Monty Roberts - Dually Halter

Training Halter designed by Monty Roberts

Monty was originally looking to design an effective training halter for leading and loading that was also humane, practical and easy for anyone to use. He wanted something that did NOT use excessive poll pressure which can cause soreness and rearing – meaning he wanted a material with quality flat surfaces and not rope. Meanwhile (back at the ranch) Kelly was feeling uncomfortable using bits on starting horses and 'horses with problems' and was experimenting with long lining and riding with just a headcollar with two rings fitted each side on which to attach reins. This worked pretty well except the headcollar would keep slipping around the horses face………. Hmmmm so what to do?

Hurrah! Monty had now designed "The Dually" named after his old horse Dually because it was originally dual purpose – (although now really multi purpose but it's a bit late to change the name. Here's some official sale blurb 'a unique design with an adjustable double noseband, high quality brass hardware, double stitched nylon and left and right side ring designed especially for schooling'. Plus (Kelly's addition here) suits most horses for long lining and starting and some horses for riding especially if they haven't been going well in bits previously and Plus it can be used as a normal headcollar for tying up.

Please beware of inferior imitations! If in the unlikely event your are not happy with your Dually we will return your money - but we only ever get complaints on quality when they are bought elsewhere and in that case we cannot return your money because we haven't got it!

Sizes come up quite large but there are plenty of holes so there is good adjustability. The smallest which is the extra small would fit a Welsh Section A or Shetland to a 13hh pony with a finer head, small would fit is a 13 hh pony going up to a 15.2 hh with a smaller head. The medium would fit from 14 hh Big Head to a finer 16.2 hh, the large is LARGE! Please note the small are only available in red, the medium are only available in black and the large only available in blue! Please be sure to put the correct colour with the correct size so we can be sure you've been paying attention!

The Dually colour is according to size.

The Extra small Size is Green
The Small Size is Red,
the Medium Size is Black and
the Large Size is Blue

Extra Small Dually Measurements
Nose – Minimum 19 inches, Maximum 24.5 inches
Head – Minimum 25 inches, Maximum 34 inches
Cheek – From Ring – Ring 6 inches

Small Red Dually Measurements
Nose – Minimum 19.5 inches, Maximum 31 inches
Head – Minimum 29 inches, Maximum 39.5 inches
Cheek – From Ring - Ring 7 inches

Medium Black Dually Measurements
Nose – Minimum 26.5 inches, Maximum 31 inches
Head – Minimum 37 inches, Maximum 45 inches
Cheek - From Ring - Ring 8 inches

Large Blue Dually Measurements
Nose – Minimum 23 inches, Maximum 35 inches
Head – Minimum 38 inches, Maximum 48 inches
Cheek - From Ring - Ring 9 inches

Sizes come up quite large but there are plenty of holes so there is good adjustability. The smallest which is the extra small would fit a Welsh Section A or Shetland to a 13hh pony with a finer head, small would fit is a 13 hh pony going up to a 15.2 hh with a smaller head. The medium would fit from 14 hh Big Head to a finer 16.2 hh, the large is LARGE! Please note the small are only available in red, the medium are only available in black and the large only available in blue! Please be sure to put the correct colour with the correct size so we can be sure you've been paying attention!

If you are not sure on what size to order please call us on 01488 71300.

Fitting the Dually Halter

Remember you have the Dually Halter on your horse as a training aid (as an alternative to a bridle, a chifney, a lunge cavesson, a flat halter, rope halter with knots or a halter with a chain over the nose).
The reason you are using the Dually is because it won’t damage or desensitise your horse’s mouth, it doesn’t dig in anywhere or work on very sensitive areas of the horse’s face, it doesn’t use excessive poll pressure and fitted correctly it won’t slip around the horse’s face so you gain more accuracy and control of the horse with less compression than most other options .
 
'Fitted correctly' is the key phrase here. If you don't take the time to fit the dually correctly, then it will not work the way that's intended. It is best to take a little extra time getting the fit exactly right if you really want the Dually to help give you excellent results with your horse.

It might take a little while to get used to it needing to go a little higher than you would fit a standard headcollar. This is because the Dually Halter is NOT intended to work on the soft part of the nose. In fact, the upper nose band part should nearly reach the bottom of the horse’s cheekbone to be in the correct position. To fit it this high sometimes it is necessary to undo not only the band across the nose but also the band underneath the chin, fit the Dually high enough by adjusting the headpiece and then do the two lower bands up to secure the Dually firmly but not tightly on the horse’s face. A rough guide would be to ensure you can place two fingers in any section of the Dually and the horse can relax his jaw, but still the Dually won’t slip around on the horse’s eye if pressure is applied on the line from any angle.

If you are worried your horse or pony is very sensitive you may wish to purchase a natural sheepskin guard (available from the IH office) to go over the acting part of the noseband.  This is generally not necessary but horses that are long lined off the Dually with strong changes of direction could conceviably get rubbed  and so this would be an option.
 
Remember you NEVER tie a horse up using the schooling ring of the Dually Halter. This is because if the horse pulls back the schooling ring will continue to tighten across his face and could damage his face. It should be noted even on a normal halter, tying a horse to somewhere with no safety break can result in a damaged poll and broken neck and no horse should be tied up until he has been taught how to lead and to tie.

Horses should never be loose in a stable or field with a Dually (or anything other than a 'fieldsafe headcollar') in case they get caught up in anything.  If you wish to travel your horse in a Dually as many people do, just ensure you tie up to the correct (non schooling) ring and that here is nothing in the horsebox that the other rings could get caught up in.  If your horse is going to eat hay on his journey (recommended) it is advisable to loosen the Dually off under the chin a few holes so he can move his jaw comfortably.  The rings on the Dually will bend or even break under extreme pressure but this should not be relied upon.   The Dually Halter is not sold as 'breakable' and 'fieldsafe' as it for the most part training and safety equipment.

Why are you buying this Dually Halter? (We can help you even more!)

• For general use i.e. leading
• For loading
• For long lining
  
  
  *Check out this thread on our Discussion Group to see Different Duallys on Different Horses!*
  
  * Additional info can be found on this page! *

Feedback from a Dually Halter user.

"Hi, I would just like to say a huge thankyou to your team for the fast delivery of my Dually halter and to thank Monty Roberts for designing such a brilliant piece of equipment. I have been trying to bribe my horse to load onto our trailer for months, with no real positive outcome, once we completed the joining up training with the Dually halter we then progressed to the trailer and after a little bit of encouragment he seemed to understand what i was asking of him, i was literally amazed that he then loaded within the hour!! We've been practising walking on and off and even managed to take him for a small journey around the field with positive effects, thankyou again.
Kind regards, Sarah & Duke"

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