From: Kate
Hello Jessica,
I know that you think highly of the Bitless Bridle. I just got one myself. So far so good. I do like it a lot. My instructor is not so sure. She is an accomplished dressage rider/ instructor. She feels that at a certain point in a horses progression that you will need the more accurate cues that only the proper bit for the proper horse and rider team can provide. Not, mind you, that I have any lofty dressage goals for my horse and myself. I like working on basic dressage exercises to improve my horse's balance flexibly, strength and longevity. He is almost 6. At this point we are working on him stretching out his topline bending properly and shoulder ins and shoulder outs etc. Mostly we trail ride as an occupation. The lessons are for workout and training. So anyhow what do you feel are the limitations of finer riding in a bitless bridle? Thanks so much. Kate
If you fall madly in love with dressage for its own sake, and continue to school your horse according to good dressage principles, you may reach the point at which you find that you want to participate in dressage competition. The rules of competition do specify that the horse must wear a bit, so you will need to find a legal bit that's comfortable for your horse, and use it IF you choose to compete. Do keep in mind that an occasional competition takes up very little time, compared to the rest of the time you spend riding at home and on trails, so your horse wouldn't need to spend very much time wearing a bit. You could certainly continue to do most of your schooling without it. However, please don't do ALL of your schooling without a bit and then add a bit to your horse's bridle the morning of the competition - neither of you will be prepared!
I do agree that at the top levels of dressage, the aids are more subtle and much more precise. But by the time you reach those levels, both you and your horse will be very fit, strong, supple, and responsive, and you should be riding him primarily from your leg and seat.
In a way, the requirement that a bit be used at every level of dressage competition is - to my mind, anyway - related to the requirement that a double bridle (two bits) be used at the upper levels of competition. It is not so much a test of the horse as it is a test of the RIDER and the rider's skills.
The horse is half the team, and although the focus of dressage might seem to be the HORSE'S skills and responsiveness, the rider's skills and sensitivity are also extremely important, because without an educated seat and hands, the rider won't be able to provide the subtle signals and tiny variations in balance and pressure that elicit the desired responses from the horse.
Whether you ride with or without a bit, if you are interested in dressage it would be a good idea to think in terms of using aids rather than cues. At the lowest level of dressage competition, you can probably "get by" with using cues; as you go up the levels, you'll see why it's much more useful to use aids from the very beginning. When you use aids, you have an entire language at your disposal, and you can be much more precise and much more expressive in your signals, which enables the horse to be much more precise and expressive in his responses. Cues are quick and convenient, but they limit your ability to communicate - instead of a language, you have a short phrasebook. A phrasebook is better than nothing, and it can be useful as long as the only things you want to say are actually IN that phrasebook, but if you want to say something or ask a question that isn't IN the phrasebook, or if you want to have a chat with someone, you're stuck. If you want to be able to begin and maintain a real conversation (and isn't that what dressage is all about?) you'll want to learn the language itself, and do your best to become fluent. When you are "fluent" in the language of dressage, you can say much more with a bit than without one.
In the earlier stages, when you are just beginning to develop your horse's physique and mind, and when you are working to achieve good basic control of your own balance, legs, and seat, you and your horse will probably both be happier if you continue to use the Bitless Bridle most of the time. When your own skills are at a level that enable you to "talk" to your horse using your body and balance, and the reins are there to provide reassuring contact and to allow you to ask the horse to tip its nose to one side or the other, you can begin using a bit, with the goal of having the horse continue to be as forward, pleasant, and responsive WITH the bit as it is WITHOUT it. Even if you decide that you and your horse are very happy to work with a bit, you should still return to the Bitless Bridle from time to time, just to check your progress. It's a wonderful way to evaluate your riding and your communication through the reins.
If you and your horse can go from Bitless Bridle to bit without occasioning a change in the horse's energy, eagerness, or responsiveness, then you will know that you are a good rider and that you are using the reins gently, lightly, and consistently. If your horse goes beautifully without a bit, and then becomes unwilling, anxious, short-strided, or high-headed WITH a bit, and if you are absolutely certain that the bit fits the horse and that the horse has no mouth pain from causes unrelated to the bit (e.g.,from teeth in need of floating), then you will have to conclude that you may be handling the reins too roughly, and change your style of riding accordingly.
It takes far more finesse to use a bit gently than it does to ride without one, just as it takes far more finesse to use two bits gently than it does to ride with just a snaffle. That's why work with a double bridle requires a far more sophisticated and adept rider - the horse will react instantly to any roughness and any mistake on the rider's part. Similarly, work with a bit requires more coordination and sophistication than work in a Bitless Bridle - it's much more demanding of the rider, both in terms of knowledge and technique, and because it is always the rider's responsibility to ensure that the horse is comfortable and confident.
Since the Bitless Bridle is very comfortable and easy for the horse to accept, and encourages the horse to be very forgiving of rider mistakes, it can lead to some self-deception on the part of the rider. If you can ride horses very well in a double bridle, or even in a snaffle, you can buy a Bitless Bridle on Thursday, put it on your horse and adjust it on Friday, and use it for a long trail ride on Saturday. But if you've always ridden your horse without a bit, you can't just add a bit and head down the trail (or into the dressage arena). You and the horse with both need a longer, more careful, and more gradual period of adjustment. The possibilities of subtle communication increase dramatically with a bit - but so do the possibilities of discomfort or pain for the horse, so it's essential that the rider be considerate, skilled, and aware.
From your letter, it seems to me that you could easily do everything that you're doing now, and quite a lot more, in the Bitless Bridle. It might put your instructor's mind at ease if you allow her to try the Bitless Bridle for herself, either on your horse (if she occasionally rides your horse anyway, that is) or on one of her own horses. I find that riders tend to begin very awkwardly, clearly worrying about how much control they will have, but that the good riders quickly discover that they like the way the horses are moving, and after a little time, those riders will usually laugh and say "Oh, my, I completely forgot that there's no bit!" Even if she doesn't want one of these bridles for her own use, it would be good for her to become familiar with the idea - some day, she may need one for a student's horse or for one of her own. I lent one of my Bitless Bridles to a student whose horse had sustained a nasty mouth injury, and although she went back to using a bit as soon as her horse's mouth healed, the Bitless Bridle enabled her to continue schooling for those six weeks. Your instructor may be more amenable to trying the Bitless Bridle if you make it clear that you aren't trying to "convert" her, you just think that she could benefit from discovering one more useful tool for her teaching/training toolbox. ;-)
Jessica
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