Going Bitless

katieB

katieB

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Aug 14, 2003
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I have been thinking about trying bitless with Milly for a while now. She is well schooled, I dont have any problems stopping her and im just curious to see what she would ride like without a bit. There may be times when I am doing fast work where, at least to begin with, I will put the bit back in, but im wondering if thats ok to do that, I wont confuse her will I?
What is the best bitless option to start with? I have used a hackamore before but apart from hearing the names of others used on here, im pretty clueless. Any pointers?
 
No advice but how wonderful, lucky you I'm thinking of having to change k's bit to a gag from a snaffle :( As a thought might be best to start of with a bitless bridle in the school environment at first, just till you both get used to it that way your testing it in a controlled environment.
 
My boy used to be ridden in a Dutch gag, then a snaffle and I moved him to a Dr Cook bitless in June this year.

My boy is hard to stop if he’s excited.

I stupidly just fitted the new Dr Cook bitless and went for a hack with a friend. I felt it just made me forget the bridle completely as for some psychological reason I thought if there’s no bit the bridle had no use so it made me use my other aids more than what I probably had been.

I went for the Dr Cook Beta at first as there was a 30 day money back guarantee. On realising that I liked it I used their other option of 30 days to upgrade and I upgraded my Beta to a Padded leather bridle.

I have and will continue to swap him back for shoes and dressage competitions, as they do not allow bitless. It hasn’t confuses him and he accepts it perfectly well. Not sure if my hands are softer from not relying on a bit anymore?

I have used the bitless to hack – on road off road. School and jump. Any activity.
 
How much do bitless bridles cost? I dont want to fork out loads of money if it turns out not to be suitable. Apart from Dr Cooks, what other optins do I have?
 
I just ride in a rope halter but I would advise using a presure Hackamore to start with as the presure nots give extra feel! Of course if you've done any NH work the type of bitless bridle you use shouldn't matter as the aids should come through your shifts of weight and soft leg aids! So what I'm aiming for is no reins at all and so far its going well!
 
Im still confused! I read that website that ShariN provided but im not sure which bitless option to go for. Dr Cook seems to be the popular choice but I dont want to go with that just because thats what most people use. Is it just a case of trial and error to see what works for you and your horse?
 
have you tried riding your horse in a headcollar?

When i pick a bitless i first think, does my horse prefer nose pressure? does it like poll pressure? does it like curb pressure?
Is my horse strong? Does my horse turn off weight aids yet or do i need more encouragement at the moment?

I have in my possesion, a dr cook, 2 happywheels, a rope nose sidepull, a leather sidepull, a bosal and 2 rope halters, plus headcollars.

Maddie can be quite strong when she wants to be, and i dont have a hope in hell of stopping her when she goes in to got to get home racehorse mode. Shes in a happywheel, i like these because you can rebuckle it to suit your horse, mine has nose pressure most of the time, and if she gets a bit strong and onwards, i lift my hands and the curb comes into action, weve done loads of fun rides/endurance rides this summer and shes been brilliant in it, i was having major problems the year before with the dr cook with her and it rubbing her and not stopping her.
When im not hacking i use a leather headcollar or rope halter on her.
maddie in her happywheel
maddiecanter-fhoenix3.jpg


murf is very strong, and because i only have one really usefull arm, we use an english hackamore with him, before that we used german hackamores with him, as hes got better and learnt weight aids ive been able to take the bitless he uses down a notch, now im changing him into a happywheel. when were not hacking his ridden in a rope halter. he was ridden in a rope nose hackamore aswell, but we had some trouble with steering out hacking with that, so we will work on steering off weight aids and get him down another notch.
murf in rope halter
PICT0014-2.jpg

and murf in rope nose sidepull
Picture0115.jpg


susie is a complete star and rides and drives in a leather sidepull (dr cook noseband on normal bridle) or a rope halter, she also goes in a bosal.
she prefers nose pressure, hates poll or curb pressure and will just lean into it and go, i rode her in the dr cook once and my usual saint of a pony dragged me across a field.
susie in sidepull
Picture0087.jpg


shay is ridden in a rope nose sidepull, i did ride him in a happywheel and he was fine in it, but didnt really like me putting it on him, so i opted for something slightly softer and he seems to prefer it. it has some brakes because of the rope, the steering isnt fantastic because its a sidepull, you really have to turn your horse with your body and not your reins. He goes really well in it. I sometimes ride him in a rope halter aswell but find it moves around his face a bit too much. Im going to use the bosal onhim aswell, when i can finally tie it properly.
shay in rope halter
PICT0143-1.jpg

