Can anyone recommend a good bitless bridle for excitable young ponies as a backup to a bit?

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maya2008

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Emphasis is on safety for short term use out hacking, no need to school or jump, just to keep the pony still able to be ridden safely on steady hacking routes incl minor roads.

For occasions like after wolf teeth removal (I prefer to give a few weeks without a bit but they always start nagging to be ridden by day 4 or 5).

We currently have a zilco flower hackamore for this use but it doesn’t quite do the job I want. The bridle it is attached to is ageing so I am considering replacing the whole lot.

I once had a Dr Cook copy with a thinner nose piece that did this job fantastically, but they don’t make them any more and it finally fell apart a few years ago.

Goal is safety. So brakes that will contain a spook on a green pony. I don’t really want shanks (which complicates matters) as it would be a young teen or older child riding. To fit pony/cob sized heads.

Anyone got any ideas?
 
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I’ve used a lightrider noseband (they do complete bridles too) which has the option of being a little bit “more” than a side pull if needed. Was fine for general hacking but was lacking for exciting situations for the particular horse I used it on.

If you were posting this next year I’d probably let you have it as I THINK I eventually want a transcend for current horse as think he may be suitable to stay bitless (they’d be a bit pricey to get for just occasional use in your situation (& this is why I’m dithering over getting one) I think but may be worth keeping an eye out for 2nd hand?) but in the meantime it’s useful to have the lightrider around & currently using it in sidepull mode for teaching baby pony to longrein.

If you wanted something more hackamore-like then a few people on my yard use an orbitless / copy of and seem to like it.

Random other thought but if for occasional use if you’ve got a lunge caveson would that be worth a try? (Probably work best with a classical style one with a light chain in the nose and for rigidity but can appreciate that may not work with where it may put pressure/ how snug it may need to be if after tooth removal)
 
Boulty said:
I’ve used a lightrider noseband (they do complete bridles too) which has the option of being a little bit “more” than a side pull if needed. Was fine for general hacking but was lacking for exciting situations for the particular horse I used it on.

If you were posting this next year I’d probably let you have it as I THINK I eventually want a transcend for current horse as think he may be suitable to stay bitless (they’d be a bit pricey to get for just occasional use in your situation (& this is why I’m dithering over getting one) I think but may be worth keeping an eye out for 2nd hand?) but in the meantime it’s useful to have the lightrider around & currently using it in sidepull mode for teaching baby pony to longrein.

If you wanted something more hackamore-like then a few people on my yard use an orbitless / copy of and seem to like it.

Random other thought but if for occasional use if you’ve got a lunge caveson would that be worth a try? (Probably work best with a classical style one with a light chain in the nose and for rigidity but can appreciate that may not work with where it may put pressure/ how snug it may need to be if after tooth removal)
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Thank you! I’ll look at those. We don’t use it for long when we need it, but I value my children’s safety quite highly so reasonably pricey but would do the job isn’t an issue! I also sometimes use it for a new ridden pony when we’re faffing with bits and I want to see what’s the bit and what might be something else.
 
Do you know what type of pressure your horse reacts best to? A hackamore applies nose and poll, transcend and lightrider tighten round the nose, Dr Cook round the whole head but mainly felt on jaw.

I've tried them all on various horses, my favourite Dr Cook style (forgetting what that mechanism is called?!) was a zilco synthetic, the synthetic material ran much smoother than leather so the release was faster and more definite.

I probably still have it somewhere. And my lightrider. Need a horsey car boot sale!
 
Jambarissa said:
Do you know what type of pressure your horse reacts best to? A hackamore applies nose and poll, transcend and lightrider tighten round the nose, Dr Cook round the whole head but mainly felt on jaw.

I've tried them all on various horses, my favourite Dr Cook style (forgetting what that mechanism is called?!) was a zilco synthetic, the synthetic material ran much smoother than leather so the release was faster and more definite.

I probably still have it somewhere. And my lightrider. Need a horsey car boot sale!
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It’ll probably never be used on the same pony twice, so for this purpose that’s not something I can say. The advantage of the flower hackamore was that every pony instantly understood and could apply their training to the new pressure sources, even if fairly recently backed.

We had a Nurtural Dr Cook copy. Biothane I think (was definitely synthetic). I loved it through multiple horses!

I’ve been looking at the lightrider as worth a try probably.
 
Would it be worth keeping an eye out on ebay for a Dr Cook type similar to the one you had? The Micklem multi bridle also has a cross under option I think if you are wanting to stick with a cross under type that you liked. Or maybe a scawbrig?
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Would it be worth keeping an eye out on ebay for a Dr Cook type similar to the one you had? The Micklem multi bridle also has a cross under option I think if you are wanting to stick with a cross under type that you liked. Or maybe a scawbrig?

Eta, sorry I've no idea what I've done with this post!
 
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