Sidepull v bit: odd behaviour

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soloequestrian

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I've just got a really simple sidepull bridle to start my youngster in - it seems the logical next step from the headcollar. She isn't backed, so I thought I would try it on my older horse. He is usually hacked in a hackamore but schooled in a snaffle. He doesn't go well in the hackamore when schooling - he is difficult to turn. In the snaffle he goes nicely, and we get decent marks at Novice dressage. He is slightly less supple to the left.
In the sidepull today he was okay on the right rein but on the left all he wanted to do was turn his head to the right - it was a struggle to manage a 20m circle. At points I had him light and bent to the left, but they were fleeting moments. It was a weird (and very frustrating) feeling.
My question now is, does he just prefer a bit or is there something horribly wrong in my training?!
If it was a different bit I had tried, I would immediately think that it was the bit rather than the training, but bitless I just feel like I've failed somehow...
 
Probably a weakness in training or possibly something going on in the backend that makes it tricky for him to be straight, he is hollowing to the right, which is his stiffer side and finds it easier to stretch than contract the muscles on his left side so do plenty of work in counter flexion when on his preferred rein, often a couple of weeks working this way will straighten them up as long as there is not an underlying physical issue.
Like us they have a preferred side that is stronger, unlike us they cannot be too dominant as it will limit what they can do, if you are right handed it often makes the horse hollow that way however hard you try to avoid it, I am right handed but can be a bit fixed to the left so am very conscious to not allow this to make my horses flex left too much.

As for the sidepull I suspect it just allows him to fix the way he prefers more easily than he can with a bit.
 
If he is OK when ridden in a bit, then the answer is obvious - it's the equipment. Bits are more precise in their action than anything that acts on the nose/curb groove, they offer refinement and control through training. Hackamore/sidepull/bosal-type bridles are more blunt in their mechanics.
 
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