Bitless Bridle-What do you think?

[*carrie*]

Have any of you got a bitless bridle and how do you think it helped you?

I was reading another post about head tossing and someone suggested using a bitless bridle so the horse doesn't associate a bit with heavy hands etc.

My horse head tosses. I think it is when she gets stressed but can't be certain if my contact is slightly uneven or if she feels as though she is being jabbed in the mouth. I try very hard to remain soft. So I am considering trying a bitless bridle.
I think she will be ok with it. She is a good girl to ride, doesn't take off or anything. She does nap though so that could be interesting.

Any advice?

 

[No_Angel]

All my horses are bitless. Maddie used to head toss, jog, wouldnt let me put her bridle on her and basically hated the bridle. I bought her a bitless and she changed completly. first had a dr coook, but it rubbed her and she used to lean on it, got her a happywheel and its fab, can adjust it to suit her and she puts her nose into the bridle now.

 

[BeachRiding]

I would suggest a rope side-pull, that worked well on my horse.

Def. would NOT rec. a Dr.Cook,my horses learned it was easy to lean on and avoid quite fast.

 

[tubby]

I have the Dr Cookes & though you do have to school them to it I find that my boy is as light as a father in it.Mind you I taught him to slow or stop & turn without reins a long time ago,so he was answering my weight aids before I put him in the bitless. Think you just have to give it time.

 

[KarinUS]

We have a Dr. Cook's and for one of the horses it has really worked extremely well. Before that she could be a real terror in a bitted bridle. She's much happier and more willing in the Dr. Cook's. We have the Beta version and have never experienced any rubbing, etc.
We have a second one to fit another horse and even though he goes fine it I don't think it's a big difference to him compared to his lozenge bit bridle. He is happy in either one. So we are not 'die-hards' when it comes to bitless/bitted. We just go with whatever seems to work best for the individual horse.

 

[DeirdreBarlow]

Don't want to highjack this thread , but I've been considering a bitless bridle recently and am reading these responses with great interest.

I'm not riding at the moment (due to a poorly elbow ), but I've been thinking for a while that one of my little darlings may be happier in a bitless.

He's not especially "strong", but he is very sharp off the leg (the term "forward going" doesn't really do him justice).
He doesn't head toss, and he he doesn't mind you taking up contact on him.
But he doesn't accept the bit very well (always has his head stuck out ) and whilst he's usually good to steer, when he sets his mind he's not going past something you cannot turn him for love-nor-money!
He's easily stoppable in a snaffle and flash noseband (despite his tendancy to say "I'm not going that way" and wander round with his nose in the air), he's actually very responsive to the bit.
But a history of undetected dental problems (in a previous home) have left him very reluctant to have his bridle put on and (I suspect) have impacted on his ridden work too.
He's quite a very testing horse at the best of times, but I do believe his dental history has a fair amount to answer for.
He also has a rearing habit when he's asked to do something he doesn't fancy doing (so any bitless which might help prevent that would be good).

(Before anyone asks . . . back, tack, teeth, general health etc have all been checked, he has enough muscle to hold an outline (and easily does if you can engage his brain ), he does it with all riders not just me and (before I did my arm) I have regular lessons on him ).

Anyone any bitless bridle suggestions?

 

[Alex]

I went bitless with my mare Milly after so many problems (head shaking, pigrooting, just being VERY tense and cranky) and it was absolutely brilliant! She was like a different horse and was so relaxed and happy.

I got her a NoBit bridle and I would recommend it to anyone to try. They also have a 30 day money back guarantee, so if your horse doesn't go well in it they'll refund your money.

Here's Milly in her NoBit:

 

[kirstie]

My friends Gelderland is in a bitless bridle and works so much better in the bitless than actually having a bit in her mouth, and the mare seems to enjoy working more on a bitless, not sure on the head tossing being solved by bitless though.

 

[levi1739]

All of the horses here are taught to 'give to pressure' with a halter and lead rope. The result is that they can all be ridden with no bit. Sometimes we attach two lead ropes (one on each side of halter) to act as reins, other times we just use one rope and 'swing' it from one side to the other.

