There was a thread a while back in which I talked about riding bridleless. Just wondering if anyone has tried it, or whatever else to get you out of your comfort zone.
How about with just a halter?

Won't do that again!
Feeling nervy & took my ex-racing QH around the track, with only the halter & lead & a handfull of mane.
Made it to the 3rd turn. Tried to roll gracefully. Jammed my chin into my chest. Saw stars for several minutes & longer before I could get up.
Burning pain in neck. Couldn't turn head for days. Rode the next day. Bothered me for years & years!!!!
Bareback rider I'm not, BUT...much smarter!
That horse is hard to stop with riggin anyway, when he cuts loose. But he's a smoooooth ride.

I'll ride a horse I know with just a handful of mane. A horse I know less well, I'll ride with just a halter & use the lead shank for reins. Otherwise, it's full tack for this noncowboy.

Tried it once...

Fell off and broke my arm

Don't think I want to do that again.

We routinely ride with just a halter and the lead rope tied from one side of the halter, back around the neck and retied to act as reins. It works very well. I have even ridden that way downtown while working mounted and while hunting.

While our horses and mules are well broke, we even ride that way with green stock in a round corral.

On occassion, I have walked out into the meadows and pulled the hobbles off and tied a lead rope to both sides of the halter and rode the horse back to camp. But I think I'll learn from all of your wise experiences and not try the bridleless.

Bosal...

All of our horses are trained that way.

Rich

One note, we only do so with rope halters.

I'm more than a little surprised by the responses to this query. Keep in mind that I don't mean do just anything without the bridle, more like in an arena or round pen at the end of a nice ride, and maybe with a rein around their neck just in case. I've always been quite surprised at how much control I still have.

I ride a fair bit in a halter also, but I don't tie it around. I just swing it around to whichever side I want to turn. I've started a large pile of colts this way for the first few rides. Figure if that is enough control when they know nothing, it is plenty after they know a fair bit. Used to always go back to just the halter at the end of first 30 days as a way of proofing what they still needed work on.

Just wondering if any of you had pushed the envelope this far. I wish we weren't all spread out around the country. Sure would like to share some stuff with ya'll in person. There is nothing as liberating as being on a horse that is truly running free. Gives me a thrill each time, even on my dead broke usin horse.

10-4 Daniel.

I've seen a few AMAZING videos of some gals doing routines in an arena, bridleless.
Could probably search them on the web.

We've got a show mare and gelding (AQHA, Pleasure/Horsemanship)

99% of how you ride them is solely with your legs and how your sitting. I can easily take the bridle off and just with a rein around their neck do just about anything you want them to do.

Can't say I'd do this outside of the arena though.

I grew up riding quite a bit with just a Halter and Leadrope. When I was six I got a nice weeks stay in the Hospital because of it. Dog started chasing me and I had no control, my horse turned and I apparently kept going straight and landed on my head on the pavement. Skull fracture and concussion.

I remember the dog starting to chase me and than waking up on the way to the Hospital. Everything else is a blank.

Here's a horse I broke bridleless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ture=player_embedded

Trevor is one of the few Rodeo guys that I'd call a horseman. You'd be surprised how many of those guys can't ride for beans...

Yup. In my younger years I trained barrel and pole horses quite a bit and had one mare that I owned that I could and did do about anything I wanted with just a rope around the neck for a guide like Trevor had in the video whether under saddle or bareback. I could also still ride a bit and ran her bareback and with only the lead roper around the neck in a standard pole course in 21.xx seconds to show off to College bareback rider. That time will qualify you at the World show about anytime still today. One time on a trail ride in upstate NY, my hackamore broke when the Chicago screw turned loose so I just rode her the rest of the day with the roping rein around her neck. Water, bridge, hills and lots of other horses, it made no diffence. She went where I wanted how I wanted every time. I had her for a long time and buried her in KS. She was the last of a great line of stock and I still miss her.

