Bits N' Memories

"I am pieces of all the places I have been, and the people I have loved. I've been stitched together by song lyrics, book quotes, adventure, late night conversations, moonlight and the smell of coffee"
- Brooke Hampton

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December 3, 2019
Isn’t funny how a bit will evoke a memory? I ordered this bit in 1986 at the AQHA Youth World Show, then in Tulsa, OK. The maker is Sunburst Bits and I used it on a lot of reiners at that time in my life. It has hung on the wall for a number of years until Ranch Riding became popular in Arabian showing. Every time I use it now I think of the days of the VQHA Pomana Reining Sweepstakes at the LA County Fair, the big AQHA shows at Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara National Horse & Flower Show, and the reining stakes at Santa Anita and Del Mar. That bit competed in all those shows. An era, sadly, gone bye.

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December 8, 2019
Another bit, another set of memories.....
I won the Trail Horse Sweepstake Class at the Region III Arabian Championships one year in Reno, NV. The very dear client that owned the horse took me to one of my favorite tack stores, D Bar M, and bought this bit as a bonus for doing well. Best bonus a horse trainer could ask for! Great owner, great horse, great show, great town and a great bit, I was in heaven.

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December 12, 2019
Dr. Seuss said “Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”. I won a national championship once in Louisville using this bit made by the late Bill Stewart. As we walked into the the bar at the Executive Inn West to celebrate that night, the band played Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me To The Moon”. Today is Ole Blue Eyes’ birthday. So I post this picture in honor of memories of that horse, Frank and this bit. I loved all three!

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December 20, 2019
Someone said once, “The best things in life are the people you loved, the places you’ve seen and the memories you made along the way” I acquired this bit in the mid 1980’s from a dear client that was in her 70’s. She told me she purchased the bit from Felix Guitron Sr 20 years prior when her son rode with Felix Guitron Jr. I later rode a few good Quarter Horse reined cow horses in the bit and have dusted it off as of late to show some Arabian ranch riders. I think it is a classic example of that type of bit and love the Las Crucas mouthpiece. Best of all it reminds me of that sweet lady and the places where she showed with me. I am so grateful she came to visit me several years ago in Del Mar when she was well into her 90’s. She passed away shortly after that. Here is to Ruth, the bit and my friend Murray Griggs who asked me to post another”bit memory”

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December 31, 2019
Thomas Carlyle said, “Man is a tool-using animal”. This is one of my favorite tools. Made by my favorite bit maker, the late Bill Stewart, the shanks he called “teardrop” and the mouthpiece is called C-port. The teardrop cheeks evolved over the years and there are slight differences in them depending on the year it was made. I guess that is why I own several. In 1996 my wife, Dawn, rode Vals Roubear to National Championships in both Open Trail and Amateur Trail at the Arabian Nationals with this bit. The only time an amateur rider won both the open and the amateur divisions. I rode Magnums Shogun to the Arabian Western Trail National Championship four times with this bit. No other horse has done that. My wish for all our friends tonight is that you may find the kind of good fortune in 2020 that we have found with this bit. HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOD BLESS!

February 3, 2020
Virginia Woolf is credited with writing, “I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.” In 1997 the late bit master craftsman , Bill Stewart, called me and said “I just made a bit that makes me think of you”. I told him to send it and Bill asked what mouthpiece I wanted. He then said, “If you like it send me a check, if you don’t send the bit back”.

The shanks are made from a shoer’s rasp and there is a silver casting of a horny toad on each shank. He called that mouthpiece a “c-port” cathedral. I thought better than to inquire why he thought of me when he made the bit and immediately put a check in the mail. I’ve shown a lot of horses in that bit, particularly at the Scottsdale show coming up in 10 days. Years later I think of that phone conversation and all the wins with this bit and grin from ear to ear. I guess Virginia had something there.

To celebrate February, I write this post with the fondest regard and wish the best of luck to all our friends going to Arizona. See you there!

