Bitless bridle for the craic + cheap owner

Caol Ila

Caol Ila

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I would like to try my horse bitless. We have no problems in our ordinary plain French snaffle bit, or even in a double bridle when I can be bothered dealing with it. I just want to see what she will do bitless (I imagine it won't cause any great change; she won't become a mad, raving lunatic, but she won't become Valegro either, although my ex-dressage trainer in the US keeps writing on Facebook about how fantastic her horses go bitless, so you never know, the next British dressage champion could well be a 20-year old draft cross), in like a sidepull type of thing, although there seem to be all sorts on the market. I really don't want to spend much money on one unless I know it makes my horse happier or creates some improvement in her way of going. Good ones appear to cost 40+ quid and I don't see the point of coughing that up if the horse were to go no differently, or indeed worse, than she does in a snaffle.

Anyone know where you can get cheapies (yes, I have looked at ebay; slim pickins if you're not in the US) or, to be cheeky, is there perhaps anyone local have one we could borrow for a day?
 
You have to school to a bitless like you would to a bit, so they may take a couple of sessions to adjust.

Had the baby in a hackamore briefly when he hurt his face and he was fine, actually did some really nice schooling though did need to be reminded occasionally that he can't just lean on my hands. My sister took him to pony club camp with it, and he was brilliant, did sj and xc and she had brakes and steering. (something we've only really established in the last couple of months with a bit haha) I don't like the idea of poll pressure with a hackamore, we kept that in mind and were very gentle with it - like you didn't want to spend loads for something that was so short term, and it did the job.

Not sure how correct it is, but we used to ride our old pony in a nylon lunging cavesson with reins attached. Cheap alternative to a bit-less bridle! Wouldn't do it on something strong though!!
 
Where abouts are you to borrow? I brought my equitrek version of a dr cook for £30 including shipping off eBay when mine decided to bite through his tongue. He went well in it, just got strong jumping and the girls at the yard had a thing about borrowing it without asking and adjusting it and getting it tangled so I went back to my bit :-)
 
I would try in just a headcollar if you have somewhere enclosed and dont want to waste money, its practically the same as a side-pull anyway and it will give you an idea of how your horse is likely to react.
I have a Dr cook and have converted it to a side-pull with a bit of duct tape as my lad isn't keen on the cross-under action.
 
Caol Ila said:
I would like to try my horse bitless. We have no problems in our ordinary plain French snaffle bit, or even in a double bridle when I can be bothered dealing with it. I just want to see what she will do bitless (I imagine it won't cause any great change; she won't become a mad, raving lunatic, but she won't become Valegro either, although my ex-dressage trainer in the US keeps writing on Facebook about how fantastic her horses go bitless, so you never know, the next British dressage champion could well be a 20-year old draft cross), in like a sidepull type of thing, although there seem to be all sorts on the market. I really don't want to spend much money on one unless I know it makes my horse happier or creates some improvement in her way of going. Good ones appear to cost 40+ quid and I don't see the point of coughing that up if the horse were to go no differently, or indeed worse, than she does in a snaffle.

Anyone know where you can get cheapies (yes, I have looked at ebay; slim pickins if you're not in the US) or, to be cheeky, is there perhaps anyone local have one we could borrow for a day?
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Don't know how near you are, but if you'd like to borrow my Orbitless for a week or so, that would be no problem :) It just attaches to a normal bridle, although the noseband size is for standard horse (which makes it slightly too small for my giant... hence currently using our Micklem :) ). It's effectively a sidepull (depends on how you set it up).
I also have a Corbin that's quite nice to use (very hard to find, Corbins ;) ).
 
The horse goes okay in a halter with two leads clipped to the side. It just drives me nuts because of the way the halter can get pulled unevenly to the side and lead ropes make terrible, awkward reins, so I never have the nuanced communication with the horse's face that I want.

Brightbay, the horse is at a yard near Larkhall. How far is that? That would be brilliant. She is wears "standard" horse sized headgear.
 
Caol Ila said:
The horse goes okay in a halter with two leads clipped to the side. It just drives me nuts because of the way the halter can get pulled unevenly to the side and lead ropes make terrible, awkward reins, so I never have the nuanced communication with the horse's face that I want.

