Tack and equipment
The saddle, the bridle, the bits and the straps, and what the western names for them mean.
Bareback pad
A padded pad with a girth and no tree, strapped on instead of a saddle. Closer to the horse, and with nothing to brace against.
Bell boots
Rubber bells sitting over the hoof and heel, worn where a hind foot catches the heel of the front one on the same side.
Billet
One of the short straps under an English saddle flap that the girth buckles onto. Usually three per side, two of them used.
Bosal
A stiff rawhide noseband, used in a hackamore, that works on the nose and jaw instead of a bit in the mouth.
Breast collar
A strap across a horse's chest, attached to the saddle on both sides, that stops the saddle sliding backwards.
Bridle
The headgear that holds a bit in a horse's mouth and carries the reins. A halter leads a horse; a bridle steers one.
Browband
The bridle strap across a horse's forehead below the ears, holding the cheekpieces from sliding back down the neck.
Cantle
The raised back of a saddle seat. A western cantle is usually taller than an English one, which is what makes the seat feel like a chair.
Cavesson
A padded reinforced noseband on its own headpiece, with rings for a lunge line. Goes over a bridle rather than instead of one.
Chaps
Leather leg covers worn over trousers, buckled at the waist, taking the wear that otherwise lands on the rider's legs.
Cheekpiece
The strap down each side of a horse's face that the bit hangs from. Its length is what sets how high the bit sits in the mouth.
Chinks
Short chaps ending just below the knee, fringed at the bottom. What a rider wears when the day is hot and the brush is still sharp.
Cinch
The strap running under a horse's barrel that holds a western saddle on. What an English saddle calls a girth.
Cinch ring
The metal ring at each end of a western cinch. On the near side, the latigo threads through it; the off side takes the off billet instead.
Curb bit
A bit with shanks below the mouthpiece and a chain or strap under the chin, so the rein works through leverage.
Curb chain
The chain or strap under a horse's chin on a curb bit. Without it the shanks have nothing to lever against and the bit does very little.
Fender
The broad leather panel hanging down each side of a western saddle, carrying the stirrup and keeping the rider's leg off the horse's sweat.
Flank cinch
A second cinch on a western saddle, buckled further back near the flank. It is not meant to be pulled as tight as the front one.
Flank strap
The fleece-lined strap round a bucking horse's flank in a rodeo, encouraging it to kick out behind. It is not a cinch and is not tightened like one.
Girth
The strap holding an English saddle on, buckled to billets under the saddle flap. The western equivalent is the cinch.
Gullet
The channel running front to back under a saddle, clearing the horse's spine. Too narrow at the front and it presses on the withers.
Hackamore
Bitless headgear that works through pressure on the nose and jaw. Some designs add leverage and are not automatically milder than a bit.
Halter
Headgear with no bit, used to lead or tie a horse rather than to ride it. A lead rope clips to a ring that sits below the horse's chin.
Headstall
The part of a western bridle that goes over the horse's head and holds the bit in place. A bridle without reins or bit.
Latigo
The long leather strap on the near side of a western saddle, used to tie the cinch rather than buckle it.
Lead rope
The rope clipped to the ring that sits below a horse's chin on its halter, used to lead the horse or tie it up.
Lunge line
The long single line clipped to a cavesson or bridle for working a horse in a circle around the handler on the ground.
Martingale
A strap running from the girth, between a horse's front legs, to the reins or the noseband, used to influence how a horse carries its head.
Mecate
The single length of rope tied to a bosal as reins, wrapped where the noseband meets the heel butt. What is left over doubles as a lead rope.
Mouthpiece
The part of a bit that lies in the horse's mouth. Straight, jointed or ported, and none of those shapes is what decides leverage.
Noseband
The part of a bridle that runs around a horse's nose, sitting below the cheekbones. Where its strap sits relative to the bit depends on the design.
Polo wraps
Long fleece bandages wound round the lower leg for protection. Wound wrong they do more damage than going without.
Pommel
The raised front of a saddle seat. On a western saddle it carries the horn; on an English saddle it is a plain arch.
Port
The raised arch in the middle of a solid bit mouthpiece, giving the tongue somewhere to go. A high port is not a mild one.
Reins
The straps running from the bit back to the rider's hands. The line the hand talks down, and the one most often talked down too loudly.
Rigging
How and where a western saddle's cinch attaches to the tree. Full, seven-eighths and centre-fire describe how far forward the pull comes.
Romal reins
Closed reins joined to a single long leather quirt, ridden one-handed. The old vaquero alternative to split reins.
Rowel
The small toothed wheel on the back of a western spur. It rolls along the horse's side rather than pressing in at one fixed point.
Saddle horn
The raised knob on the pommel of a western saddle. A working rider wraps a rope around it for grip; a recreational rider may just hold on.
Saddle pad
The pad placed under a saddle, cushioning the horse's back and absorbing sweat.
Saddle tree
The rigid frame inside a saddle that everything else is built onto. Its width is what has to fit the horse, and it cannot be adjusted later.
Shank
The arm below the mouthpiece on a curb bit that the rein buckles to. The longer it is, the more it multiplies whatever the hand does.
Side reins
Fixed reins from a surcingle or saddle to the bit, setting a limit on how far the horse can stretch. Easy to buckle far too short.
Skirt
The large leather panel beneath a western saddle's seat, spreading the rider's weight across a wider patch of the horse's back.
Snaffle
A bit with no leverage: the rein pulls directly on the mouthpiece, so the pressure the hand applies is the pressure the horse feels.
Splint boots
Padded boots round a horse's lower legs, protecting them from being struck by its own other hooves at speed.
Split reins
Two separate reins, not joined to each other, attached to a western bit instead of one continuous rein.
Spur
A metal piece strapped to a rider's heel, used to sharpen a leg aid the horse has already been taught. Not an accelerator.
Stirrup
The ring or loop hanging from a saddle that supports the rider's foot, and gives a place to push up from when mounting.
Stirrup leather
The adjustable strap hanging a stirrup from an English saddle. A western saddle uses a fender instead, and adjusts far more slowly.
Surcingle
A wide strap buckled right around a horse's barrel, carrying rings for lungeing gear or holding a rug down.
Tapadero
A leather hood over the front of a western stirrup. It keeps brush out and stops a boot sliding all the way through.
Throatlatch
The bridle strap passing under a horse's throat behind the jaw, stopping the whole bridle being rubbed off over the ears.