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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May 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.

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July 2, 2020
This bit memory is of a snaffle that bears my initials, or does it? I acquired this bit about 14 months ago from a gentleman that markets high quality tack at some of the big shows on the west coast. As I was browsing through his tack trailer my eyes locked on this handsome snaffle adorned with my initials. The merchant told me it was a piece from the estate of Mike Drennan who was at the time in an assisted living facility. I knew Mike as I had judged with him several times at both AQHA shows and NRHA shows in years past. I remember showing to him in my early training career and I had judged Mike in Arizona a number of times. He showed some very nice halter horses and some outstanding rope horses to me multiple times. He was a pleasure to watch as an exhibitor and a pleasure to work with or show to as a judge. He was a horseman and to me that is the greatest compliment you can give someone. I handed my credit card to the tack store owner and didn’t even ask the price. Not long after I bought the bit, Mike passed away. I have shown several junior horses in this snaffle knowing I’m just the next caretaker in its life. Mike, the snaffle looks just as stunning on an Arabian as it did your Quarter Horses and I feel very fortunate we shared the same initials. There was a divine intervention that brought this tool to me and I am proud to use it. The maker mark on this bit is “CL” which stands Chuck Letchworth, a master bitmaker. Mr. Letchworth is the favorite bitmaker of my friend Tim Kimura. So, Tim, this post is for you.

August 5, 2020
We live in a time like none of us have ever experienced. I know of no one person that has not been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and other world events. It is a trying time we exist in. Despair can make us lose hope. This bit always reminds me that bad times will turn around sooner or later. We just need to hang in there. In 2001 I made the Open Half Arab Trail finals at the Arabian Nationals on Diamonds R Awesome+//. He had felt so ready the last few weeks before we left for Albuquerque, NM. Although we made the finals at a time when only 10 advanced, I felt we did not have the ride we were capable of. On finals evening the weather was terrible. The course design could not have been worse for that particular horse’s strengths. When I was the next rider up, we had to wait in an alleyway that led right to the in gate. While the horse before us was on course “Pumba”, his barn name, stood straight up on his hind legs as tall as he could and then turned around 180 degrees. I pulled his head around, got facing the correct way and the paddock master said, “You’re up” and the gate opened. I must of said a certain word that starts with an F fifty times in my head. We entered the arena and one of my favorite country songs started to play. We had one of the greatest rides in my career. The scores were announced 78 1/2 - 78 - 78 1/2 and the crowd was really into it. That horse was unanimous national champion that night and he was carrying that bit. To this day, I have no idea why those dreadful circumstances turned around so dramatically, but they did. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn”. May the memory I just shared with you of this bit with a casting of an acorn serve to plant the seeds of hope and resilience for thousands of us. One of my favorite philosophers, Pema Chodron, said, “We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same.” Think about that and God Bless!

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Vals Roubear

August 30, 2020
We live in a time where all of us have been negatively impacted. It is the first time we have endured a pandemic and there is much we will never forget from these pages in our lives. Fortunately, this bit reminds me of a page that makes me smile 25 years later. I purchased this bit in the 80’s from a man at an AQHA show that was selling some bits made by a man in Canada. He called it a “baby cathedral”. It soon became one of my favorites. No wonder I hung it on our horse, Vals Roubear, when I showed for the first time at the Arabian Nationals in 1995. That week was the first time I’d ever been to Albuquerque, NM; the first time I showed a horse to a National Championship; the first time I won unanimously and the first time I ever heard a horse show announcer say, “The National Championship trophy is going home to Ojai, CA”. I remember calling my wife, Dawn, to tell her we won. She was home as she had given birth to our first born a few weeks before. So when you turn on the news and see some sad events you will see for the first time,remember horses can still give you some wonderful first time moments. I have enjoyed calls this week from friends showing at the Saddlebred World Championships, the NRCHA Stallion Stakes and the National Reining Breeders Classic, all for the first time. Henry Kissinger said, “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure”. Thanks to Frank Principe for making that bit. God Bless everyone.

