Choosing the best Bitless Bridle for your horse by Cynthia Cooper
Bitless bridles have exploded in popularity over recent years, and with that growth has come a huge range of designs to choose from. That's great news — but it can also make the decision feel overwhelming! Just like bits, bitless bridles are not a one-size-fits-all solution. They vary significantly in how they work and how comfortable they are for your horse. Choosing the right one comes down to understanding how each design functions and what suits *your* individual horse. The activity you ride in can even play a role — a rope bridle, for example, is perfect for endurance and trail riding but won't be accepted in the show ring. So, let's start at the beginning.
How Do Bitless Bridles Work? All bitless bridles apply pressure somewhere on the horse's head — and often in more than one place. The main pressure points are the top of the nose, sides of the nose, cheeks, poll, and under the jaw. Understanding what happens at each of these areas will help you make a much better choice.
Top of the Nose Horses generally accept nose pressure well, thanks to their early training in a halter. But there's an important safety consideration here: the pressure must never be applied too low on the nose. The fragile split nose bone can be damaged — and with harsh repeated downward jerking, even broken. A low noseband can also restrict the nostrils and affect breathing.
As a general guide, position your noseband above where soft tissue ends and firm bone begins around the entire nose — in line with the start of the pre-molars, roughly 3–4 fingers below the cheekbones.
The material of the noseband matters too. Hard lariat rope, thin covered cable (common on some mechanical hackamores), and thin rope can all mark the nose with prolonged use or heavy reins. A thicker, padded or covered noseband is kinder — though keep in mind that a very padded noseband can reduce responsiveness if your horse has learned to push against pressure or you're riding with constant contact.
Sides of the Nose The sides of the nose typically receive directional pressure, so what's making contact here is really important. Large metal pieces found on many leverage-style bitless bridles can trap the skin and cheek flesh against the teeth if they have sharp points — ouch! Even noseband knots on a rope bridle can cause the same problem if used harshly or fitted too high or low.
Cheeks The cheeks are most commonly affected by crossunder-style bridles, and to a lesser degree in most other styles. Even so, it's worth paying attention to things like bulky keepers, decorative knots, and fancy hardware that can create unexpected pressure points.
Poll Crossunder styles generally apply only light poll pressure, while some leverage styles apply more. Where there *is* poll pressure, the material and padding of the headpiece matters — thicker padded headpieces can push uncomfortably into the back of the ears. Where there's no poll pressure action, this is less of a concern when riding with light reins.
Under the Jaw Under-jaw pressure is most common in leverage bridles that combine nose and jaw contact but can also come from tight nosebands and chinstraps. Because there's not much flesh over the jawbone — and because the jaw moves when a horse chews — it's important that any material in this area is non-abrasive and not too tight.
The leverage action works like this: rein pressure causes the metal apparatus (like hackamore sides) to press down on the nose, which simultaneously causes the chinstrap or curb strap/chain to press up into the jaw. Chinstraps that run freely through a ring can also create leverage depending on the material — stiffer materials like leather or rope will tighten and leverage, while softer flat materials like webbing will stop at the snug point without continuing to tighten.
Bitless Riding Differences By Cynthia Cooper. Confident riders and educated horses adapt to riding bitless easily. When riding with a bitless bridle, there are some perceived, and a couple of real differences to riding with a bit that will help with your transition and training.
Confident riders and well-educated horses who have a good basic foundation generally won’t have a problem adapting to a bitless bridle because essentially the principles are the same – ride with your mind and seat first, then legs and hands second, keeping the feel soft and light.
But if you lack confidence or knowledge and are not riding a responsive educated horse, here are some things that will help your bitless Click here to read more.....
Bitless Bridles - What's the Difference: by Cynthia Cooper
Until a few years ago there used to be very few choices if you wanted to ride without a bit in your horse’s mouth. There was the western style bosal, the mechanical hackamore or the rope halter, mostly used by western riders, showjumpers and endurance riders in that order. But now, with our awareness that horses don’t need a bit to be controlled, we are faced with a huge choice of bridles that use various means of action to put pressure on the horse. This article will look at the more readily available options and why they would be used or what purpose they are better suited to. Click here to read the rest of this article.
How to transition to a Bitless Bridle By Cynthia Cooper There’s a saying – “Go shoe-less but not clue-less” so here’s another “Go bit-less but not wit-less”. (I’m sure it's been said before)!
