bitless bridles, nalanta/sidepull, opinions?

[gypsiegal567]

hiya, i have been looking for a bitless bridle for my mare and have looked at all types, i would never dream of using a dr cook as i don't like them or a regular hackamore as i believe it is too severe for her but i always find myself looking at the nalanta bridle, does anyone know if it is actually friendly? i have also looked at sidepulls which many people say are the friendly but i struggle with how they work and rubbing on face issues, can anyone give my advice?

 

[SheriffTruman]

I ride mine both in a regular sidepull and in a hackamore. Both bridles give direct release, as opposed to some types of cross-under bridles. No rubbing issues at all. In the end it is up to the individual horse what works best, some don't like pressure on the nose, in those cases bitless is not suited.

I also used to think a hackamore would be to severe, but it all depends on the softness of your hands. Turned out my horse went better in the hackamore and I have to use less pressure with this bridle.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I rode Old Dobbin in a Dr Cook type cross under, as that gave me control, and he liked the poll pressure. Once the horse is ok with the different pressure points, you shouldn't have a problem whatever you use. Try a few, get the schooling right, and be prepared for a lower head carriage and full use of back and hind legs. Good luck!

 

[Barton Bounty]

I used a micklem

 

[Anna Clara]

I had thought the nalanta bridle was a sidepull. I bought one from Horze for less than £30 which I absolutely love. I wanted a sidepull, with both a chin strap and throatlash. The chin strap because it stops the bridle going too close to the eye and the throatlash because I have managed to lose a bitless bridle over my horses head when he shook before! It doesn't feel like a £200 bridle quality wise, but is so much better than I expected for the price!
We do everything in it, including all lateral work.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Can I just ask: are you already riding your mare bitless, or are you wishing to transition?

The reason I ask is that often something isn't "broke", and owners then however try to "fix" it. I did this with mine. We already are barefoot and treeless, and I thought let's get that piece of metal out of her gob and go bitless.

Put her in an Orbitless which I'd bought used from a friend. All well and good to start with. Hooray I thought. Then I started noticing that she was both hollowing-out her back and poking her nose out and "tanking" in trot, and particularly so in canter.

Put her back into the mildest-possible Happy Mouth straight-bar plastic snaffle, and she was a totally different ride! We gave up the bitless idea from then on. Now she is in the same double-jointed snaffle that she was ridden-on in as a youngster when she came to me! She is perfectly happy in it.

So this is why I would proffer the advice of "if it ain't broke then don't look to fix it".

 

[ponyparty]

I want to try my mare bitless but am a bit bamboozled by it all and don't want to buy lots of different bridles, only to have to sell them again. Think I'm going to get a second-hand Micklem (I've got a cheapy plain cavesson bridle for the time being) and then I can try the different settings - that way, if bitless doesn't work out, I can just use it as a normal bridle still. Having seen videos of my mare racing, she wore an Australian noseband, which I think provides more stability of the bit in the mouth? So she might like the Micklem bitted.

If bitless does work out, and I get a good idea of which type she likes from the different settings on the Micklem, I might look at getting a brightly coloured biothane one for her, as most of what we will be doing is hacking on the roads - the brighter we are, the better!

Sorry, not very helpful I suppose I'm trying to say, it might be worth getting one that has a few settings so you can try different things with her!

 

[SEL]

I ride a 13h pony in a hackamore and I don't think its any more severe than the other bitless options I tried unless you're hauling on it. Apart from a bosal it was the only option she actually liked.

I needed to go bitless due to an issue with her mouth meaning she can't take a bit, but I would agree with @MiJodsR2BlinkinTite in that we have more hollowing and poking nose than we did in a bit. I had just been hacking her but seeing a video of her flatwork recently and realising that I wasn't happy with it I'm going to have a think about how I ride her better in the hackamore.