Here's my wifes horse with the two rope set up.

In this pic, My Mare is standing ground tied while I flex her. There is no rope or rein in my hand.

In my experience, head tossing/raising is often caused by a lack of communication between the horse and human. It's often mistakingly attributed to the horse having been abused but I feel that's an excuse to not fix the problem. It's actually one of the easier things to fix, but it's usually the human that needs the training.

Try 'bitless', just put a halter on your horse and try it in a 'safe place'. If you can control your horse while leading it in a halter, why not do the same from it's back?


Have fun, be safe

Jack

http://www.horsesplay.us/phpBB2/index.php

 

[hackedoff]

Its surely worth a try- Dr C have a 30 day money back trial, which shows how confident they are of their product. Anecdotally, all 3 of my pones go better bitless, my Irish Cob is more forward going in his Dr Cook, my Welsh D is unstoppable in a bit but responsive in his English Hackamore and my Shetland mare head tosses and snatches in any bit but is perfect in an Indian Bosal.

 

[JOJOBA]

Well Ive got a Libbys Scawbrig for sale if you're interested, no way it's going to go round Jack's head!
To be honest my horse never showed much difference in it, I used it for 'messing about' sessions and for pretending to be a Western horse , teaching him to go off seat aids etc on a loose contact because he was very relaxed in it. Was fun but I wouldnt have trusted it on a gallop on the moors. Then again I dont trust anything on a gallop on the moors!
The brakes are good but on my stubborn cob the steering could be questionable.

xxx

 

[dwoodie]

Try 'bitless', just put a halter on your horse and try it in a 'safe place'. If you can control your horse while leading it in a halter, why not do the same from it's back?


I like this responce. In my opinion, bitless and riding in a halter are almost the same anyway. I have arabs and most of them are either rode with a hack-a-more, or the halter with leads. So I consider this "bitless". Just my opinion though.

 

[appaloosahoney]

I had quite extreme headshaking problems with my appy. She shook it with me but with any other rider she would just go up if the reins were too short. I moved her to an english hackamore and the difference was marked. Initially it took me (rather than her) a while to learn to use my weight rather than reins for corners etc, but she put up with me and we managed. The only thing I did find once we started to do faster work and she became fitter was that I had to change the leather curb for a chain one to ensure that in an emergency we had brakes!!

 

[DeirdreBarlow]

In my experience, head tossing/raising is often caused by a lack of communication between the horse and human. It's often mistakingly attributed to the horse having been abused but I feel that's an excuse to not fix the problem.

I'm always a bit irritated by people who hold that opinion.
I don't mean that offensively levi - irritated isn't really the right word , but it's the closest one I can think of.
I can't honestly tell you why I feel that way. But there's just something about it which doesn't sit right.

On the one hand, I completely agree .
Most problems (be it headshaking or whatever) are caused by/not helped by the rider.

But I suppose it's the "often mistakingly attributed to the horse having been abused but I feel that's an excuse to not fix the problem" part that I find a tad annoying.
I'm not saying that doesn't happen, but on the whole I've met very few who've given their horse the title "abused" just for the sake of an excuse not to fix problems.
I think the vast majority of horse owners want to fix any issues which may arise (whatever the cause may be). Many don't know how to go about it, but that doesn't mean they assume abuse has taken place and/or they won't even attempt to fix it.
I've acquired a fair few abused/neglected horses over the years and have taught/worked with as many owners in similar situations. Not one of them has ever used the horse's past as an excuse - it is however a very helpful tool in the fixing of the problem .

 

[chewitmonster]

I guess my bitless is my halter. If I get a little bored doing groundwork then I hop on (generally with a little help from someone) and ride around with one line flicking it over his head when I change the rein. Have ridden in two reins as well and don't really notice much difference from a bridle other than to show me that I can't steer with my legs!