So, you’ve decided to listen to your horse and get rid of the bit. You may have read about or heard of the negative effects a bit can have on a horse, or you may just want to try riding bitless to see if your horse would prefer not to have a lump of metal in his mouth. Perhaps you’ve ridden for a long time in a rope halter or hackamore and decided it's time to refine things, so a bitless bridle is the next step. Or maybe you’d like to go out in public or compete without a bit but don’t want to be frowned upon for riding in a halter.
Whatever the reason, there are some things you can do to make the transition to using a bitless bridle smooth and safe for you and your horse. Click here to read the rest of this article.
Riding Bitless - 'On the Bridle' By Cynthia Cooper The term 'on the bit' has become commonplace and used to denote a certain frame or level of head carriage and collection of the horse.
But what happens when you don't have a bit in your horse's mouth? Can your horse still collect and if they do, what can you call it? Well - since 'on the bit' means acceptance, collection and responsiveness to the bit, maybe 'on the bridle' can refer to those same qualities when a horse wears a bitless bridle.
After all, we are still looking for acceptance, softness, responsiveness and collection in the horse for the purpose of easily carrying a human during intense periods of collected exercise such as in dressage, show hack classes, jumping, reining and many other competitive events of short duration. Click here to read the rest of this article.
Get Better Bitless Control by Moving the Hind End by Cynthia Cooper Control (or lack of it) seems to be one of the big fears' riders face when starting to ride bitless. For me as a natural horsemanship devotee, it wasn’t an issue at all because the program I followed developed control on the ground that translated directly to the saddle. I came to appreciate that hindquarter control was most important, especially when I was riding with a halter and one rein! Click here to read the rest of this article.
Disengagement is a Powerful Control - by Philip Nye What is disengagement? Firstly, it's the opposite of engagement or full power as a disengaged horse has relaxed and yielded all its power. It has released its power to the hindquarters mainly but also softened and released its shoulders, head and neck. The horse overall is relaxed, submissive and yielding.
So how do we achieve this? Disengagement is asked for primarily with the inside leg in conjunction with an indirect rein. An indirect rein therefore becomes a relax, settle down, life out, control rein for downward transitions compared with a direct rein which is a life up, go somewhere communication rein for upward transitions. Click here to read the rest of this article.
Driving Bitless and Blinkerless by Cynthia Cooper While driving in a bitless bridle is not seen as often as riding bitless, there are people from all corners of the world doing just that and very successfully. In fact, if you can ride bitless, why not drive bitless, and blinker-less for that matter! Click here to read the rest of this article.
Bitless Bridle Experiment and Revelation On 31 October 2008, during the annual conference of the Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) held at the Kentucky Horse Park, Dr. Robert Cook, a research veterinarian, gave a demonstration of relevance to the improvement of welfare and safety for horses and humans.
The demonstration took the form of a scientific experiment in front of witnesses. Four volunteers, all of whom were CHA certified riding instructors, rode four horses, offered by owners for the purpose. A four-minute, exercise test was first completed using a bitted bridle (jointed snaffle). Immediately afterwards, the same rider/horse partnership repeated the test using the Bitless Bridle. Prior to the demonstration, none of the horses had ever been ridden in this crossunder design of bitless bridle. Click here to read the rest of this article.
Bitless Bridles Seen as Safer Alternative for Horses in New Study from www.thehorse.com Previous studies evaluating the behavioral responses of horses to different types of bridles found that horses perform at least as well, if not better, with a bitless bridle than a jointed snaffle. Click here to read the rest of this article.
TRADITION & THE STATUS QUO OR SCIENCE & ADVANCE? by Robert Cook FRCVS, PhD Official bodies such as the FEI and a number of racing administrations are aware of my arguments for a rule change to permit use of the crossover bitless bridle, but none have, as yet, agreed to such a change. Their reasons for not doing so do not include any scientific arguments but are based mainly on a wish to retain the status quo. For example, a national federation affiliated to the FEI has recently stated that they follow the lead of the FEI in formulating their rules. They refused repeated requests for a rule change on the grounds that they cannot permit the crossover bitless bridle (CBB) for dressage as this would constitute a rejection of the classical tradition.
The answers provided by this national federation highlight a serious misunderstanding about the proper nature of tradition and represent an unnecessary obstacle to advances in welfare. Not once did they defend the use of the bit on the grounds that it was safer, more efficient or more humane. They simply repeated the explanation that the bit was traditional or classic. Click here to read the rest of this article.
