The Bitless Bridle

December 15, 2008

Through GHS (thanks ride2glory) I was able to borrow a Dr. Cook’s bitless bridle to try with G. Not being a cheap purchase I thought we should play with it for a week and see how he responds to it.

Tonight was the perfect opportunity as we had the arena to ourselves. I spent about 5 minutes on the ground using small pulses on the reins to solicit responses in both directions. He seemed a bit confused at the first request but the light bulb clicked and he remembered how to yield to pressure. I mounted up and he stood quietly while I got myself situated and then asked him to walk on.

We spent the next 10 minutes fine tuning my contact while he got used to the feel. We did some small serpentines off and on the rail and then a few circles. I was real happy with his response so I did a few passes of shoulder in and out and then decided to ask for a flat walk.

So nice! He was so relaxed and seemed truly happy to flat walk along with very little prompting from me. We did this on and off in both directions for another 10 minutes. Flat walk to walk, and transition back up. Okay, things are going nicely. He’s happy and relaxed, he’s breathing in time to his gait and his ears are paying attention to me. On the next long side I asked him to pick it up into the running walk and by George did he ever! I can honestly say I have never experienced the true pull and push of the running walk on G as I did last night. He truly did feel like he was climbing a ladder. It was so exhilarating. After a good 5-6 strides I brought him back to the flat walk, then stopped and I just laid down across his neck and praised the dickens out of him. He was probably thinking “what’s the big deal lady?” I’m just walking!

When we worked with Diane Sept we did have him in a running walk, but not to this degree – a horse definitely needs to be relaxed to hit this gait. Yes I felt his power from the hind, but I didn’t feel the combination of the back and front pushing and pulling at the same time as I did tonight.

I talked to our instructor the other day and on Wednesday we’re going to work on exercises to build his abs and back muscles. We’ll work with cavelettis for one, and maybe some canter transitions. I’m very excited though as I can’t wait for her to see G in forward motion. I do believe we’re finally moving in the right direction after all this time. Of all the things I want, I want G to be happy doing what I’m asking first and then I want him to be a good athlete.

I won’t be running out to buy the Dr. Cook’s bridle quite yet though. We need more time to play with it, and I really want to ride outdoors with him when he’s on high alert to see if he continues to respond so well. Stay tuned......