Driving Bitless!

Finally, the weather has been nice enough to work with the ponies and I am now starting to restart Crimson for the summer! So some of you may have seen the post I made a little while ago about him playing with the bit a lot, and stuff. Well I decided to try driving him in just a halter since he doesnt like the bit. Well, today was my second day driving him bitless and he does soooo much better! Much more focused on me and my commands then focused on chewing on the bit!

I love it.. He looks happy.

I am definitely trying this with my new mini now, as we had a little freak out the other day trying to bridle her (and she is broke to ride and green broke to drive). I took a good look in her mouth and found scars on her gums from mistreatment in the past right where the bit would sit.

Never drove one bitless,but I had a mare that was always chewing at her bit until I used a differant size and type.how would you pull your pony up ,if he decided to take off

Do you compete with your pony in competition? If you do, you might want to check the rulebooks for being able to drive bitless in a show.

(I was wondering that same thing? Looks like you do show him from the pic in your Avatar.)

Personally I think that is great!
If he is happy, responsive, and always under your control, that is all that really matters when driving just for the pure fun of it.
Glad it is working out for the two of you!

A bit does not stop the horse, training does. I love this analogy: If you bridle a feral mustang with a strong curb bit, no amount of pulling will keep him from running. Only training will. Yeesh.

well aspin all respect to your opinion,but all the training in the world would not stop a horse taking off ,if it was frightened enough. You tube is full of examples of that, it may minimise the chance of it happening but it won,t stop it yeesh

^A bitless bridle has nothing to do with that, which is what you're suggesting. Using a bit, you're training a horse to respond to pressure. Using a bitless option, you're training a horse to respond to pressure. If a horse is going to take off, they'll do it with or without a bit. You seem to be suggesting that without a bit you have no control, and that's just ignorant. There's plenty of reasons to ride or drive bitless, and you'll have no less control than bitted, unless of course you were using a strong bit to mask training issues.

well asprin as I already said ,i never drove bitless,and yes ,personally I would feel like I had less control without a bit[never tried bitless]and as far as masking the training issues goes I don,t really think a strong bit or any other sort of bit would cover that,not for long anyway and not being smart to you now but whats the reasons for such as curb chains and such like.i know this may be blowing my own trumpet but I am a good trainer of a driving horse,and I do believe over the years when, the odd time a horse has decided they are parting company from me and I,ve maybe forced them to a wall/hedge etc,i dontthink I could have done it without a bit in their mouths