the O-ring set up this way, but I can now adjust as needed. Today’s options of having quality custom bits built for the next phase of training at a reasonable price is such a great help for our horses. We are no longer limited to what’s on the tack store shelf.

As much as I love the feather light feeling of riding a spade bit horse. I also know it’s not realistic for barrel horses. My ultimate goal for all my horses is riding bridleless and running a bridleless barrel pattern. I’m always working towards that level of trust that I’ve had with great horses in my past. With that end in sight, both King and Fueg have been introduced to an Elliot-Smith leather nose hack in which they both feel very responsive. It has the feeling of a leather nose side pull with power steering.

I’m not a bit hoarder like many. I know what feels best in my hands. I try to get rid of anything that doesn’t feel right.

I do have a couple old hard to find bits that I could do without, but Ross wants to keep them “cause they look cool”. We have a small collection of antique silver bits including several Visalias and a E Garcia spade. It’s fun to pull them out and try them on our horses to appreciate the feel of each. Only our old man Fasttime could carry the Spade.

Another note, make sure your horses have proper dental care. Training issues are often dental issues. Sharp edges on the molars can cut the inside of the horse’s cheeks when bit pressure is applied. If the horse’s mouth isn’t balanced, then the hyoid could be restricted which then causes tension in the whole body. If the hyoid is out of balance, the front leg stride will be affected, which results in Lumbar tightness. This then affects stifle movement. Horses will often become sore in the TMJ after a dental speculum is used. Make sure to address this issue. A few minutes of targeted Light Therapy works wonders.

We can find all these issues through our daily or weekly Equine Assessment of the whole horse. If you’d like to learn more feel free to contact me or check our PTI website for the “Photonic Horse” online course or our next live Equine Class.

Leslie Maynard, CLT-U
Animal Education Director
Photonic Therapy Institute, LLC
https://PhotonicTherapyInstitute.com
leslie@photonictherapyinstitute.com
Office: 304.805.4448
Mobile: 520.686.0220

Red + 2 "The Healer" 660 & 850 nm Includes the benefits of Red AND Infared!	Red "The Energizer" 660 nm Unparalelled Acupoint Activation	Amber "The Correcter" 590 nm Anti-Aging and Skin Repair	Green "The Soother" 530 nm Emotional Relief and Oxygen Release	Blue "The Cooler" 470 nm Infections and Cooling of Tissue
Output (high) = ~165 mW/cm2	Output (high) = ~100 mW/cm2	Output (high) = ~57 mW/cm2	Output (high) = ~35 mW/cm2	Output (high) = ~75 mW/cm2

Penetrates muscle, bone, brain ~ 5 - 10 mm	Penetrates fascia into muscle ~ 4 - 6 mm	Penetrates into skin .5 - 2 mm	Penetrates into capillary beds ~ 3 -5 mm	Penetrates skin ~ 1 -2 mm
Deeper penetration of the benefits from Red Light	Activates acupoints	Reduces wrinkles and fine lines	Relieves headache & migraine	Reduces topical pain
Increased circulation in deeper & larger vessels	Lowers pain & reduces Inflammation	Reduces redness & rosacea	Releases free oxygen from hemoglobin	Highly anti-microbial
Reduces inflammation & pain relief at a deeper level	Anti-viral	Improves uneven coloration	Soothes nerve pain	Helps with acne
Increased detoxification of cells	Speeds wound healing	May reduce tiny blood vessels on face	Reduces redness	Calms the nervous system
Speeds wound healing on surface & deeper levels	Increases nerve function	Increases subdermal lymphatic flow	Regenerates tissue	Elevates mood
Stimulates production of fibroblasts & connective tissue	Opens lymph drainage	Breaks apart dermal scarring	Improves skin around eyes	Energizes the brain
Reduces scar tissue formation	Stimulates hair follices	Soothes and repairs surface nerves	Reduces pigmentation - Lightens sun & brown spots	Cools tissues and nerves
Regenerates nerves	Repairs skin damage (acne, scars, burns, sunburn)	Repair sun radiation damage	Calms the nervous system	Lowers headaches
Improves brain function	Increases collagen production reducing wrinkles	Supports development of new skin cells	Soothes, cools and reduces redness	Regenerates skin
Nervous system rebalance & regeneration at deeper levels	Modulates body temperature	Soothe and repair eczema / psoriasis	Provides emotional relief	Anti-aging
Increased ATP production at deeper levels	Restores cellular function	Stimulate red blood cell production	Regulates melanin production	Soothes skin irritation
Increased cellular metabolism	Increases nitric oxide production	Awaken mental inspiration	Kills the bacteria that causes acne	Reduces itching

Lighting the way – from Spade Bits to Riding Bridleless

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The Light-Ease Body Wrap offers 350 continuous or pulsed LED diodes for light larger area of the body. The 11″ x 35″ coverage area allows for even lighting of the horse’s back, neck, & hindquarters. Also works well for full back coverage in humans and giant breed dogs.

The Light-Ease Leg Wrap offers 110 continuous and pulsed LED diodes perfect for lighting around legs & suspensory ligaments. Due to its rectangular shape this wrap can easily be attached to additional wraps to cover larger areas such as wrapping the neck or stifle.

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The Light-Ease Hock Wrap Set offers 112 continuous and/or pulsed LED diodes in each wrap, perfect for lighting around the horse’s hock joints. These wraps DO have a specific LEFT vs RIGHT orientation. Hock Wraps are only offered in a SET.

The following Base Kit is all the supporting material you need to begin using Light in your life

Light Therapy Basics Course – Begin exploring how Light benefits the body, the various types of light tools on the market, & how to get started with different tools. (Value $150)

The Health & Balance Charts (humans, horses, dogs, cats) – Our most valuable recipe for bringing the body into balance. Lighting these points for 30 days has been shown to start the process of bringing the body into vibrant health. (Value $80)

Online access to over 40 of our most requested “Basic Photopuncture Charts” for Humans, horses, and pets (Value $800 – if purchased individually)

Batteries and Pouch – per torch (Value $20)

Li-ion Battery Charger (Value $25)