When a Bittless Bridle doesn't work!

by Bella
(United States)

Hi, if your horse doesn't listen to you when he has a bitless bridle, then what would be the most comfortable bit to use on a horse that doesn't need a lot of leverage?

thank you for your time,
hope to hear back from you soon.

Bella



Hi Bella,

The problem is there is no such thing as a most comfortable bit! They all cause tremendous pain and inflict damage to the cellular membrane and cause bone spurs of the horses mouth. Please see the book (at the bottom of the page) called Metal in the Mouth, written by a veterinarian and full of the scientific facts.

So what you have here is not a bit problem but a training problem. We need to look for our answers at the original source to our problems not find new tack and gadgets to fix behavioral issues. Since you described this horse to not need a lot of leverage then you have a different problem than you think.

Control of any horse can only come from good training, trust and respect and little of that can (or should) be found in the equipment we use. It would be helpful to know more about this horse and what level of training (age, breed) etc. he has. But since I don't know let's treat this like he has never understood what a bridle or reins represent (since he is missing something in this area). Plus whenever something isn't working well, I just go back to the beginning and pretend the horse doesn't know anything that way I cannot assume they should know.

Lateral flexion and the horse understanding to give to pressure are very important measures to teach. That way a horse learns to always give to the cue the rein offers and becomes a conditioned response (a response done out of pure reaction without questioning).


With just a halter on the horse I attach a set of reins and stand on one side by the horse's shoulder. With the reins on top of his withers in the same position as if I was sitting up there I slowly take the slack out of the rein (sliding your hand down the rein) while moving your hand at about a 45 degree angle away from the neck. The other rein is inactive and very loose. Small little increments while watching the horse's nose and the moment the nose even moves an inch to the side I quickly release the rein. And I mean quickly! And praise.

Never just pull the horses nose, what we want is the horse to understand to go with the rein and find the release. If you just pull, horses will just pull back, it's instinctual.

I repeat this (but not in one session) until the result is, I pick up the rein and the horse willingly flexes his neck all the way to the side (toward my chest) and of course on both sides. Then I repeat this action while sitting in the saddle. Then I repeat this while at a walk, trot and canter. This is how to achieve the one rein stop.

If you were to incorporate Clicker Training in this your results are achieved much quicker too.

Elaine Polny
Training Horses Naturally