October 4, 2020
Early October always stirs thoughts of the Arabian Nationals in Tulsa, OK for me. But well before I started showing Arabians this time of year meant gearing up for another show, The Cow Palace. The Cow Palace was a show like no other. Located in South San Francisco, it was a world class horse show, rodeo, and livestock show all rolled up in one event. In the “moat” around the arena walked some of the most iconic horsemen and cowboys of the times. One of those horsemen was famed cow horse trainer and equine judge, Tony Amaral. He was the mentor of many great horsemen. Unfortunately, I was not one of them but we had made a friendship after having judging together . Tony would hold court in the moat and in the Stockyards Club after the show. He told me one night in the moat I needed to get a bit from his favorite bit maker and friend, Gary Avila and he pressed the issue later in the Stockyards Club. Being a young trainer and judge, I did not want to disappoint the revered horseman and bought a bit. After all, the Greek philosopher, Theophrastus said, “ An orator without judgement is a horse without a bridle” and Tony had too much success to not have good judgement. The bit and the advice has never been a disappointment!

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November 17, 2020
It is November and we look to Thanksgiving Day. The story of this bit with its several chapters always makes me feel thankful. This bit was made, as many of my favorite bits, by the late Bill Stewart. My wife, Dawn, ordered a bit from Bill for my Christmas gift. Bill made this bit with a one of kind Santa Barbara cheek in appreciation for me finding the fabled bit maker that inspired his career and connecting the two of them. As a result, this bit is instilled with good karma. Wyatt Earp+// won 4 national championships and three reserves with that bit. TR Despret For Achic+// won 3 National Championships with that bit. I’ve won regional championships on PS Poison+//, Pardonn My French+++//, Alada Lady TJP+// and others using this bit. More than just a horseman’s tool, for me this bit is a symbol of thanks and gratitude. Self-help author, Melody Beattie, wrote, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness in life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend”. Thank you to Dawn for this gift, thank you to Bill for a work of art, thank you Dave for your time conversating with Bill, thank you to the owners of those horses I rode with this bit and thank you to the horses that wore the bit and packed my butt to success. To the rest of you, HAPPY THANKSGIVING and GOD BLESS!

December 11, 2020
In the late 80’s I started judging some nice Arabian shows. There was a trainer in the Midwest that always impressed me with his western horses. They always looked broke, moved off a leg, and his amateurs could ride those horses. In 1991 I found an opportunity to introduce myself to Ray Gardner and enjoyed a number of conversations with him over the years. One day I asked him why many of his horses wore bits that the upper halves were silver and the lower halves were black. He called them “stealth” bridles and explained that the black shank made “bumping” or “pulling” less perceptible from a distance. It made sense to me. Georgia O’Keefe said, “There’s something about black. You feel hidden away in it.” I think those words apply to the stealth bits too. A few years after Ray passed away I had the opportunity to acquire one of those “stealth” bits. I have shown a lot of horses with that bit and it has been a great tool. I always appreciate the knowledge I accrue from conversations with good horsemen. There is something noble about knowledge gained from reflection. Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote, “Good conversation is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” Finally, if you are reading this bit story, I hope you know this is probably the closest thing to a Christmas gift you are going to get from me. Happy Holidays!!!!

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December 31, 2020
We are at the eve of a new year with a lot of hope and optimism and the close of a past year that held a lot of despair and disappointment. This insidious virus that consumed 2020 did not have a discriminatory bone in its body. We have all suffered! I wanted to post a bit on this New Year’s Eve that would be an omen of better times. Here is one that has brought me a number of better times. In 2015 I stuck this bit in the mouth of Yellowstoan+// for the first time the morning of the Half Arabian finals in western trail. We walked out of that class draped in roses. Magnums Shogun+//, WH Macnificent, Bey Musketeer+/, all won western pleasure regionals after a change to this bridle. I’ll bet I have put this bit in more different horses’ mouthes than any other bit I own. This bit has won trail, western pleasure, western horsemanship, western riding, and even ranch classes. The shanks of this beauty are engraved aluminum. I find that a very fitting attribute for this story as 75% of all the aluminum in the world since 1886 is still in use. Aluminum has stood the trials of hard times, like pandemics. The cathedral port leans forward and with sympathetic hands maintains a soft contact on the mouth of a horse that needs guidance and reassurance. This appearance of this bit is questionable to the uneducated eye, but its use symbolizes;like the tower in Pisa, Italy; the human ability to almost defy nature. Like aluminum, we survivors have been resilient by withstanding a viral demon. With guidance and reassurance we have also defied Mother Nature and maintained hope, charity, and faith. To all the horsemen we lost this year, you have my respect, fondness and thanks for your time here. To all the horsemen still here tonight I wish you a very Happy New Year and pray better times are soon. ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος. God Bless!

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