Bitless Bridles - Dr Cook or Barefoot?

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SarahZ

New Member
Apr 12, 2005
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Auckland, New Zealand
Hi everyone,

I'm looking at getting a bitless bridle for a pony we have just brought :D Normally ridden in a snaffle with no problems, but i love the bitless idea :)

I was looking at the Dr Cooks, and then also discovered Barefoots bitless:

http://www.barefoot-saddle.de/main.asp?l=2&s=5&p_id=9023

I was just wondering what peoples thoughts were on them both? I've heard alot of good things about the Dr Cook, but couldn't find much on barefoots one!

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are ;)

I think i will have to order both from australia, and they work out to be the same price :rolleyes:

Any advice appreciated :)
 
Do you get a 30 day money back guarantee with the Barefoot? Because it looks the same as the Dr Cooks but with shorter rein straps which I would find rather annoying as I need the extra length to fit the bridle easily.
 
The barefoot also has rolled crossunder straps I think, whereas the cooks has flat leather crossunder. The barefoot has a padded headpiece, where as the dr cooks is normal.

Not sure on the benefit of padded headpiece especially. They're usually use with slots or something, allowing the noseband to run over the top, but thats not relevant on a bitless where the noseband attaches to the equivelent of cheek pieces. I suppose it's a bit of padding which to extra sensitive horse might be useful...but if a horse was particularly sensitive at the poll, I wouldn't have thought a bitless bridle applying pressure here would be beneficial anyway =/ but can't do any harm...

Not sure about rolled crossunder v flat. There are other makes using rolled though that have a lot of reviews about them; you could look these up just to compare this trait...?

If they both come with a trial, order both, see if your horse likes one, or both. If both, they pick the one you prefer to look at, and that feels most well made I guess lol...

I don't know about the barefoot but dr cook are also v good at mixing and matching different parts of the bridle.

I have a dr cooks and it works well for my boy. 2 problems I have with it (minor quibbles though); the padding on the noseband doesn't feel leather-like, not like other padded bridles I have. The outer leather on the noseband also looks almost like it's stretched as well already despite only being a few months old. I care for it really well, but I suppose my boy has quite a narrow nose meaning it makes a deep narrow shape with a sharper curve than on most which have broader faces. Also, his cheekbones and eyes are quite low down his face (down being down as you look side on, not close to nose :S) , and the straps stitched into the noseband to attach it to the bridle are only just low enough not to rub him. However he tends to have the latter prob with most bridles lol!

Hope thats a bit of help. Sorry I can't compare them both directly. Good luck, let me know if you order the barefoot what you think of it! x
 
Just looking it up again in British currency...are you sure your prices are equivelent? Barefoot in UK seems to retail around £60-70 for leather padded. Dr cooks synthetic beta cost me £63. The leather padded I now have is hugely above that of the leather padded of the barefoot, at £160!! That's £100 difference between the makes when in equivelent materials...

I suppose things might be different over in aus/NZ, but I wouldn't have thought by that much? Are you sure you're not looking at the cooks BETA?

If so, and you're happy to trial that, it has no padding on the nose. Personally, I would recommend using some sort of sheepskin or prolite pad as a result. Lots of people use them without with no probs but Lance developed a ridge in his nose from it, whereas the padded leather is fine without additional padding.
 
Thanks for all the info :D

(and yes i realised i took the price of the US site instead of Australias by mistake :eek: )

I contacted the Australian supplier and this is what she said regarding the barefoot:

The Walnut bridle works better then the Cook bridle in that you have an instant release (my Cook does not release! it gets stuck and drives my sensitive horses insane) and it has much more intelligent padding protecting the horses poll and the nerves that run right under the noseband in the face. The round straps that feed through the rings also do not twist while the straps of the Cook bridle commonly do. People experienced with these types of bridle see the Walnut as a big improvement over the Cook and also the Aussie Nobit bridle which is a copy of the Cook bridle.
The warranty as with all Barefoot products is 12 months for workmanship and all products in my shop come with a 7 day return policy.


I'm tempted to try it to see how it goes.. the price is an improvement :eek:
 
I used to have a be kind bridle, which has rolled cross straps, and found my horses didn't like it as much as my dr cook and my other flat strap crossunder bridle, but the barefoot looks quite nice, and if you don't get on with the rolled straps you could always just buy some flat dr cook straps and use it on the barefoot bridle:)
 
Sounds interesting. Although, rolled leather crossunders surely distribute pressure across the cheek and jaw of the horse more sharply due to smaller, and less flat surface area than the dr cooks style?

I have no problem with release on my cooks and I've showjumped and cross country'd in it with fabulous results. I think the older models of the cooks may hav had difficulty with release though, which have since been remedied as they have redesigned them. The twisting tends to occur when initially put on I find, but once I'm mounted and the horse is working in light contact (but not no contact) I never have a problem. But the price of the dr cooks is very high in terms of the actual making I think despite the quality. You pay for the name. In theory (although I could be wrong on this), the extra padding on the headpiece of the barefoot, and the rolled crossunder straps take far more labour (if made by hand that is) than the plain flat on the cooks and as such the cost would be higher for the barefoot if of equal quality. But obviously the cost is not like this!

I can see positives and negatives on both types of the bridle, and I'd be interested in giving the barefoot a go if it wasn't for the fact that 1, my horse has just begun 4 weeks boxrest(!), and 2, a combination of my upgrade of dr cooks, saddle problems, and christmas leaves not much money in the kitty!

If you give it a go, please let me know what you think =] Good luck

x
 
no used either but my friend uses the dr cook for her endurance and i know someone with a libby's one.

I personally hack etc in a nunger knots combo or the rope halter with reins. It gives pressure but does not tighten, there is no metal on it.

check out my albums i'm on the beach with it.
 
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