We changed Sapphire’s bit at the beginning of this year. Originally, she went in a rubber snaffle, and then I went to a rubber pelham just to get a little bit more control; controlling her stride was always a factor. But by the end of last year, we thought that the pelham might be a little too much, and we wanted to try something different.

Now she goes in a slow twist eggbutt snaffle. I actually think she’s jumping and riding better than ever. She’s a more mature horse now.

Darco offspring in general tend to be a little stiff in the back; it’s common in horses with that breeding. That’s why we had her in a rubber snaffle for years as a young horse; we wanted to encourage her to jump very round. I just felt that at the end of last year she was getting a little tight in the back, and the hind end wasn’t jumping as well as it could be.

One of the things that’s hard with horses that have been as successful as she’s been is that most of the times that they compete it’s so important, and they’re competing under such high pressure that you’re afraid to change anything. You don’t want to experiment and upset the apple cart. But in Wellington this winter we were a little bit more relaxed competing, and we tried her in the twisted snaffle. I think she has a little more jump behind with this bridle, and I think that’ll help us later in the year. She’s really powering from behind, and she’s jumping a little rounder.