I'm surprised at the number of you who won't ride outside an arena without a bridle. I've found that riding with just a halter and a lead rope is quite a timesaver while hunting .... just pull up to a tree and tie up the horse.

I was out a week or two ago and had my bit break in half. I looked down and saw it hanging under my horses chin. Undid the chicogo screws and connected the reins to the halter an finished the ride.

why?

Here is AWESOME bridle-less riding!


Stacy Westfall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaMI5PkLIM

quote:

Originally posted by ironbender:
Here is AWESOME bridle-less riding!


Stacy Westfall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaMI5PkLIM

Seen that before. Some horse. Some girl.

Stacy did that ride in 2006 and it was near-viral via emails in the horse communities.

We have some of her videos and I'd love to get her up here for some clinics.

started most all my cutting horses with a halter and lead rope, but they tend to give their head a little easier than some. I think I could ride my horses pretty much anywhere bridleless once they are finished. they'll work from leg pressure and hit the dirt with their butt when you sit down in the saddle.

Yep, tried it, but it didn't work for me, worked for the horse fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My son just rode a 25 mile limited distance race bareback and bitless ... does that count?

buy that man a case of baby powder, I'm sure he needs it

He says it's his last one, but he's glad to have done it. Bareback, bitless, barefoot. Actually, he rides that way so much (and he's young enough) that he's not noticibly sore.

If you're going to be stubborn in this life, you better be tough.

Age 15, by the way.

Me and my family go to Daniel's every now and then to ride. Ya'll should see what he can do on a horse. Through the 15 or so years that I've known him, it just blows my mind when I watch him work with a horse.

yes especially when i break them in.
here is a photo of one of my best boys that i sadly lost 3 months ago.

that is from his first time with a rider in saddle.

best

peter

Years ago I had a mare that I could ride with nothing on her head. A friend and I both pulled our bridles and gathered a 1500 acre pasture using nothing on our horses. It was a lot of fun and you sure could find out how broke your horse was. Believe me, we didn't get in a hurry that day. When we got close to the pens we put the bridles back on so we didn't spill any cows.

I had a couple horses as a kid that I'd ride all over bareback with a twine string in his mouth. Pull the horse's head one way and neck rien the other. The trick is to keep just a little tension on the string since the horse will try to spit it out.

I got myself disabled in 2001. I ruined a section of my back and have whiplash. My friend who is a ferrier bought two donkeys cheap. They were terrorized by a kid that dragged them around the yard with a tractor because they were too slow. Jim told me how desperately afraid they were. I asked if I could calm them down.

I sat on a five gallon pail and talked to them and threw them sugar cubes for a couple weeks. They were so scared they wouldn't look away from me long enough to look down and see what was laying in front of them. But one day one gave it a sniff and I had them. Turned out the elder was broke very well and her filly not at all.

Within a month they'd hear my car turn off the highway a couple hundred yards away and would bray at the top of their lungs.

One day one of my doctors got on my case that I was fixed up almost as good as new (after the shoulder operations) and told me I had to do what I did before, I must not give up. I asked if I could ride horses. He said fine if I don't ride faster than a walk- then he laughed and said my body will tell me all about what I'm capable of.


Then my buddy gave me the yearling gelding I'd played with to finish as much as I could. He's now six and I've never had a saddle on him or a bridle. I broke him with a halter and ride with a halter. He goes to Civil War reenactments.

He then suggested a filly. Same thing- no bridle or saddle.

My trick is to play with them for months on end always adding something new. The biggest wonder I had was starting up a cirular saw and walking around them triggering it off and on as they ate feed out of a pail. They showed a lot of white around their eyes but they kept on eating.

If I didn't have those animals I don't know what I'd have done, esp the donkeys. They were the best therapy in the world. Sitting on that pail talking and throwing the sugar cubes then picking them all up and starting all over again day after day was like a gift from God. I've been under anesthesia 26 times and am still able to do most things on my good days which is about half the time.

