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Hard to Find, Easy to Use

Rated 5.0 out of 5.0

Rating Details

Product being reviewed:

Weaver Lip Strap
Reviews: 6 | Posted: 8 months ago | Avg Rating: 5.0

Supporting Shelter: Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue

Supporting Rescue: Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue Inc

Pros: Effective, Inexpensive

Cons: Difficult to Find

This is a flat, leather lip strap made for use with either a curb bit (Western) or snaffle. I use it with a French Link Snaffle (with a bean) just to keep the bit from sliding through the mouth if my mare decides to have a "girlie" day.

I opted to do this when she opted not to be a dressage horse. She had originally been trained (very basically) Western. I switched to neck reining her and took off her noseband and put on the lip strap. After several months of learning to jog trot, her collection at the walk and jog have improved and her backups are great. Who knew?

Use of this rigging has allowed me to stay out of her mouth and off of her sides. Riding "western" in my dressage saddle has made me interfere with her less, which has made her a better horse (it's always the rider's fault, right?)

Anyway, this lip strap is flat, generously sized, very adjustable and durable. The leather is very nice and cleans well. It is indispensible and very difficult to find in catelogs or stores (I think mine came from Tractor Supply), but it is a great additon to my tack, and my mare and I love it.

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by mhunter1
8 months ago - Flag this

Can you provide a picture or explain how the strap is placed on the horse? I am having trouble picturing a "lip strap".

Thanks!

mhunter1

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by Anne V. (poetrader)
8 months ago - Flag this

The strap is flat and doubles back on itself to make a circular loop. It has metal keepers which then hold it flat. You run it around one snaffle (or curb) ring through the keeper, then through the other keeper and around the other ring. Back through the keeper (this keeps it flat). Then you adjust the buckle to the length you want. What you end up with is a strap that runs under the horses lower lip where a curb chain would. You position it with a snaffle so that it is loose enough to prevent the rings from sliding through the mouth if your horse is resistant, but not so loose as to fall below the lip. This way you don't need a noseband. A number of western clinicians who ride with snaffles use something like this. It's only purpose is to help keep the bit in place should your horse decide not to yield to it (which my mare can do when she decides she really wants to go in the opposite direction of what she's told). It mentally helps me be more still and quiet with the reins when I make contact. I rode with a student of Jean Racinet, and she uses no noseband at all, but her school horse didn't have quite the "obstinacy quotient" (I just made that up, but it works) or my mare. This lip strap gives me confidence and security and still gives me a minimal interference with the horse's mouth. I am uploading a picture.

Anne V.