 Through assisting horses and their owners in making the switch to bitless riding, I have discovered a basic program of groundwork exercises and mounted work that will make the transition easier and more successful. These types of exercises have the added benefit of preparing your horse for more advanced work later on as well.
The majority of bitless bridles out there work off of three main pressure points (some bridles may use additional points or a variation of thereof). The first is against the bridge of the horse’s nose, with the noseband. The second is against the side of the horse’s face, and the third is often minimal poll pressure.
Obviously these pressures are not the same as that of a bit. Due to this, I spend as much time introducing the bitless option to my horses as I do with any other type of equipment (a saddle or driving harness or bit for example). It makes sense that we ensure our horses know how to give and respond to the pressures of the equipment, whether it is a hackamore, sidepull, rope halter, bosal or leather bitless bridle.
We do not want our horses to resist or avoid the pressures the bridle uses (this goes for any type of equipment we use on our horse). Horses that resist become tense and often hollow, and the horse becomes unable to relax physically or mentally. This can then lead to behavioural and physical issues.
I use four simple groundwork exercises to help my horse become soft and responsive to bitless equipment. They are as follows:
Lowering the Head
This exercise will help your horse to understand how to respond to the poll pressure of the bridle. To ask your horse to lower his head: stand by your horse’s head, facing his shoulder. Grip the rope/reins under the horse’s chin with your thumb facing downwards (this will allow you to block your horse more effectively should your horse swing/suddenly raise his head). Apply very light downwards pressure, and gradually increase. As soon as your horse offers to “give” and lowers his head the smallest bit, release the pressure and reward your horse. Start over. Eventually you will be able to incrementally lower your horse’s head all the way to the ground with very light pressure.
The Nose Tuck/Vertical Flexion
This exercise, along with the backup, will help your horse to understand how to respond to the pressure against the bridge of his nose. Stand by your horse’s girth, facing forwards and pick up on the reins, almost as if you were riding your horse from the ground. Have the reins at a length where you have some contact with the horse’s face, and gently give and take alternately on each rein, as if you were squeezing a sponge. When your horse offers to tuck his nose even the smallest bit, you will release and reward him. The goal is to get your horse to the point of being able to give his nose to you softly as soon as you pick up on the reins.
The Backup
A proper backup combines the above two exercises. Many people allow their horses to backup sluggishly with their heads in the air and their noses poked out. We would like our horses to back up softly on the ground and under saddle, with a lowered head and tucked nose. To do this, stand by your horse’s head, facing his shoulder. First ask your horse to lower his head, then tuck his nose slightly. Use your body language first to indicate to your horse that you would like for him to respect your space bubble and move away from you – lean towards your horse, then take a step towards him. If this does not cause him to back up, you can then begin to use pressure on the noseband to encourage your horse to back. When your horse takes a nice, soft step back, release everything and reward your horse. We repeat this exercise until we can back our horses up off of just our body language, or the very light pressure of one finger.
Lateral Flexion
This final exercise will help your horse accept the pressure against the side of his face that the bridle applies for steering. Lateral flexion basically means you will be asking your horse to bring his head around to the side (think of getting him to touch his girth with his nose) while his feet remain still. Once again, stand by your horse’s girth facing forwards, as if riding your horse from the ground. Pick up on the rein closest to you with some contact, and give & take on the rein, squeezing as if you were holding a sponge. When your horse offers to bring his head around to the side slightly (while keeping his feet still), release the pressure and reward your horse. Eventually you will be able to bring your horse’s head all the way around softly by increments.
Please note that you may want to enlist the help of a professional with the above exercises to make sure you are doing them correctly as each horse is different and learns differently.
Is My Horse Ready to Ride?
Once your horse is comfortable with the pressure of the particular bridle on the ground, how do you know if your horse is ready to ride? I take a look at where the horse is that day physically, mentally and emotionally. If I know the horse tends to be a bit spooky in arenas when it is windy, I am not going to choose a windy day to introduce the new piece of equipment to the horse, especially when it is one that is a main source of control. I also take a look at my groundwork – if I go up to my horse one day and ask him to lower his head and instead he throws his head up in the air, you can bet that I am going to fix that up before hopping aboard.
Safety Tips
To ensure the most successful experience possible, I also offer several safety suggestions to people using bitless equipment for the first time. Although some horses may take to the bitless riding naturally and be just fine with it, I prefer to go the “better safe and sorry” route and really believe in doing everything in my power to set my horses (and their owners) up for success. The first time(s) you try bitless riding consider the following:
- Ride in a familiar, enclosed area with no other horses present
- Check your groundwork first.
- Have someone supervise you.
- Have someone walk beside you for the first few minutes while you make sure you can get a successful stop, backup, do a few upwards and downwards transitions and test out some patterns (to check your steering).
- Wear all of your safety gear!
- Keep it short and simple. Only do things that you know you and your horse can successfully do. Do not push things until you get a wreck.
Riding without a bit is an enjoyable experience for both horse and rider. In certain cases, riding without a bit is the only option that owners can turn to when faced with various physical and/or behavioural problems in their horses. Provided you keep safety in mind and ease your horse into the transition, your horse can perform just as well bitless as bitted.
Future Articles:
- How to have a safe and successful first ride.
- How to help your horse work towards advanced bitless riding.
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