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I sent this study to my trainer, here is her response.

The results would have been the same if you had ridden them in a rope halter .  All is fine until something happens and then what???   I know several people that have used them.  I causes the horse to use his under muscle and only with very skilled riders can they achieve roundness and throughness.   The FEI has denied their request to be used in competition.  I would be fine for trail riders on calm horses.  I have heard from a very reputable source that they are not pain free. 

Roxanne

 

> -------------- Original message from Diane Trefethen <tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: -------------- 
>
>
> > Terry Banister wrote: 
> > > The demonstration took the form of a scientific experiment in front of 
> > > witnesses. 
> > Not really. There were no control subjects. To be "scientific", the 
> > experiment should have had 16 horses, 4 that performed bitted twice, 4 
> > that performed bitless twice, 4 that performed bitted, then bitless, and 
> > 4 that performed bitless, then bitted. That way you'd have a base line 
> > for bitted and bitless, an expected improvement due to simply repeating 
> > the exercises a second time, and the actual improvement (or lack 
> > thereof) when switching from bit to bitless and bitless to bit. 
> > 
> > There is also no way to determine how much of the result is due to the 
> > Hawthorne Effect, ie, that ANY change will produce a short term 
> > improvement in productivity. 
> > 
> > Often the requirement for a controlled situation may actually work 
> > against proving the validity of a hypothesis as it applies to the real 
> > world. In a controlled situation, such as the arena, an experiment may 
> > have a great deal of internal validity, ie, it works in the ring, but 
> > simultaneously lack external validity, as when you take the horse out on 
> > the trails. To compensate for this, the experiment should have included 
> > taking the 16 horses, half in bits and half bitless, 5 miles away from 
> > the barn, asking them to gallop towards said barn for 30 seconds and 
> > then asking them to halt USING ONLY THE REINS, no shift of weight or 
> > vocalization, measuring the time delay between asking for the halt and 
> > actually getting it. 
> > 
> > Caveat: When I don't ride, I get argumentative :) 
> > 
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