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[RC] [Guest] For Lori re: bitless bridle - Ridecamp Guest

On Behalf Of Andrea Day

Ummmmm...........Lori, be careful you don't have a wreck waiting to happen.

If you can't be sure you can hold your horse in a bitless bridle under
"normal" circumstances on the trail, I'd bet you're going to have real
problems on a ride.

If you're bound and determined to use a bitless bridle, you need to start
working your horse on a loose rein, same as a bosal horse would be worked.
Lots of stop and go and transition work is needed, until he will respond
just by picking up a rein. The theory on a bosal is that you never, ever
pull or hang, and you don't work both reins with the same amount of tension
at the same time. Using the same principles on a bitless will create a horse
that is light and responsive, BUT it's all in the training and the control
is strictly through the training and proper use. Takes months and months and
MONTHS to get a horse consistant in any circumstance, and an endurance ride
is NOT the place to be doing your ground work.

That said, I'll tell you that I have a hot, knot-headed older horse that I
occasionally ride in a knotted halter. He's like that little girl--and he,
too, has a little curl right in the middle of his forehead--when he's good
he's very, very good--easy and responsive to the slightest touch. And when
he's bad--he's horrid! As he gets stronger and stronger wanting to go, I
wind up cranking down on him until he starts leaning on the noseband. Then I
throw him slack and bump his nose. That brings him down a little and he'll
back off, then we repeat until his brains come back. I know it's not the
"right" way to do it, but at his age, I'm too lazy to go back and try to
reschool him. It's like wrestling a gorilla, and the fault is mine,
obviously.

If you want him to go in a bitless bridle, help him by teaching him how to
respond to it or have someone else train him. Better safe, than sorry.



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