Taggerty's Story

A dialog by correspondence can be of great help to others when the topic is of mutual interest.  Copied below, with permission, is a correspondence between Kerry Killeen, a dressage judge and keen dressage competitor in Australia, and Ysabelle Dean, our representative in Australia.  Kerry’s story about her horse TAGGERTY is in regular type and Ysabelle’s responses are in italic.  Dr. Cook has added a few explanatory items in bold italics.

Yes, I totally sympathize with your dilemma!  I won¹t compete again until I can do it bitless.  Not suggesting everybody else has to have that view.  But for me, after so many years, I truly do not feel safe riding any horse in a bit, any more than I feel safe on a shod horse.  And, more than that, my horses go so much better without bits that I simply cannot bear to think of putting bits back on any of them.  And, worse still, the mare I would compete on was given to me with anxiety issues ­ she was working at medium level.  Guess what her major problem was ... bone spur on the bar!  She is going very nicely bitless.  Imagine what a betrayal of her trust it would be to put a bit back on her?  I can¹t and will not do that to her.

At first the horse did not understand the Bitless concept, he was biting and pawing out with his front feet while I attempted to do some basic groundwork and keep out of the way of his teeth and front legs.
 
This is unusual, but negative reactions can occur.  The first thing to do is eliminate the obvious issues ­ chin hairs caught, noseband too high/too loose (can cause major dramas and discomfort), brow band too tight, cross under strap caught in noseband, etc.  Teeth can be a problem ­ any sharp edges on the upper molars will cause pain with a noseband, which is why so many young horses hate nosebands.  Another common issue is that the horse is bothered by the properly-adjusted noseband (low and snug) - not because the noseband is a problem in itself, but because so many bitted horses tighten their jaws and work with them clenched for at least the first few minutes after being bridled.  Now, you might think this clenching would cause the jaw to contract.  But my observation is that the jaw actually seems to expand, i.e. the horse¹s lips may be closed, but he seems to be holding upper and lower jaws apart, maybe to avoid [imagined] bit pressure.  This means that the noseband can be too tight until he relaxes again.  I¹ve seen one or two very extreme cases of this.  Some horses can put so much energy into avoiding bringing their jaws together that they can actually stretch the noseband.  It is a problem that does go away when the horse accepts, after a day or a week or maybe a little longer, that being bridled is no longer the same thing as being bitted.

After all that, we look at behavioural issues.  Confusion can be the cause of negative behaviour.  However, this is rarer than you might think because the way the BB works makes physiological and psychological sense to a horse.  Pressure is applied to one side of the face and the horse moves away from that pressure.  Or, for slowing down, pressure is applied across the nose, as well, and the horse slows or stops so it is, in effect, moving backwards from that pressure.  Because the amount of pressure applied to the poll with a correctly adjusted cross under is minimal (the claim that the cross under works on poll pressure is a complete myth!), and the other pressure is ‘whole head’ and trivial compared to a bit, horses are not generally bothered by it unless they have facial neuralgia or are exceptionally sensitive due to some other issue.  Confusion is actually usually a handler/trainer issue, transferred to the horse (been there, done that, bought the tee shirt).  There are ways to deal with this very effectively and usually within a few sessions, and I can help there.

However, in this case, from what I know about you as a rider and trainer, and from what you have told me about Taggerty¹s behaviour when bitted, I¹ll bet my own teeth that his issue was not confusion but plain old fear.  I¹ve seen too many horses with bitting issues terrified about a change of headgear, and this can produce negative behaviour ­ rubbing the face on the leg, head tossing ­ and sometimes worse.  Again, this is usually eliminated very quickly, often in the first session.  [Dr. Cook: Such reactions can also be caused by bit-induced facial neuralgia that persists for a while even after the bit is removed]  Some horses, like Taggerty, can take longer to accept that everything’s going to be okay.

It took 3 or 4 sessions with the bridle to completely eliminate this behaviour.  The second session, I rode him around the arena at walk doing turns and halts for about 10 minutes.  The next session we got longer strides and introduced a trot.   I couldn¹t believe the trot ­ he started offering trot himself and was going forward (no ears back, tail swishing ‘don¹t-want-to-do-it-behaviour’) ­ I kept this session short also ­ about 20 minutes but was starting to get really excited by the results and couldn¹t wait to ride on the arena the next day.

Yes!  And isn¹t that a wonderful feeling!

It took quite a few sessions for us to get straightness and turns (and we still loose this at times) but forward is improving out of sight.  He pops into trot and canter now and has much greater elasticity in all his paces.  He is so much happier.