One important thing with riding with a halter. I bought a length of 3/8 plastic rope- the rcourse cheap kind and braided it into a halter. When the horses acted up I could pull or jerk on that horse's nose and I guarrentee they ALWAYS did what I wanted.

TED

.

Any horse on our place is ridden most often bridle-less by my brother. That is, no bridle or head gear of any type.

At most, if my brother is going to be doing serious work all day and in the company of other horses and riders, he will use a rope halter.

He trains the horses to a totally different set of commands that do not use head control but is just as effective for him.


Myself ? Still use a bridle. My brother has to do additional training of the horses for me to ride as they don't understand a bridle unless they were purchased as older trained horses -- which my brother retrains for his fun and pleasure.

.

I would not want to use a horse without proper head gear, that is asking for trouble and I raise and break my horses and am a dedicated team roper..ranch raised and all his stuff is BS, its dangerous and such horses are just dinks. In a pen or small area that is fine, but out in the pasture its ridiculas..Also don't ever think that those team roping, calf roping cowboys that compete in rodeo arn't cowboys, that also is BS, they are the best of cowboys.

speaking of BS...

I'm not taking the bait Ray. You can play by yourself.

Sevenxbjt: 10+.

Finding exeptional horsemen is more difficult than finding "cowboys". Certainly, there are excellent horsmen among the ranks of cowboys, but there are many who are mediocre at best, just like ALL equine disciplines.

The best horsemen I know are the ones that continue to learn ... not the one's that do it "the way grandpa did." Cowboys have a tendancy to do that. The best don't.

I've been a bit bothered by someone claiming to be highly "experienced" claiming that the notion of a horse being bridleless is basically a farse and BS and they actually require "proper headgear". It was never my intention with this post to cause anyone to do something that was unsafe, however, I do believe in pushing the envelope and getting down to fundamentals. The part about saying that bridleless being BS is what concerns me. After all, many hunters feel like they have very good control of their dogs without a leash on them. If you don't think they can be handled precisely without a rope, you should really check out some Schutzhund, or a very highly trained retriever.

I just want to make this point. The strongest rope that you can ever have on them is attached to their mind. Everything else is just a prop. I'm not saying that bridles and spurs and martingales don't have any uses, hell, I feel naked if I don't have my spurs on, but those things are really just there to make it easier on us. Warriors of old rode into battle with a spear or sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Many of them rode with no bridle at all, and that was in the most dangerous and chaotic environment you can imagine. The point of the post was just to maybe get a few of you to try putting down your reins in a round pen or small arena. You'll quickly learn just what it is that your horse knows and doesn't. As you learn to stop pulling on him so darn much, and use your body properly to signal him, you'll find that every single thing that you do with him gets lighter, easier, and enhanced. That's all. I still offer up the challenge, and will gladly field any questions anyone may have to the best of my ability. If you don't believe, then no need to pee in someone else's cheerios.

P.S. I've demonstrated just about every colt that I've started in the last 7-8 years with the reins down on his neck for a bit, just to show the leg and body control that I still have. If I can do that on a 30-60 day colt, surely it can't be all BS?

P.S.S My "dinks" have won well over half a million bucks. How bout yours?

i think that the only BS here is the elderly booking agent that try's to pick a fight over something he apparently dont know much about.

best

peter

I usually laugh at this bridleless BS, can it be done, sure by an idiot. I grew up on ranches
and rode colts till i finally joined the army
always started colts with an o ring snaffle split rains and a martingale that is as little as I will ride with. if I was working cows with my dad just split rains and single ear headstall
same oring snaffle no stress on a horse there.
I have had some horses that worked very well
off of my legs and would stop just by leaning
forward as will most good calf horses, and i have roped calves with out ever getting in a horses mouth as i recall my girl friend had a
goat tying horse i took to some calf ropings
I could drop the reins after nodding he would give you one shot and lock em down all automatic. Point is this horse was 25 or 26
and had done this all his life probably could have done this bridleless but why.

