Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Riding without a bit or in a rope halter is indeed a matter of training and preference.  Right now my mare just resists the bit, but I have pretty good control with her with the rope halter.  She was my first horse and was the subject of my uneducated rein hands with a bit for years, so we are back to ground zero in riding with her with a bit.  I hadn't been really working with her on the bit until recently because I sent her away to be a broodmare, and when she came back she was my "extra guest horse".  I can just bump her with the reins and she rates well.  However, I am taking lessons on her with the bit so that we can get more refinement.

 

Beau, my retired endurance horse, is totally rideable with anything - flat nylon halter, rope halter, most any type of bit, etc.  However, I learned the hard way that a French link big just bloodies his mouth at an endurance ride, so I ride him in a kimberwicke whenever there's any chance that he's going to think it's an endurance "race" - like training with other endurance horses in a pack.

 

I think it's good to switch between posting, riding in a modified two point and sitting.  The trick is just to know where your balance point is, and sometimes that takes an educated eye on the ground to get you there. There's nothing that makes me sorer than sitting the whole time - no matter what gait.  You can post very nicely in a dressage saddle.   One guy who rides the hounds found it very difficult to do an LD in a jumping saddle - probably because there's a lot of "amplitude" when you post with an jumping saddle.

 

K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 9:49 AM, sherman <sherman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Find an instructor that will help you learn the way you want to ride not retrain your horse to a specific  "style". I haven't had centered-riding lessons, it sounds like that focuses on the rider balance. That sounds like what you need.

 

IMO, your friend is mistaken about a horse needing to be on the bit for safety. And, although Ranelle had the experience of a halter-ridden horse using her horse's butt as a way to control the "out of control" horse, the problem there is not in the headpiece used, but the level of training.  I also rode my horse in a halter (on a loose rein) in Tevis, and he was more controlled than most horses with bits in their mouths, the reins being held tight. He doesn't tailgate, doesn't refuse to slow up when I ask but, like a bitted horse, sometimes I have to ask very firmly. He does not take advantage of not having a bit in his mouth. He wasn't put under saddle until he was 8 yrs old though, so there wasn't much foolishness in him, no worries about bucking, bolting, etc. I should have used a bit for his first 50. He had a cut on his nose from the trailer so I used a flat nylon halter instead of the rope one we'd been riding in. It didn't work well. Next time, I put the bit on as well as his rope halter, and switched the reins as soon as I saw that his ride behavior was good. We've never gone back to the bit, but will if his behavior is ever questionable.

 

Kathy

 

Beth wrote:

Is there some way that I can keep him the way he is and learn how to ride him at a trot in a way that makes us both happy.?? I like the fact that he can be ridden bitless?on a loose rein and doesn't require me to pump him along with my legs.? I never really thought about trotting and now it is all I can think about!? I want to do what is best for my horse and from what I gather, posting on long rides will be much better on him than trying to sit the trot?? What do you guys do, how do you ride?? BTW-my trainer has been sitting the trot.