Make Sure your Bridle is on Straight!

(Bridle positioning and adjustment/fit):

"Once you have the bridle on, make sure that the browband is not pinching anywhere and make sure it's not crooked. Eek no, eek no. It should be straight. What I do is I put the bridle on, and then I wiggle the brow around and make sure it's not pinching his ears and I make sure it's perfectly straight across. Same with the noseband. When you put the noseband on, it shouldn't look like that. Slide it, get it straight and even, and then put it on, snug but not tight."

(Don't forget to tuck everything in):

"Don't forget to tuck everything in! It shouldn't look like that. It shouldn't look like that! I'm going to really drill it into you guys. It shouldn't look like that. Take a moment and tuck everything in. I have a blog post that talks about tuck it in, tuck everything in. There's no reason for it to be flapping about. One, it looks terrible. Two, there is a possibility it could pop off. I mean, if it's not closed, even at the top, if the horse pops their head in just the right way, it might pop off. Tuck everything in, please. With your halters, tuck the crown piece in. Tuck everything in, please, please, please."

(Throat latch fit):

"Four fingers. Four fingers for a dressage bridle. Because the horse, when it rounds off and flexes, the throat latch fills up, the throat latch on the horse fills up. You do not want the throat latch on the bridle to feel restrictive and tight. You don't want anything to discourage a horse from wanting to round off and go on the bit. That's going to be very loose and it's just going to dangle and it's totally fine if it just dangles. There's not a lot of use for these anyway. But for a dressage bridle, four fingers please, loose. The Western and the English people go much snugger. The Western people usually go there. The English people usually go there. I don't care what style of riding it is, I like them loose for when you round them off."