The willingness to work with a “square,” atypical horse says a lot about you.  Most likely you are a person who dreams big, who does not give up easily, and prides yourself on being both compassionate and mentally tough. 

Being both idealistic and compassionate, you have probably learned about humane methods of horse training and have decided you will never use anything that causes pain to the horse.  You might feel that most, if not all bits are crude tools that can lead to resistance in horses and you have heard that with the proper training, horses can be safely ridden in a bitless bridle or even a rope halter.

Even if you don’t have any compunction against using bits and saddles, you might believe that any horse can be well controlled in a plain snaffle with the proper training, and that those who subscribe to harsher bits for control have pushed a horse too fast or skipped steps in training, steps that can now be taught, by you.

I’m here to tell you what I’ve learned the hard way: idealism and the real world don’t always mesh perfectly together.

Probably someone knows the answer to the following conundrum, but I do not.  Will any horse with any disposition if trained from a young age in an ideal manner with no major setbacks become an absolutely reliable horse that can be ridden anywhere, anytime in a bitless bridle and be responsive to all cues? 

Here’s what I do know:

-If your horse came to you with prior experiences such as running through a bit, the horse will remember that forever regardless of any future training you put on the horse.  If the horse gets into the wrong situation, the situation may become unsafe if he is wearing tack that he knows from past experience that he can evade.

-Horses with reactive, sensitive personalities may panic and become unsafe in an unexpected situation regardless of whether they have had reliable, expert and ideal training. 

-Stubbornly holding onto ideals about what tack a horse should wear or not can lead to situations that are not only unsafe for the rider, but may also put the horse’s life in danger if the horse gets loose and runs away.

-Horses with good, reliable temperaments that have been well-trained from a young age can and should be ridden in every situation with only a gentle snaffle or even a bitless bridle or halter. 

Safety with horses means that the horse should be wearing the minimum tack that he will respond to in the most unsafe situation you can imagine for the particular environment you are in.  Example:  If you are riding in a fenced arena the horse is contained, so even if you fall off, there is reason to believe he will remain safe.  In this case, you might put on the horse the minimum tack that he will respond to, such as a rope halter.  But if the horse responds perfectly well to a rope halter on the lightest cues while in an environment where he feels safe, you still have no business taking him out for a ride next to the highway in that headgear until you have first tested him in many situations that might be frightening or overstimulating and proved that he still responds to your cues.

A mistake that people who ride and handle “square” horses make is that they put themselves and their horses in danger by using tack that the horse has already proven they may not respond to in a bad situation.  In my case, Valhalla has proven to me that whenever she feels particularly worked up or frightened she will not respond to a plain snaffle.  “But any horse can learn to work in a plain snaffle,” my idealism kept hounding me.  So I’d go back and work in the snaffle, and we’d have some lovely rides in the arena, around trails in good circumstances, with horses she didn’t feel competitive with.  Then, unfortunately, I’d take her out and meet a herd of elk along the trail.  Or we’d get out for a gallop and she’d get too worked up and not want to stop.  In some cases I put my horse’s health in danger due to being unable to control the pace properly in poor footing where she could have slipped and fallen, by risking getting unhorsed and having her get loose, and by being unable to stop her from working harder than she was physically fit for. 

What good does it do your horse if you have an ideal of always riding bareback but he puts you in the hospital and you find yourself unable to care for him financially?

What good does it do your horse if your ideal is to never use a bit but that means you can’t ride him out with other horses or on the trails that he loves to see?

What good does it do your horse if you will never allow that he needs a stronger bit and this leads to your own fears preventing you from taking him boldly out and getting him the exercise he needs?

Unfortunately, I have seen all of these situations happen when people put the ideals that they’ve developed from reading, listening to and studying trainers and gurus in the horse world above the realism of this particular horse in this particular situation with this particular rider. 

Not every horse will be safe to gallop in a group of horses with a plain snaffle on.  It is your responsibility as a horseman to never be cruel no matter what bit a horse is wearing.  Obviously there are some bits that are too risky for even someone with absolutely perfect hands to ride a horse in, due to the risk of the horse tripping, getting loose, or otherwise getting into a situation where the bit gets pulled and cuts the horses mouth.  Any bit that causes pain while “at rest” or in absolute neutral inside the horse’s mouth should also never be used.  And some bits and hackamores are just too impractical to use because they communicate so poorly with the horse.  For instance, using a mechanical hackamore on a horse that has not been trained to perfection in neck reining will make it impossible to communicate and lead to frustration of both horse and rider (and if the rider does not have very good hands it may be unsafe to use as well).  Or using a bit such as a Tom Thumb snaffle that doesn’t give the horse any warning but just grabs him in the mouth sharply is impolite at best and will most likely lead to other problems such as head shaking.

However, if you find a bit that is not a snaffle, such as a Pelham or Kimberwicke, and it works for your horse, don’t beat yourself up over it.  Don’t keep trying to downgrade your horse back to a regular snaffle if he’s proven himself unsafe in one already.  And work hard to make the bit you must use as comfortable as possible for your horse.  Stay out of the horse’s mouth whenever possible, always release as quickly as possible after taking up contact instead of pulling on the horse, and trust that your horse will respond each time you cue, whether you truly believe he will respond or not.  Remember that your bit is a communication tool and think of your cues as “talking” with your horse.  Also, realize that hackamores and other bitless headgear can be less than humane in the wrong hands.

Riding in a saddle that fits your horse very well is more comfortable for him than having a rider bouncing up and down on his spine.  Saddles can distribute weight very well when they fit appropriately, and a horse can develop good, strong back muscles on either side of the spine when they are ridden regularly in a well-fitting saddle.  A good rider going bareback can be lighter and a more enjoyable ride for a horse to carry, but if you ride so long that your muscles fatigue and you sit like a sack of potatoes on the horse’s back, he won’t necessarily appreciate it more than if you’d ridden in a saddle. 

I will allow that many people skip right up to stronger bits instead of teaching a horse how to respond to cues.  No horse is born knowing how to carry a bit, follow his head, respond laterally, slow, change gaits and stop.  Many horses are unnecessarily ridden in strong, leverage type bits even though they have gentle and steady temperaments.  I trust that since you are taking on an atypical, reactive horse, that this is not you.  Otherwise you will have many more issues that no one can help you with.