Bitless. How to choose and where to buy.

Joyscarer

Joyscarer

Active Member
Dec 30, 2006
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I have decided to try going bitless with Joy.

So, how do I chose the right bridle for her and where is the best place to bag a bargain :D
 
You can have a go with my lovely brand new Sidepull if you like, I am just Kacholining it then will be trying it out :) Got the local saddler to make it for us as Arns isn't an off the peg size but am sure it would adjust to try out on Joy.

I chose this as it is sort of based on our Dually Headcollar (which he responds very well to) and works with direct and simple pressure rather than Dr Cooks which is a crossunder head hugging type.
 
Don't forget you can get insurance that allows you on the public highway in a halter, bitless bridle and includes bareback riding.:)

I just use the basic rope halter, it's simple. and doesn't tighten. The fiador can come lose though.
 
I'm in 2 minds still. I think due to Joy's forwardness at times, the best bet would be the Dr Cooks but on the ground she does respond very well to pressure on her nose :confused:

I don't know what to do. I suspect Arnie's sidepull will swamp Joy :D
 
If she is very forward and you think you may have to use the bridle quite a bit to slow her (I use my weight mostly on Shay but there are times when going downhill through the woods and he is getting excited that I need to use my reins) maybe the dr cook wouldn't suit, as I have found from my own experience, that these tend to be the horses who then learn to lean on the dr cook.

I have had very good experiences with the LG bridle (flower hackamore from marylot is similar) which allows you to change the way it is buckled to give different pressures, so you can set it up as a sidepull, you can set it up so it gives nose pressure and hardly any curb, you can set it up kicking the curb in quite quickly, so you can choose what your horse prefers. I have mine set up as a hackamore (you can also buy shanks for the LG) with more nose pressure, and then if I lift my hands the curb comes into play.
 
That sounds intersting NA. I'll have a look into that. :)

Whilst Joy is willing and forward, she isn't strong once she knows that if she wants to rush I'll take her somewhere safe and push her on for longer/faster than she wants!

I too mostly steer and stop etc of weight aids and often can be seen riding on the buckle with no stirups. However, on her numpty sec d days I like to get her doing laterals to give her more to think about. How does that fit into the whole bitless choice debate?
 
i bought a Dr Cooks for Moet, but adapted it so that i just click onto the side rings and have taken away the cross under straps. I have been riding her with this out hacking for the last 18 months, she goes better with it setup like that instead of the cross under.

Its my birthday at the end of the month and i would love to get a new bitless for her, but would have to keep to this method (so that its just basically rings on the noseband type...) would like something a bit fancy though....any suggestions for me too! lol!!
 
I've ordered a scrawbrig. I think that on the ground she does well off nose pressure and this was my original thought of the right option for her. I'm not convinced that the head hug experience is right for her.

I also don't think that a sidepull will be enough because she will go head in the air as an evasion sometimes and I'm not convinced this is down to any sort of discomfort but just because she know she can and she wants to do what she wants to do.

I'll try the scrawbrig and see how we get on :)
 
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