I'd just dive in and get one then if you cant borrow, if he goes ok in a halter it can only get better with the real thing I'd have thought.
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I bought a cheap side pull from here: http://www.nags-equestrian.co.uk/ep...ps/es136662/Categories/Horse/Saddlery/Bitless after trying the headcollar trick. They will do customisation for fit, colour etc (although sounds like you don't need) and I found that, from a distance, the synthetic 'beta' looked fine with traditional leather saddle etc. (Brown in our case). Loved it. Not riding at all at moment due to baby but would try one on anything trustworthy in an enclosed space with others around. In fact I hacked out in it (roads & canter field track) first time - but that was horse/route I knew well.
 
I also rode her in a bosal many years ago, but got rid of it when I moved to the UK and had to rationalize all my tack. I didn't ride in it very much as the mecate reins were a hassle to deal with and bosals aren't really meant for riding on a contact, which is what both horse and I are trained to do.
 
Malaga was started in a plain rope halter for one rein riding and then the 22' was added to turn it into a rope hackamore with the "spare" tie up as I call it :D Its not about the tack its about the training :)
 
Yes, just to be clear, I am about 99.99999% sure my horse will be just as easy to control bitless as she is bitted. The reason I would like to try one out before I buy one is that I am curious to see if it improves her, obviously beyond merely steering in all three gaits and stopping, which she will do fine regardless of tack. If there is pretty much no difference between a bitless bridle and the snaffle, I don't see the point of having it and that is £15/20/30/40 that could be spent on something else. :) She will go round in a halter, but it is difficult to get my hands as quiet as they can be given that I am busy trying to keep two lead ropes out of my and her way. She will probably do the same in a side pull, but then again, she goes round in a snaffle. So will she be more round, more through etc. without the bit?
 
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You can turn your bridle not a side pull. I did that with mine. Take off the bit, attach two circular rings to the place where the bit goes and the nose band and thn attach your reins to the rings too. Easy peasy
 
Theres a cob size one on preloved for £8 at the mo + postage ?? Sounds cheap to me, maybe worth a go? Love to know how you get on. If my mare ever comes sound I was thinking of trying one of these.x.
 
Caol Ila said:
Yes, just to be clear, I am about 99.99999% sure my horse will be just as easy to control bitless as she is bitted. The reason I would like to try one out before I buy one is that I am curious to see if it improves her, obviously beyond merely steering in all three gaits and stopping, which she will do fine regardless of tack. If there is pretty much no difference between a bitless bridle and the snaffle, I don't see the point of having it and that is £15/20/30/40 that could be spent on something else. :) She will go round in a halter, but it is difficult to get my hands as quiet as they can be given that I am busy trying to keep two lead ropes out of my and her way. She will probably do the same in a side pull, but then again, she goes round in a snaffle. So will she be more round, more through etc. without the bit?
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Why don't you just attach your existing reins to the halter instead of using lead ropes? That's what I did to test my mare out before buying bitless (Matrix)
 
I think an earlier poster linked to your website, NagsEquestrian. I may do that.

@Schmoo, my horse isn't huge, but I don;t think she'd fit into a cob-sized bridle.

Was thinking of going to my local (ish) climbing shop and getting some tat to tie some clips to in order to make reins. I still think her existing headcollar fits too loosely, though.
 
Bitless experiment = meh.

I made a rough sidepull by attaching reins to the headcollar as per above posts.

I can't say I am sold on the idea. It didn't make that much difference. Except in the canter, which it made worse for whatever reason. Her canter has taken years of work to get in some vaguely uphill semblance -- that advice from Carl Hester where he said that you can improve the walk and trot but buy the canter, I didn't do that -- but I digress. We were back to holy four-beat-on-the-forehand canter batman! However, she goes round in walk and trot in a headcollar. Does shoulder-in, travers, and a crappy half-pass as well. That's nice. A cute party trick, but it wasn't an improvement on the way she goes in the snaffle or double bridle. I took her on a wee hack afterwards. Hey, I trust my horse enough to hack out in a headcollar with reins attached. That's pretty good too. So I have concluded that my horse is trained but everything is a easier in the snaffle.
 
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