Ray,
As to Rodeo Cowboys being the best cowboys you
are speaking about two entirely diffrent groups.
Yes i know cowboys who can rope with open ropers
and open ropers that can cowboy but as a hole rodeo cowboys are not ranch cowboys and most will tell u this. There is a lot to learn about working cows and horses and just because you can rope dont make you a cowboy, it makes you a roper. I mean no disrespect to you I do not know you and yes what they can do in a roping pen is awesome but they do it 365 days a year
while a cowboy works cattle 365 days a year and doctors pulls calves builds fences works on eqiupment rides colts most ranches gives you between 3 and 10 a year to ride none broke maybe saddled as two year olds but thats it. Kinda hard to rope every night of the week with this work load. Oh and also most of the horses
you see these rodeo cowboys ride cost 4 times what a cowboy makes in a year.

quote:

Originally posted by daniel77:
I've been a bit bothered by someone claiming to be highly "experienced" claiming that the notion of a horse being bridleless is basically a farse and BS and they actually require "proper headgear". It was never my intention with this post to cause anyone to do something that was unsafe, however, I do believe in pushing the envelope and getting down to fundamentals. The part about saying that bridleless being BS is what concerns me. After all, many hunters feel like they have very good control of their dogs without a leash on them. If you don't think they can be handled precisely without a rope, you should really check out some Schutzhund, or a very highly trained retriever.

I just want to make this point. The strongest rope that you can ever have on them is attached to their mind. Everything else is just a prop. I'm not saying that bridles and spurs and martingales don't have any uses, hell, I feel naked if I don't have my spurs on, but those things are really just there to make it easier on us. Warriors of old rode into battle with a spear or sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Many of them rode with no bridle at all, and that was in the most dangerous and chaotic environment you can imagine. The point of the post was just to maybe get a few of you to try putting down your reins in a round pen or small arena. You'll quickly learn just what it is that your horse knows and doesn't. As you learn to stop pulling on him so darn much, and use your body properly to signal him, you'll find that every single thing that you do with him gets lighter, easier, and enhanced. That's all. I still offer up the challenge, and will gladly field any questions anyone may have to the best of my ability. If you don't believe, then no need to pee in someone else's cheerios.

P.S. I've demonstrated just about every colt that I've started in the last 7-8 years with the reins down on his neck for a bit, just to show the leg and body control that I still have. If I can do that on a 30-60 day colt, surely it can't be all BS?

P.S.S My "dinks" have won well over half a million bucks. How bout yours?

Might work for you, if you are a highly experienced, competent rider, but it seems most of the people who try this sort of stuff, are neophytes to the business, who think they are being "kind" to their animal. Friends of ours had one of these people on a recent trail ride. All went well till something spooked the horse and cost her a broken pelvis. Too many surprises where we ride and I wouldn't consider giving up the control a bridle and good training gives me. I wouldn't drive my car either, without a set of brakes.
Grizz

I'm not real sure wht we're talking about here ...

"Bridleless" -- does it mean with no headgear at all, or just using a halter?

I kind of like using a halter for hunting ... easier to pull up and tie them up in a hurry.

I've come to use a bitless bridle (not a side-pull, but similar) for this work.

I understand some people's concern about "brakes", but I've never found it a problem with the bitless ... and my son, at 15, has just short of 500 competitive miles this year, and probably more than that in training, without a problem.

If a 15 year-old can ride 1000+ miles in less than a year, in day and nighttime rides, over all kinds of mountain, plains, and urban riding without a wreck, it's not too dangerous now, is it?

Now, is it "being kind" to the animal? I don't know. I don't think my horses mind snaffles. My horse wears one quite a bit, and never seems abused. But the bitless works well for trail riding.

It's convenient. To rest, just get off and hobble the animal, and disconnect the reins.

But, it's not how grandpa did it, and it's not how team ropers do it, so maybe it is wrong.