The Bitless Bridle!

You will find that if you give your draft a chance to learn what is going on when you put a bitless on her she will respond so much better with it as she will be happy with out the bit and more willing cause she will not be hurt from it. It is a different style then most horses are use to or were gentled with so it sometimes takes a lil while to get them to understand what you are doing but when they do you will love to ride even more as the horse is happy and a lot more willing to do what you ask and I do feel I have a grest deal more control with out mouth pain useing the bitless bridles. And all my horse are so much easier to handle from the turns to stopping . And so much less work on my hands and arms.
Dave

Glad for all the good responses. I just ordered one. From dr. Cook. Got the biothane or beta.. whatever its called. Figured I would start out with the cheaper first. I have been riding in an Imus comfort bit which is suppose to be pain free but still hate putting metal in her mouth. She never gives me trouble about the bit or fights me at all. I just wanted to try something more "naturally" comfortable for her.

It sounds good to me too!

I'm going to try and order one sometime this month. The draft size beta is $113 not including shipping. But, I do get that 30 day trial period so that is good!

I am looking forward to trying it. I will let everyone know how it works for me :)

Not to rain on your parade or anything...

But about these bridles. I don't know if it was Mr. Cook or someone else, but a "trainer" came through and did a "clinic" at a barn where I used to board. It was complete rubbish. He claimed he was going to train this horse that we had. It was a georgous, black arab 3 y.o. And it was completely nutts. He failed. Miserably. Then he tried to play it off like it was someone elses fault.

The next day, he performed the "participation" portion of his clinic. It consisted of all the participants lining their horses up nose to tail on the rail of the indoor arena. They walked them around in circles and he showed them how stomping your foot before making them stop will teach them that stomping = stopping. Yea... I'm watching the whole thing (viewing was free, the only thing that was :roll: ) and thinking to myself, this guy's a crock. They also did backing exercises and some bareback riding. None of it was any good.

Well the next morning, he was still around and getting ready to leave. Some of his clinic participants were also around so they all decided to sit dowm and have some lunch together and chat. Well the chat turned into a rather casual schooling session in which we learned several facts about this man. As it turned out, he was either in his mid 50's or 40's but he had only been "training" horses for five years. Five years. He apparently had some wonderful moment when all this great Natural Horsemanship training knowledge had been laid on him and he decided to hit the road and spread the faith.

He also took the opportunity to give his participants some really "good" advice about the health of their horses.

Here it is, see what you think:
-Bits are the worst things for horses.
-After bits are shoes. Never shoe your horse. If they are wearing them now, remove them immediatly.

He was advocating several products and one of them was the bitless bridle. After that clinic, everyone wanted a bitless bridle. Everyone got one and in about two weeks, the wiser ones (in my opinion) gave them up and went back to bits.

The more gullible ones even had the shoes taken off, despite our farriers insistance that it would turn their horses lame. Well after the horses had gone lame and some had developed thrush, the shoes went back on. I guess they didn't realize that a horse that has been shoed all its life will not respond well to such a dramatic change.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't bring myself to trust any of the products that clinician was selling. I have ridden a friends horse in the bitless bridle, and if you ask me, its no good. I could have gotten better response from that horse if I'd tied its lead rope to each side and ridden in a halter.

Of course, it's up to you.

Thanks for your input tim. I guess the 30 day trial is a good thing. I didn't get it to cure any problems. Vida is a well broke horse for a 7 year old and has never given me a day of grief. I guess its the love for the horse that got me intrigued. I try to keep her as comfortable as possible. I have been looking at side pulls and hackamores but thought the bitless looked like it had better communication. I'm just a trail rider so nothing too complicated is needed. I also like the idea of not having to take the bit out every time we take a break (I leave a rope halter on). I can see the advantages of it but will be sure to post my impressions positive and negative.
I'm also a great believer in barefoot horses. My girls have never had shoes and never will. We have a great barefoot farrier and we are in the process of getting them fitted for boots since we do ride in some pretty rough terrain and thought they might be more comfortable.
To each his/her own on shoes/barefoot, bits/bitless. I'm no fanatic on horse topic opinions. :)

Haha, yea, I like that.
:)

Hello again don't get me wrong or misunderstand me on the bitless bridles, they are like any other piece of equipment, they work well for me and in fact the only time I do not use the bitless is if im showing my TWH or saddlebred horses . But other then those few times I ride all my horses in the bitless. I don't have any experence with the Dr. Cook outfit, as I use the indian style bitless system which I attach to my own head stall it is made on a simlar basis but is different also, I said in my earlier post it is the real deal and for me it is. But then maybe my horses are all different then others as none of my horse are shod I ride all my horses bare foot and have done that for several years, if I buy a horse that has shoes on I pull them and turn the horse out to pasture, as it does take time for the hoof to adjust and to grow out accordingly then the black smith I use trims my horse in a natueral way. I have no issues of lameness in my horse today. And will continue to ride them barefooted and with the bitless bridle But as I said my horses may be a different kind of horse from all the rest but everyone needs to use the equipment that works for them and there horses, try it if it doesnt work go back to the old ways if they are working Dave

Yes, all horses are different and will respond different.

I look forward to trying the bitless bridle by Dr.Cook. It does have a trial period and that is important (just in case it doesn't work ). I have high hopes.

I too will post my results with this bridle and we'll see what it is about!!

As for shoes...I too prefer a natural hoof care program. My only problem is that I don't know how to trim feet and my poor clydesdale, I think really does need shoes on those hard roads!!
She's got big soft feet and they need some help!

However, I LOVE the look of a natural, well taken care of foot. They look so healthy and well balanced. When my mare's shoes are pulled, her feet are ugly. I would prefer natural hoof care but it's not going to happen with my situation.

What I don't like about bb (and that's a reason I didn't get one...): if you horse likes to pick the grass and really head strong at that (like mine) you won't be able to pull the head up.

Hey you are so right as for pulling up the head. And some hordses are very bad about eating and takeing there heads from you so you do have to really pull hard. I have one that was bad about that but it wasnt as hard to pull the head back up for me with the bittless bridle on her but of course she isnt a draft horse with a neck like a tank but she is quite big and at 17 hands and a large head and neck it was a bit of a issue but she has worked out of it by repeatedly asking her for her head when she was eating grass when on a rest period during our rides and training sessions consistent askingf as I did cured her of this not by jerking her head and all just steady pressure and release is what did it for me and the Duchess good luck and I hope it all works out for you Dave