Biteless bridle

[Ron]

The forum has been pretty quiet so I thought I would bring up a topic that hasn’t been talked about for a while. I broke a stud colt and a three year old mare last winter with biteless bridles to test them out and see how they drive. I see that the topic was covered and forgotten back in 2012 so I thought I would bring it up again. I used a hackmore style on the mare and a home made style Dr. Cook on the stud. Both worked very well and I was impressed. I did this because I had seen it in Europe and read about it on DHP and wondered what it would be like to control drafts with. I found both systems to be very good for breaking colts. So easy on them in that their is less frustration on their part. Both horses had a much better head set with the bitless bridles and actually drove better and were easier to control then with a bit. I was a little bit leery about the first outing with them and used a light chain over the nose band encase they got difficult but that proved unnecessary. Don’t know if I will stay with the bitless bridle permanently but it worked well for breaking them.

[Dylan Keating]

Hi Ron, sounds great, I’ve had varying success with them with my ponies. Qhwn yo usay home made style Dr. cook, any pictures on what that looks like?

[Ron]

I am notoriously bad with computers and pictures but I can try. It was pretty simply I made a rope halter like I usually do and put the four rings in the knots as I did it. I had never actually seen the bridle for real but had seen pictures and my daughter had used one before. The rings are a pain putting them in just right but not impossible. I expected to have very little control and the feel to be very slow and sluggish but the horse responded quite well and with very little pressure. However if I need to put pressure on him I am not afraid of hurting his mouth and I can give a quite firm pull to make him come down on the line (can’t say bit). I think it was probably the nicest thing I have ever broken a colt with. Both the Belgium’s are my own breeding an have a really good head so maybe I just got lucky with this, I don’t know, that is why I wanted to ask about other experience. I will try and get pictures.
Cheers
Ron

[Ron]

Hi Dylan
Hope the pictures work and you can see them. It is hard to see with all the ropes so I took one picture with only the halter and rings the next with lines attached. The bridle/halter must stay tight so the purple lead rope you see is tied in a bosal to keep the nose band snug. I then take the loose end of the lead and pass it over the hame if I need to tie the horse up some where. The driving line goes through the ring at the nose band then under the jaw and anchors on the ring at the cheek piece. The same is done for both lines which makes an X shape under the jaw. When you tighten a line it gives pressure first on the nose band and if the horse does not response more pressure puts force around and up to the cheek ring which applies force to the top of the head.
This set up should have been a little tighter and cleaner but it was to try and make things stand out in the pictures and not for actual driving. It has rained here for two weeks and I have not been able to hitch any thing for fear of floating away.
I also liked the straight Bosal I broke the mare with it worked very well and I use a similar halter with a good tight Bosal knot on it. the down side of it is tying it each time I hitch and getting the adjustments just right. That too could be over come.
If I can answer anything else let me know. Hope the pictures work?
cheers
Ron

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[Ron]

The picture with out the lines and just halter and rings appears like it did not make the transition from my computer to the forum. I told you I was dreadful with computers????Sorry.
Hope you can still see it.
Ron

[Dylan Keating]

Hi Ron, thank you very much for this, I can see what you are doing there. I’ll ask my wife to take a look as she makes our halters so maybe we can see to making something akin to this.
Yes it’s been raining here a lot too so hoping i can get out to cultivate before the coltsfoot takes over, kind of ironic! Even looking like snow tonight.
That’s a big help to see the pictures, how does the horse stop with this setup pretty smartly?

[Ron]

Hi Dylan
I usually tie each knot of the halter then untie them as I make them and put the ring in it. sounds silly but that way you get the ring in the correct folds. When I try and put the rings in as I tie I usually end up with the ring not where I intended.
As for stopping I am really particular when breaking a colt about stopping. I spend a lot of time teaching start and stop in the coral making the horses turn right back to me and stop. It is hard to run away if they are facing you. From that I advance to stopping at different angles always using my voice command with the line or lead. By the time I get to the actually halter/bridle stopping is already second nature to them. The bridle is just one more way of accentuating that. It pulls the head down nicely and tucks the lower jaw in towards the chest if you pull hard enough. That is a tough place to keep going for a horse. It just makes it easier to stop then to go ahead. This halter gives you control over the whole head not just the bit. Where the head goes so goes the horse. Most colts learn quick how to evade the bit when they want to. With this that is difficult to do. If the horse is fussy they still can go forward on you but they will do that with a bit. It is easier to just work through the fussiness and keep coming back to the lessons learned in the corral.
Hope that helps
Ron

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