Will the Micklem Bridle Fix the Chomping?

After the big saddle purchase, I decided to try out a Micklem bridle that I borrowed from a friend. I really want to get to the bottom of Gentry's chomping issues.

Gentry in the horse size Micklem bridle

The weekend I borrowed the bridle we still had a bunch of wet snow on the ground, so I decided to just go for a trail ride on the road rather than attempt to haul anywhere. Gentry was a mess. He chomped worse than normal. I quickly decided the bridle would not fix the problem, I also had no idea why he was being so bad about the chomping and was acting like a fool anytime I asked for a trot. I was perplexed and aggravated.

Then I got off him.

Poor guy Gentry had huge snowballs on the bottom of his feet. No wonder he was acting up and not happy. So, I can't say that this ride was a fair assessment of the Micklem. Without the snowballs he may have been dead quite. However, shortly after that I went for another ride in his regular bridle and he was dead quite. I am now thinking that my old saddle, which didn't fit him at all, was the cause of the bit chomping.

To be fair to the Micklem, I found it to be a nice looking bridle. In fact, I was surprised by how much I liked it. The horse size fit Gentry perfect, and if for some reason I just wanted to mix thing up I would splurge on purchasing one for him. However, I do not like cleaning and oiling numerous bridles throughout the winter, so one dressage bridle at a time is enough for me. Since he has now stopped the chomping, I will be sticking with our Keiffer bridle. The problem seems to be solved.

Mother Nature Migraine

Following my big saddle purchase; I very excited to start riding in my new-to-me Dresch. I started imagining all the things that we will accomplish in the saddle. I got excited about the show season darn it! Then Mother Nature promptly did this to me:

1' foot of snow in one day. On top of the snow we've already had on the ground since November.

Icy/snowy roads promptly put a halt to hauling a trailer at night across town and riding on the road. I did try once to ride on the road and poor Gentry had softball size snowballs on the bottom of his feet. For both of our sake, I have not tried to repeat that experience. Just as I decide to throw in the towel, accept that winter is hanging around for a while longer, and self medicate with some more equine retail therapy (more on that later), this happens:

Yep. All of a sudden it warmed up to 50 degrees, and started raining. Everything promptly turned to permafrost mud, and flooded. Oh joy. The only silver lining is that our roads are now sporting beautiful ride-able gravel again and (fingers crossed) I will be able to ride on the road tomorrow.