I found this photo recently. It was the end of the season hunt a few years back when I still had my wonderful Trakehner, Kroni. Hew was an old style Trakehner with lots of bone. He was an amazing hunt horse, and as you can see, hunted in a bitless bridle!
He had a thick tongue and a low palate. I tried dozens of bits on him and he never stopped fussing with his mouth. I also tried several bitless configurations until I found one that worked — when I finally figured out what was comfortable for him he was a doll. He was very sensitive to poll pressure so wouldn’t accept the cross under design bridles. Most of the time I could ride him in a straight side-pull design but out in the hunt field, I needed a bit of curb action and a running martingale. The LG fit the bill. I’ve just started using it on the OTTB that I’m working with over the winter and it seems to be helping him, too.
I know that there are people who think that getting a horse to accept a bit is part of training, but some horses just need out of the box thinking. When I discovered that Kroni loved being a foxhunter and realized he was never going to be a “competition” horse, I stopped trying to make him accept the bit.
I really like that you work with individual horses to see what works with them best! I agree that bits are not good for all horses, and while my horse seems to be fond of her French link, I have friends who get great results with hackamores. Each horse has a differently shaped mouth, tongue, teeth, etc. and there can’t be a catch-all bit or even catch-all hackamores/bitless bridles. Thanks!
What a neat looking horse! I’m always impressed by gentlemanly horses that can hunt in hackamores. Is there a specific reason he didn’t take a bit?
He had a thick tongue and a low palate. I tried dozens of bits on him and he never stopped fussing with his mouth. I also tried several bitless configurations until I found one that worked — when I finally figured out what was comfortable for him he was a doll. He was very sensitive to poll pressure so wouldn’t accept the cross under design bridles. Most of the time I could ride him in a straight side-pull design but out in the hunt field, I needed a bit of curb action and a running martingale. The LG fit the bill. I’ve just started using it on the OTTB that I’m working with over the winter and it seems to be helping him, too.
I know that there are people who think that getting a horse to accept a bit is part of training, but some horses just need out of the box thinking. When I discovered that Kroni loved being a foxhunter and realized he was never going to be a “competition” horse, I stopped trying to make him accept the bit.
I really like that you work with individual horses to see what works with them best! I agree that bits are not good for all horses, and while my horse seems to be fond of her French link, I have friends who get great results with hackamores. Each horse has a differently shaped mouth, tongue, teeth, etc. and there can’t be a catch-all bit or even catch-all hackamores/bitless bridles. Thanks!