 

[LindaAd]

Try 'bitless', just put a halter on your horse and try it in a 'safe place'. If you can control your horse while leading it in a halter, why not do the same from it's back?

There seems to me to be a huge difference; if you're leading the horse in a halter, and the horse decides to spook or buck or take off, then the horse has gone. If you're riding it, and it does any of those things, you're in trouble.

I think you need to be very sure of your horse and your seat and your control before you try riding in a headcollar.


Linda

 

[No_Angel]

but riding and leading dont really differ, your asking your horse to go from signals you give him, basically stop, go and yield, we do this in hand and under saddle, you start teaching your horse from the ground while preparing it to be ridden.
We train our horses so that they listen to us rather than whats around them, so essentially if your horse is trained it should listen to your signals with no tack at all, this is what we should aim towards, if yur horse decides to go, a piece of metal in its mouth will not stop it, nor a halter on its head, its the horses training that will stop it.

 

[jenren!!]

but riding and leading dont really differ, your asking your horse to go from signals you give him, basically stop, go and yield, we do this in hand and under saddle, you start teaching your horse from the ground while preparing it to be ridden.
We train our horses so that they listen to us rather than whats around them, so essentially if your horse is trained it should listen to your signals with no tack at all, this is what we should aim towards, if yur horse decides to go, a piece of metal in its mouth will not stop it, nor a halter on its head, its the horses training that will stop it.

I agree with this 100%. Exactly my opinion about it.

I would love to ride a horse in a bitless, but im still only learning to use my seat alone- once i get my new horse, learn to ride him/her with just my seat and not rely on my reins, i will consider a bitless.

The problem is, can you compete in showing with them?

 

[LindaAd]

but riding and leading dont really differ,

<snip>

We train our horses so that they listen to us rather than whats around them, so essentially if your horse is trained it should listen to your signals with no tack at all, this is what we should aim towards, if yur horse decides to go, a piece of metal in its mouth will not stop it, nor a halter on its head, its the horses training that will stop it.

It seems to me that there's one very big difference: if you're on the horse you can fall off and get hurt.

Bits and reins are part of how we communicate with the horse; maybe there's a horse who's so tuned in to his rider that he doesn't notice the scary lorry coming down the road, or the other horse in the field you're passing, or the barking dog or the hedge-trimmer; and he doesn't get enjoy his canter so much that he forgets to notice when it's time to stop .... Well if there is, he doesn't live in my field.

I wonder if anyone here has a horse like that ... If they tell me they do, maybe I'll believe it's real and not a fantasy.

I agree with this 100%. Exactly my opinion about it.

I would love to ride a horse in a bitless, but im still only learning to use my seat alone- once i get my new horse, learn to ride him/her with just my seat and not rely on my reins, i will consider a bitless.

If you can ride without relying on your reins, what do you need a bitless for?


The only time I rode in a bitless bridle (it was a hackamore), it was a riding-school cob I knew quite well. He usually had a snaffle, but was in the hackamore because of a cut on his lip. At one point everyone cantered and he took it into his head to buck. In the snaffle, I could have asked him to bring his head up and go forward; with the hackamore I was helpless. It was like trying to play the piano in boxing gloves.

 

[Skyhuntress]

I am not a fan of bitless bridles. Maybe it's my style of riding, but bitless goes against everything that I believe riding should be.

First of all, as LindaAd said, its a question of safety. Good luck trying to control a horse who spooks without a bit.

I've seen a lot of horses who really start to lean on the bitless.

It's not allowed in competition, at least not here.

You'll also have to keep the bridle path trimmed down to nothing. You can't get poll pressure with any thickness of hair in the way.


Secondly, you cannot actively teach a horse to go on the bit without a bit Maybe it would be possible if the horse actually was a confirmed dressage horse who carried himself, but if it was a green horse? Nope. (but I guess this is only important if you wanted to ride in that style)

A bit is a way of communication. You don't have to be harsh with a bit, you need only be very subtle to bring your point across

But in the end, I guess its a matter of preference. Give it a try if you are really interested