Blinkers, Rollers & Shadows

No its not a list from the local hair salon, they are just some of the choices players as trainers can face when trying to focus their runners to the game in hand, ie running as fast as they can for as long as they can! Whilst the game currently doesn’t allow trainers to put equipment on a horse, many trainers use them as workout or training aids, and my inspiration for this article is based on seeing the methods used by Amanda O’Brien of Bally Doyle who is trying to focus one of her 2yr olds debuting this season on the matter in hand – rather than his current game of “how much flesh can I get in one bite”?! The colt (what else!) in question is her regally bred A View to A Kill (barn name Killer) who is trying desperately to live up to his name.

Lets start with the simple choices – your horse carries his head a little high or has a tendency to lose concentration if he spies something on the track below. This easiest solution to this is to fit a "shadow roll” (or as its known in Europe, a noseband). Both are the same, being a roll of sheepskin strapped across a horse's nose on the bridle’s noseband. Its cheap, quick and simple and some trainers swear by them and in some countries, you can recognise a particular trainers horse simply by looking at its racing equipment. An example of this is the UK trainer, Andrew Balding who runs all his horses in “nosebands”, a habit he picked up from his father Ian Balding. So if you see “SR” or “NB” in the racecard, this is the explanation.

OK, so that didn’t work. What else can you try? Next stage is usually a visor or blinkers, which is made up of a headpiece to which are attached eye cups that limit the horse's vision to prevent distractions. The difference between a visor and blinkers is that visors have a small cut in them to enable the horse to have a little more vision for what is coming from behind than the blinkers which restricts the horse to merely seeing what is in front. There is a school of thought that horses fitted with blinkers are “un-genuine” but that is not usually the case, it merely focuses their mind on the job in hand. For many years, horses running with blinkers in the US have had the headpiece (and cups) coloured to match the jockeys silks. One of the most famous horses to have this in recent memory is of course Secretariat. (see below). And I doubt you will find many people saying that this horse was un-genuine! The shorthand in the racecard is “V” or “B” depending.

Mmmm, so you are still having problems but now it seems that the horse is making “gurgling” noises when he runs or is putting his tongue over the bit stopping him from making full use of his lungs? That’s OK – we have a couple of cures for that too! Lets fit the horse with a Tongue Tie, which is simply a cloth or leather band used to tie down a horse's tongue to keep it from interfering with breathing. Although it has been known for trainers to utilise something a little less “technical” and many a horse in the UK has been seen with one leg of the trainer’s wifes’ tights (pantyhose) wrapped around instead! The reason is probably because the nylon is lighter and gives a bit more and can be easily cut off if necessary. Some trainers also add a “figure 8” which does what it says – it goes in a “figure 8” around the nose and over the lips and keeps the horses’ mouth closed to stop it from taking on too much air or being able to take a pull at the reins. Its commonly noted in the race card as “F8” under equipment used. It can also be referred to as a "flash" noseband.

WHAT – you are trying to tell me that none of this is working?! What kinda horse do you have?! Oh, right its getting a bit vicious on the track and you cant fit the F8 as it drives the horse insane and you get nothing done. Drastic times calls for drastic measures. The last bit of equipment that I can suggest is a mesh nosecover, which clips on the front and back of the bridle and covers the horses mouth whilst leaving it enough space to “mouth” the bit but stopping it from taking chunks out from his opponents. Its not intrusive to the horse in any way and some horses in time learn not to bite and this can then be removed. So far “Killer” is responding well to this treatment but Amanda has advised me that he will be lead down to the start with this on him and it will be removed prior to the start of the race. So you have all been warned!

Phew. I hope that helps a little if you have a horse that you know can run but is a little, how can I say, shy of fulfilling his full potential.

Of course, each of the above can be tweaked, for example many horses in Australia run with eye shields rather than blinkers and this involves replacing the cups with solid mesh over the whole eye, and has now been adopted in the UK following the exploits of Choisir the Australian sprinting star who came over and won at Royal Ascot.

Sheepskin nosebands have now progressed around the bridle too and are commonly used on National Hunt (ie jumping) horses who don’t need their line of sight reduced with the application of blinkers but by adding the sheepskins to the sides of the bridles, trainers have found that horses are more focused and happier. Not sure it will catch on elsewhere but so far its working!

Yup that’s pretty much it I think in the way of training aids and equipment – and if you truly believe that none of this is working, then its off to the vets for the big chop for the colts or pack the filly off to the breeding shed!