shay in sidepull
PICT0006-1.jpg


ceryn started off being backed in the rope nose sidepull. she was strong and it had enough brakes, but because she didint know how to turn properly, the turning really wasnt there.
I changed her into a happywheel and that really helped her turning and gave brakes for her sudden shooting out into traffic momnets.
Ive now changed her into a leather sidepull, she knows how to turn nicely now and isnt strong at all anymore, shes only had one ride in it but it seems to be working.
ceryn in rope nose sidepull
cerynlookingnice.jpg

ceryn in happywheel
Picture0198.jpg


sorry its so long:eek:
 
Thanks for the info, that was really helpful.

No_Angel said:
have you tried riding your horse in a headcollar?

When i pick a bitless i first think, does my horse prefer nose pressure? does it like poll pressure? does it like curb pressure?
Is my horse strong? Does my horse turn off weight aids yet or do i need more encouragement at the moment?
Click to expand...

Im not sure I know the answers to all those questions yet :eek: Have ridden in a headcollar but only in walk. I have only ridden her in a french link snaffle as I have had no problems with it so I dont know what she thinks of poll and curb pressure. She isnt strong though (well she is but not whilst being ridden) I think I will invest in something fairly inexpensive and see how that goes, i guess without knowing the answers to some of your questions I will just have to try the different options and see what works for us.
 
theres so many bitess options that you could go on forever trying to find one that suits your horse, its better to narrow down your options.

might be worth trying riding in a well fitting headcollar to see how responsive she is to stopping. a scawbrig might be a good one to try:) although i can ride amber in a rope halter easily but she leans on the pressure of a scawbrig. it is just seeing what your horse prefers, but id do more reserch and see how your horse responds to nose pressure and pressure to the head (the dr cook squeezes the head and the scawbrig squeezes the jaw) before deciding on one.
 
Hi katie and Millie,

I just thought that I would add my experiences here in the hope that they can help you somewhat.Many years ago - after breaking in my arabian mare using a snaffle bridle, I found that she would resist the bit, mainly by pulling her head up and basically being unresponsive. I started using a bosal bridle on her, purchased from a Western Riding shop, and found she appreciated not having a bit in her mouth. The bosal has the reins attached to the bridle under her chin, and I adjusted my riding style by generally steering her with my legs and body weight, and rather than using pressure on her mouth in controlling her speed, I used a pressure-release-pressure release style of letting her know when to pull up. At the same time I was also riding a 2nd cross quarter horse that was trained at barrel racing and held a lot of tension behind the poll and in his neck, being one to canter on the spot and anticipate me wanting sudden movement from him, I used massage, TTEAM and what is called a balancing rope to experiement with him, at home, where I felt safe. I would keep his bridle on him - this was mainly for my own peace of mind, but I found that when I did ride him with this 'stiff round rope' around his neck his balance and williingness to yield was definately noticeable. In the past year I purchased an arabian riding pony for my daughter, from an auction yard, with no previous history of the horse, I found that when putting his bridle on he would raise his head and try to resist, if you were the inexperienced child you would have no hope of getting the bit in his mouth, being experienced I didnt have a problem doing such but , still noticed his dislike of being bridled, after trying a dropped noseband to try and keep him from opening his mouth when being ridden I decided to try the bosal on him as well. When he instincively tried to resist me putting the bit in, it was rather amusing to watch him realise that we werent trying the same old same old on him, and before he knew it he was wearing a bridle, the same applied for taking off the bridle, he would lift his head - assuming that I was going to wrench the bridle out of his mouth. After personal reflection I find that a bit in a bridle is a very human type of thing, its like our own personal safety seatbelt, in our human minds it gives us reassurance that if the horse takes off we can physically try to pull them up with the bit pressure. Horses are a lot simpler, they actually like to stop! They will respond quite readily to the whoa command. Failing that there is the leaning back and whoa, failing that you can always turn your horse to slow it down in extreme cases. Personally I know it is a case of each to their own, and alot does depend on the age and prior treatment of your horse, but from my experience a horse appreciates being ridden without a bit. If you do use a hackamore never use constant pressure as a means of trying to slow your horse down. I think riding bitless tends to make we humans rely less on 'hanging' on to your horses mouth for your assumed 'control'. If you have a healthy relationship with your horse you will see that it generally wants to please you and appreciates no bit.

Hope that helps and you give it a go,
Hermoyne
 
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