Bitless briddles for horse care website

Hello.

I have a website where I write about various aspects of horse care. Some articles are based on my own experiences (currently have 10 horses). However, sometimes I come accross a topic I would like to learn more about, so do research and then write an article in order to teach myself. The topic of 'bitless briddles' falls into the latter category, I know nothing about it but would like to learn a lot.

Can anyone point me to some existing discussions and explanations, in particular:
- Different types of bitless briddles
- Advantages and disadvantages of bitless
- How one needs to ride differently when bitless
- How long it takes for a horse to learn bitless, in particular how easy/difficult this is for older horses used to being bitless
- etc.

I tried looking on this Forum (e.g. under FAQ) but didn't immediately see an overview. Perhaps these questions are too basic for the existing members but for a complete bitless novice like myself they are of interest. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome here!

There are a lot of knowledgeable people in here who can assist you with your question, so hopefully you will get the info you are looking for. I'm fairly new to bitless bridles myself, having only discovered them a couple of years ago.

My intelligent, yet sensitive mare was trained by her breeder the summer before I bought her. The trainer started out with a bit, but when I mentioned to her that I planned on going bitless, she investigated the bridle I was getting, bought one to try, and loved it. So did my mare! The rest of her training was done with the bitless, so that's all I've ever used on her.

There are quite a few different bitless bridles available (Nurtural, Cooks, Be Kind, etc...), but I'm not certain where the best place would be to start in regards to studies, etc.. I'll leave that up to the others in here to help you with

I think that how long it takes a horse to get used to the bitless bridle may depend on the horse. You can watch Nurtural bitless bridles being used on YouTube where bitted horses are ridden then switched over to bitless and ridden right away.

Wow this is such a big question. I think people who get success bitless either a) already ride the horse not the head anyway even with a bit or b) learn very quickly!
when you ride bitless you open up a whole new world of meaning of signals for you and your horse. You very quickly realise that if you can't stop him with a strap over his nose then you were only stopping him with a bit by causing him intense pain. This is the point at which you either say bitless is dangerous and rubbish or you start to rethink your relationship.
Nobody could answer this in one post! Try asking some specific questions and we will all try to get our thoughts around them. we're all happy to help but be warned even here you will get some disagreement!

Oh, I have to add this about your last query - the horse doesn't have to 'learn' bitless, he already knows how to do all the things you want him to do, it's the rider who has to learn it!

Thanks for the kind responses. I had hoped to find a sort of 'overview' or 'introduction' to bitless. I'll do a bit of searching on my own.

Guys, guys, what about the Association website?! DMStewart, please have a look at the BHA website www.bitlesshorse.org/ It hasn't been updated in a while I think, But has a lot of the info you seem to be looking for. Good luck and a Happy New Year!