Riding in a bitless after wolf tooth extraction

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supersally

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I am currently waiting for my equine dentist to come and remove a wolf tooth from my yougster. Due to the bad weather we have lost a lot of riding and I am loth to have to rest her for another 2 weeks. Has anyone ridden in a hackamore or bitless after extraction ? I understand that schooling etc may be a problem but even if she could be hacked out it would be a plus. Any advice on type etc gratefully received
 
I bought a hackamore to ride my boy after his wolf teeth removal. He is quite well schooled, stops turns etc off my seat but I had no brakes or steering. He constantly rubbed his nose on his leg so I never left the school as didnt dare hack out :D. I gave it up as a bad idea and gave him a few days off.
 
It probably depends on how advanced your youngster is but personally I wouldn't ride a youngster after a wolf tooth extraction until I could use their normal bridle. Depending on how easy it is to remove the tooth you might find you don't have to give her too much time off.

If you really want to do something with her you could lunge her off a headcollar.
 
She is a 5 year old who did very little as a four year old but is reasonably well schooled & quite sensible. She never bucks or rears and not being very fit after the long spell of weather would struggle to go at high speed for long. It would just be a case of her being hacked out quietly with my other horse. I know I can ask my dentist when he takes it out but with a straight forward extraction how long do people normally allow before putting a bit back in their mouth ?
 
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I am waiting for my 5 yr old mares lower wolf teeth to erupt, they can be felt under the gum waiting to put in an appearance.
In the meantime, I am riding in a hackamore. She is very well behaved and I hack out, school and have even ventured to the beach in it :).
All the horses were on one the other day and if push came to shove, I'd say my steering or brakes weren't 100% but I appear to have more control than other people with badly behaved horses :o:D.

I have been pleasantly surprised with it and it is preferable to not riding for months whilst playing a waiting game.
 
Only thing I would be cautious about is where the Bitless bridle puts the pressure, i.e. not near the sore bit :)
 
I would say Dr Cook's if the mare is sensible. The horses usually cope well with them unless they can't cope with poll pressure or lean.

Hackamores are stronger, so if the horse was too strong it would be the better option.

This distributor is well respected and offers a 30 day trial

http://www.bitlessbridle.co.uk/

I prefer to use synthetic crossunder straps as they won't stretch by accident. As you don't want to buy leather and additional parts, try to get hold of a beta or synthetic one.

Alternatives to Dr Cook's are available cheaper on eBay (such as Be Kind Bridle, or the Easytrek ones).
 
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