Yes, I have sometimes experienced problems with straightness and turns for a few sessions on horses new to the BB.  But my belief now is that this is because the horse previously travelled in ways to avoid bit pain/discomfort, and this sets up all sorts of issues.  For example, my dressage horse always tilted his head a little to the right in a bit and I was always told it was my crooked body. So I rode in a certain way to make myself and him ‘straight.’  When the bit was removed, he no longer tilted his head right, and I had to learn how to ride ‘true straight.’ again ­ I had been riding crooked to make him straight and now that was making him crooked, if you get my drift. 

Same with turns.  You cannot force lateral flexion in a BB.  So if a horse has only been giving you lateral flexion by submitting to bit pressure, that is not true lateral flexion in my book ­ any more than collection that is enforced by holding the horse via a bit in a ‘frame’ is true collection.   So it can take a while to sort all that out ­ but never believe anybody who tells you you can¹t get lateral flexion or collection in a BB.  Rubbish.

Today was the best session of all, he worked straight, with good contact, great turns, and varying speeds within all his paces (and it was raining at the time).  I think he has finally ‘got’ it. Taggerty has never worked this good for years I reckon.  He is happier, he stretches his neck out, moves forward, is not mouthy (no reason is there) and relaxed.  I can’t believe the traditional bitted bridle was causing all these problems and preventing him from going forward.  The results are amazing.

I know how you feel.  It was amazing for me the first time, too, especially given I thought the horse I road tested it on didn’t have any problems!  How arrogant was I!
 
We have gone out for a few trail rides and he does have the odd shy or fright when ‘ghosts’ appear out of nowhere or horses take off across a paddock but control has not been a problem.  I feel 100% safe and happy with the BitlessBridle and can’t wait to ride him again the next day to see what other little ‘successes’ we will have with it.

No, control is NOT a problem even with a strong horse if the BB is adjusted properly, i.e. noseband must be low and snug for safety and also so the BB functions painlessly and effectively.  That is NOT to say that you can [always] stop a bolting horse in a BB where you might not be able to stop it in a bit [but you have a better chance of stopping in a BB].  If a horse is panic bolting, you probably won’t stop it in anything [but again, panic bolting is also less likely in a BB.  Horses are less likely to ‘run blind’ in a BB.  They take better care of themselves and their rider].  I have found with a couple of flighty horses that I have a much better chance of preventing them from bolting to start with in a BB, and if they do take off, I find I have a better chance of communicating with him via the BB.  Because if you try to talk to them by inflicting more pain with a bit, and they are already running away from fear/pain, they will just run harder.  That is how they are hard-wired, as Dr Cook says.  This was certainly the case with my daughter¹s ex-bolter.  She never did bolt in the BB, but she could certainly [still] go like the clappers and had been much harder to stop in a bit.  In the BB you didn¹t even need to pick up a rein, you just used your body and voice and she heard you (as she couldn’t or wouldn’t with a bit) and obliged by slowing down - even in situations where she was extremely excited, such as galloping amongst hundreds of horses on the Bounds Ride.

You may also find that the shying will either disappear completely or be minimized.  I’ve had this happen with a number of horses.  It would seem that horses often shy as a reaction to bit pressure, i.e. they get a fright and shy; rider inadvertently causes discomfort with the bit; and then the horse associates fright with bit pain and thereafter shies [even worse].  I’m not explaining that well, but I do know that one of my horses, who was a shier, practically stopped after a few months in the BB, and another old one we rescued, who used to have a terrible shy and also bucked and lay down on occasions, never did any of these things again from the very first time we used a BB in place of a bitted bridle.  Well, she did shy very occasionally again in late life but her eyesight started to go as well.  And I have to say that none of the horses I have started or re-schooled bitless are shyers.
 
I bumped into my neighbour going out hunting with her horse.  She had just bought a Pelham to give her greater control of her horse on the hunt field.  I told her I had just bought a bridle without a bit!!!!

You may well get to the point that you shudder when you look at your friend’s horse in its Pelham ... Not only because you feel sorry for the horse but because you are worried for your friend’s safety.  Once you know what you know there is no going back.   I have a number of hunting and eventing clients who can¹t believe the difference a BB has made to their horses in terms of control and calmness.

I know you know how wonderful the BitlessBridle is (and so do others) but I wanted you to know that I now know first hand how amazing it is.

I really appreciate that, Kerry.  Yes, I do know.  My horses have shown me over and over again.  And I have reached a point with all this where I don¹t give a damn what anybody else thinks anyway!  But it is always nice when someone else finds out and shares their story ­ so thank you.
Cheers,
Ysabelle