Bitless Bridles

[Tabbi]

How many of you use them?
and have you changed your horse/pony from using bits to going bitless? Did your horse/pony accept the change easily?

Just curious!

 

[Jericho]

I changed to hacking out in a bit less bridle (side pull one) about a month ago. I started by going out in with bitted bridle underneath so had that to rely on if it all went awry with reins knotted on neck then progressed to taking the bit with me just in case. Now I don't bother.

It's worked really well for us. My mare is much more settled in her head carriage and is staring to work in an outline when asked to engage and she feels more balanced. She is calmer in canter and more easy to stop. We have encountered some very scary obstacles out hacking and I was worried that she would ignore me and just go... but we just dealt with it. She is becoming much more responsive to seat and leg aids. To start with she was a bit resistant to turning but now she turns off my seat and leg aids. I barely touch the reins when out riding.

However she is a very polite mare and is very very good to lead ( my 4 yr old can lead her without any problem) and I don't do a lot of fast work (1 or 2 a ride - although this is increasing now she is calmer!) and we hack out alone so no other exciting influences. I am not at the stage where I would be confident to go on a fast hack out with others or do a xc round!

I just used a very cheap soft webbing bridle which works well for us although it looks awful. Now I know it is a more permanent thing I will splash out on a leather one probably the micklem version.

I school now and again in the bitted bridle just to keep her hoof in as we do prelim dressage and sadly need it for this... I changed to bitless because I felt my mare would benefit from it and she has and I hope in time it will help her accept a bit with more confidence in future (although if we didn't do dressage I would probably never a bit in her mouth again! )

Sad really that there isn't a place for competition without bits but that's another thread.....

Good luck!