Mousesmom
Member
I've been riding my mare in a hackamore for about a year now, stumbling upon a bit vs bitless article looks to have led me down a rabbit hole now though. I hear that hackamores are terrible, bruising, broken noses, unclear signals ect and then I also hear snaffles are bad, sensitive mouth nerves, blisters, bruising ect.
I use this hackamore except I swapped out the curb chain for a leather strap
She's terrific in the hackamore, I only have to be very, very light for her to listen, neck reining is much better, I can control her at full gallop easily, no head tossing, chewing, fidgeting or anything like that.
In a snaffle she was terrible. She'd chew all day long, head toss and fidget and I couldn't control her at any faster than a trot without pulling her face off. I saw bruising on her bars once, probably due to my hard hands. Her ex owner was my ex trainer and told me that this is normal and how you should do it, I guess I didn't know any better. I wouldn't be surprised if she associates the bit with pain.
I am currently 'training' my little sister, and I have put her horse in a snaffle. Poppit (the horse) doesn't fidget or chew (much) and is very nice and responsive. I have tested her out in other bitless bridles but I find that she is best in her snaffle. Same with my mare except with a hackamore instead, I have tried different bits and bitless bridles but I always found she was best in a hackamore.
Some days I feel like I should have both horses in bits and other days I feel like I should have both horses in bitless bridles. I guess I'm asking if just using what the horses respond best to is the right way to choose their bridle
I use this hackamore except I swapped out the curb chain for a leather strap
She's terrific in the hackamore, I only have to be very, very light for her to listen, neck reining is much better, I can control her at full gallop easily, no head tossing, chewing, fidgeting or anything like that.
In a snaffle she was terrible. She'd chew all day long, head toss and fidget and I couldn't control her at any faster than a trot without pulling her face off. I saw bruising on her bars once, probably due to my hard hands. Her ex owner was my ex trainer and told me that this is normal and how you should do it, I guess I didn't know any better. I wouldn't be surprised if she associates the bit with pain.
I am currently 'training' my little sister, and I have put her horse in a snaffle. Poppit (the horse) doesn't fidget or chew (much) and is very nice and responsive. I have tested her out in other bitless bridles but I find that she is best in her snaffle. Same with my mare except with a hackamore instead, I have tried different bits and bitless bridles but I always found she was best in a hackamore.
Some days I feel like I should have both horses in bits and other days I feel like I should have both horses in bitless bridles. I guess I'm asking if just using what the horses respond best to is the right way to choose their bridle
