GOING BRIDLELESS

RIDING BRIDLELESS LOOKS IMPRESSIVE, particularly when you’re performing challenging maneuvers, but there are numerous other benefits to ditching the headgear. Enhanced communication with your horse is the most obvious one. Practically, being able to guide your horse without reins can be handy if your reins break or if you can’t use your hands because you’re ponying another horse, for example. Refining your cues for bridleless riding will help you in other areas, too, because your horse has to focus on your subtle cues. He has to pay attention so he doesn’t miss them.

I used to think the way to ride bridleless was to take everything off my horse and just go. I tried it first with my barrel horses, and that was…interesting. I’d recommend taking the process in baby steps to ensure that you and your horse understand each other before taking off your horse’s bridle altogether.

Here I’ll cover how to begin the bridleless training process, the progression of maneuvers I recommend, and finally removing the bridle altogether. As with any riding endeavor, be safe. If you know your horse doesn’t have the temperament for something like this, it might not be something