Saddlery Why do we need alternatives? by Andy Beck (part 1)
Saddlery - Why do we need alternatives? As with the many facets of 21stcentury horsemanship, the saddlery we use is under close scrutiny. The modern rider is looking for gear that is both efficient and ethical. Efficiency basically means that the gear you use gets you the end result you were aiming for - and for the ethics to be good whatever is used should cause the least possible pain or discomfort. |  |
So the bridle needs to allow us to communicate pace and direction without disrupting posture. And it is at this point that we run into a potentially serious problem should we use a bit. No matter how well designed a bit might be it still relies on discomfort, or at the very least irritation, to have an effect. Simply put the horse is forced by mechanical pressure to submit - willingly or not. What is hoped is that the horse that the horse will learn that evasion is impossible and submit with good grace - or else the practice has been to use harder or heavier bits until it does. Of course there is no question that this can be done - far too many horses work efficiently with bits for them simply ‘not to work'. But there is a question about just how well they work - or don't, and for how many horses they don't work, plus what the result is when they fail.
Horses are not gifted with brains that are adept at critical reasoning. So just v=because something is logical for us does not mean that they will necessarily get it - no matter how simple the ‘it' in question. In fact what is most likely is that a horse will take an emotional response - rather than a reasoned one. So you get those oh so typical ‘tugs-of-war', in which the harder the rider pulls on the reins the more the horse fights for control of head and neck- so the harder the rider pulls. Once this scenario gets going the bridle has failed completely as a communication interface and instead has turned into an interface across which rider and horse fight each other - with the horse's mouth as the battlefield. Of course the more often the mouth is treated in this way the more damage will be done and the less sensitive mouth will be - until, at last, the scar tissue and deadened nerve endings result in that most horrible ‘iron-mouth'. Quite apart from the damage done by constant pulling on the mouth those nerves that are ‘listening' will simply stop doing so after a period of continued pressure - just as the nerves in the horses side do when a riders legs are continuously over active; so the amount of communication happening actually decreases with repetition!
Now, instead of escalation of the conflict by use of harder or harsher bits let's look at removing the source of the dispute. No bit - no battle. What is quite surprising is just how quickly a confirmed ‘puller' can change into a happier and relaxed horse. There is a lovely moment when using a bitless bridle for the first time - and one I never tire of seeing - when the horse realises that things are different. Paces are noticeably lighter, transitions smoother, rhythm and cadence sweeter and funkier. All those things that were always there are now allow to come through naturally instead of being blocked by a four and a half inch piece of metal!
So - if your horse is perfectly behaved with a bit and the bridle functions properly as a communication interface all is well. If not - try a bitless bridle! In fact whether your horses goes well in a bit or not - give him or her a bitless holiday and feel the difference!
Of course it takes a little faith on the apart of the rider to make the change to bit to bitless - it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that without a bit you will have no control - particularly with horses that have some history of panic attacks when confronted by things such as large loud vehicles. Having put some time into studying this precise problem it seems the logic works like this. I'm a horse, I'm afraid of noisy lorries, when they get near me I feel scared and I tense up - my rider feels my tension and reins in, the bit in my mouth causes me pain, which is just what I was afraid of, and reduces my ability to think or listen to my rider, so I become even more tense and scared - which makes me want to run away. Now, take the pain away and the same horse will be more relaxed and able to listen - and less inclined to bolt. Of course there is no guarantee that simply changing from use of a bit to a bitless bridle will stop a horse giving way to panic, but there is good evidence to suggest that this is precisely what often happen in practice. Those riders that have had a horse bolt with them will know just how frightening it can be, particularly when out on the road. My first experience of this was years ago when out riding a thoroughbred beside a fairly small country road. The silencer dropped from a passing car in a shower of sparks and screeching metal - and my mount put his head down and accelerated to top speed. I remember being amazed that no matter how hard I pulled on the reins rather than slowing down he just got faster. Blind flight is what this is called in the terminology of horse behaviour - in which the horse is so fearful of what it is escaping from that it will ignore other lesser dangers that might be in its path. In my case these dangers were other traffic and a large roundabout, across which it fled narrowly missing passing vehicles, until his panic ran itself out in a large car park and he stopped. The important thing to note here is that the bit, instead of controlling the horse, merely added pain to the panic, making the situation worse. A calm voice and a bitless bridle would have worked far better.
This article has been used with kind permission from the magazine Planete Cheval au Naturel (Natural Horse Planet)
Added on: 02/12/07.
Email this article to a friend or shareVoices for Horses offers news, articles and videos from third party providers unless otherwise stated. We do not necessarily endorse the views expressed or content and make it available to you only as a service. All news items, articles and videos are copyright of the authors, film makers and original publications.
