Bitless Bridle Training

History of Bitless Bridles

• According to Leslie Smith-Dow, former editor of Bitless Horses International, "...the first horses were likely domesticated by looping a piece of rope, sinew or leather over their muzzles." Wende Wainright reports that the Numidians of Africa were riding their horses with a simple neck strap 3000 years ago, while the Berber Arabs used the same rope and halter combination on their horses that they had previously used on their camels. The Numidians eventually adopted bited bridles, but the Al Hakma was later adopted by the Spanish Vaqueros as the Jaquima. They brought it to South America where it remained popular, eventually becoming the familiar hackamore or bosal. In North America, American Indians greeted the arrival of the horse with open arms, often rode into battle with simple rope headgear known as war bridles, which wrapped through the mouth and over the poll, or ghost cords, little more than a loop around the horse's lower jaw and one rein.

  The earliest bitless bridle patented in the U.S. dates from 1893. It's design made use of metal plates to cut off the horse's air supply when pressure was applied to the reins. Later refinements in bitless bridle design led to the development of the side pull bridle, the mechanical hackamore, and most recently, the cross-under bridle. But bitless bridles never gained mainstream appeal. Most sanctioned competitions limit their use to young horses in training level, speed events and endurance riding. In 1988, Rev. Edward Allan Buck, inventor of the modern cross-under bitless bridle, and Dr. Robert Cook, began contesting that attitude and are currently at the forefront of a movement to promote the use of bitless bridles in sanctioned competitions. The most popular types of bitless bridles are the bosal hackamore, the mechanical hackamore, the sidepull bridle, and the cross-under bridle.

The Bosal Hackamore

• Primarily used on young western horses, the bosal is a heavy curved leather or rawhide nose piece attached to a headstall. It is controlled with heavy horsehair reins, or mecate, attached to the bosal with a knot around the heel butt. At rest, the bosal lies lightly and comfortably on the horses nose. When a rein is lifted, the bosal shifts, creating pressure on the horse's nose and lower jaw while the rein causes irritation to the horse's neck. To relieve the pressure and irritation, the horse moves away from the rein. To use the bosal the rider must apply rein pressure opposite the direction he wants the horse to move. Training with the bosal helps a young horse learn how to move away from a neck rein and keep a balanced frame.

The Mechanical Hackamore

• The most severe of all the bitless bridles, the mechanical hackamore uses lever action to gain compliance. The bridle's two metal shanks combine with a curb chain under the chin and a reinforced rawhide noseband to create a powerful crushing action on the horse's nose when rein pressure is applied. Adjusted properly, the hackamore puts pressure only on the facial bones and jaw of the horse. Adjusted too low, it can crush the nasal passages and cut off the horse's air supply. In the right hands, a light "touch and release" of the rein usually gains a quick response. With a heavy-handed rider, the pain from the hackamore's crushing action can cause head slinging, rearing or bucking. Like the bosal, the mechanical hackamore must be used with an indirect, or neck rein, turning the horse away from the rein pressure.

The Sidepull Bridle

• The sidepull bridle consists of a leather headstall with a cavesson, set a few inches above the mouth. The reins run to rings set either directly on each side of the noseband, or slightly below it, depending on the style. Unlike the bosal, the sidepull works with direct rein pressure. The rider applies pressure on the rein toward the direction he wants the horse to travel. A stop requires pressure on both reins, translating into pressure on the nose. The sidepull bridle is extremely humane, but not always appropriate for excitable or rambunctious horses who like to push through the bridle. The severity of sidepull bridles can be increased by adding latigo or chain to the top of the cavesson

The Cross-under Bridle

• The newest of the bitless bridles, the cross-under bridle, incorporates a patented design that includes a cavesson with rigs that allow the reins to connect to a movable strap that runs through the rings to cross under the horses jaw and over the poll. Pressure applied to the rein transmits into a pressure over a large area of the horse's face. Because of the placement of the rings and the design of the straps, the cross-under can be used in the same manner as any bitted bridle, either with a direct rein, as in English disciplines, or indirect, as with western horses. The cross-under requires no special training for either horse or rider and has been used in a wide variety of disciplines at all levels.

Benefits

• With the exception of the mechanical hakamore, all forms of bitless bridles provide a major advantage to the interaction between horse and rider by removing the pain caused by the bit. Without the bit, the horse can be encouraged to move forward more freely and more naturally. Heavy-handed riders are less likely to cause damage and young horses are more likely to accept the aids with bitless training.