We tried bitless today...

Shantara

Shantara

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And it was such a roller coaster!
At first he was throwing his head around, doing tiny little broncs (and I mean tiny, they were easy to sit, but very annoying) and just generally being a twit. I don't blame him, he's had a bit all his life and change worries him a little.
After about 10mins of head tossing and the like, he settled into a nice walk and he was very good. I then asked for trot and there was more head throwing and tantrums. Again, after a short while he settled and was doing a very lovely trot!
I tried a canter and he had a little buck (Which isn't like him) and again, threw his head, but again, settled.

The YO then put a few jumps up and he didn't rush like usual and I had a very nice couple of jumps!
However, he did knock quite a few and since I was now alone I thought I'd leave them until Mum arrived. We had a play around, doing plenty of transitions and I tried some leg yields which he was very good at!

Mum finally came and she put the jumps up. We popped around the course twice and he didn't knock any :D

We called it a day and I got off.

In conclusion, I think he needs a little more time to get used to it, but we may be onto a good thing here!!

(No pictures, unusually!)
 
Nice one! I've tried bitless (the one with the cross under straps) with both mine, and they both love it and thankfully seemed to know what I was asking straight away which surprised me as I thought we'd have some mega communication problems. Mist the older girl now has a webbing version from Dr Cook and adores it (it's very soft) but poor Saf has to go back to her French link snaffle until I can afford to fork out for a leather Dr Cook! The only odd thing they do is that they expect the bit to go in their mouth so when it doesn't they start mouthing wondering what's going on, also I've had Saf stretch her neck so her chin in nearly touching her chest every now and again, like she's trying to work out what's missing!
 
I got Mollie a cross-under bitless (Dr Cooke copy - cheap on ebay;)) in the summer to see if it helped with her head-shaking.

I think it may have helped the shaking, but she tends to carry her head too high and her back rather hollow, and I think the bitless may make this worse. I wonder whether the all-over pressure bothers her, and think she might actually go better in a bit after all.

Come the summer, when the flies or sunlight set off the head-shaking again, I might go back to the bitless.

I was surprised how well controlled horses feel in a bitless. Some of the horses I was riding before I got Mollie were in bitless bridles, and they never felt at all "strong" in them.
 
Neds the same. Don't know if youve seen my videos but he does a great giraffe impression! He actually had his head down a bit and was moving very nicely (not like him, being a pacer)

i must say im impressed :-) i cant wait to try it out hacking!
 
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