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March 1, 2020
It is March 1st and with that I thought appropriate for a new bit memory. This bit was made by my favorite bit maker, Bill Stewart, and originally owned by Gil Chavez. I thought it was stunning with engraving a little different than most Stewarts. The gold portions are real gold. Gil sold the bit to the client that owned the horse he showed in it and I lost track of this treasure. Some time later I saw Brett Becker win a regional with the bit. Then a year later the owner of the bit saw me at a show in Burbank, CA. She said it didn’t work on her newest horse and she was going to sell it. I loved that bit and saw two of the best horsemen I’ve ever known win with that piece of tack. I promptly wrote her a check for the most expensive bit I ever bought. This bit turned out to be, for me, MFA Maverick’s bit. Maverick was a once in a lifetime horse. He really got along in that bit and the three of us (trainer, horse, bit) made a lot of great history together for over a decade. There is a proverb that says, “The dragonfly brings dreams to reality and is the messenger of wisdom and enlightenment from other realms...”. As for myself, those profound words are golden, like the dragonfly on the bit.

March 26, 2020
I must confess this is not my bit, but I have been its guardian for decades. Our mother purchased this bit with a synthetic ruby in the middle of the concho when we were teenagers in the 70’s. It was for my brother’s horse and we found it at G.J. Jedlicka’s Saddlery in Santa Barbara. Jedlicka’s was once one of the premier tack stores. It is marked EG/SF which was one of the marks used by El Gato Bit & Spur. The company made a lot of beautiful bits in those days and I believe this bit sparked my lifelong appreciation for horse bits and bridles. When Chris went to college this bit didn’t get much use. A few years later I put my shingle out as a public horse trainer and this bit hung in a number of horses’ mouths. It was part of some of my early successes and early failures. In the last 20 years it has been appreciated much more than used. In these worrisome times I thought I’d post a bit memory that represents times of discovery, fortitude, resilience and survival. This bit fueled my passion for fine tack and good horsemanship and was with me during a number of trials and tribulations in my career. There is a Chinese proverb, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” That ruby polished up today and we will be stronger when this international crisis is over. But, not without some considerable friction. Finally, I hope when my brother sees this post he doesn’t want his bit back. That will also cause some real friction!

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March 2, 2020
In the mid 90’s calvary shanks were becoming very popular (they still are!) and I had quite a few reiners in the barn. I asked my friend, Bill Stewart, to make me a new reining bit with the type of shank his friend, Greg Darnell, was making. I further told Bill that I wanted it to remind me of our baby daughter, Shelbee. Several months later I got this bit in the mail, a one of a kind correctional with a silver image of a bee on each shank. The bit went to Nationals a month later and I was third in a deep Half Arabian Reining class. This bit is to this day one of my go-to bits. It is said ,”The flower doesn’t dream of the bee. It blossoms and the bee comes”. We don’t dream of horse show prizes and just win them. A good bit helps a horse blossom and then the prizes come as evidence of our successes. To me, this bit is a success in itself.

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June 1, 2020
Here is a bit I’ve never won on, I’ve never even used it in a show, but the story behind it is unforgettable to me. I was at a horse show outside of Chicago last year and was attending an exhibitor party. A trainer I knew in passing approached me and said,”I have a bit you might be interested in”. She then pulled out of a Crown Royal bag this classic Bill Stewart teardrop with his iconic c-port mouthpiece. Somehow she new I was a fancier of his bits (maybe from these posts, you think?) and somehow she knew I knew the original owners. We shared a couple stories about that sweet couple and then she asked me what I would give for the bit. Trying to be a tough cowboy I made a ridiculously low offer and expected to be told to eat bovine feces. Instead her eyes got a little sparkle in them and she got a pixie like smile. She put the bit back in the bag and handed to me and said,”Okay, just pay me when you can”. I chatted a little longer with her and then we went back to our horses and there was no further dialogue other than I paid her and said a mere, “Thank you”. I thought to myself often, that lady had to know what that bit was worth! 9 months later I heard that she passed away from cancer. Then the light came on! That lady didn’t care what she got for it. She wanted someone to get the bit that she knew would honor and appreciate it. The only smart one in our exchange was HER. Pema Chodron said, “ Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know”. Thank you, Kriss, for the lesson.

Two vaqueros I know are fighting similar battles and they are both bit hoarders like me. Jeff Lee and Mike McDaniel this post is made with you in mind, praying that 20 years from now we will still be on this earth swapping bit stories.

"Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us." - Oscar Wilde