Going Bitless?

Over the last couple of years I have had several people write me with positive comments about riding in a Hackamore or riding bitless like I am some throwback to the pre-industrial age.  And while I have been accused of being a cave man by my wife,... for the record, I have nothing against bits.  I used to ride my primary horse, Junior, in a broken bit with short shanks that some people call an "Argentinian snaffle" but is really not a snaffle because it had shanks, and of course shanks provide leverage.

Junior will never again be ridden in anything by a Hackamore since he cut his toungue several years ago, and while his toungue is fully healed, I just don't have a need to use anything else with him.  In the picture at top left, I am holding a hackamore on the left and on the right, a bridle with a snaffle bit.  In the picture below, on the left I am holding a broken bit, with shanks - this is what some call the Argentinian Snaffle but it is not really a snaffle at all.  The true Snaffle bit is on the right. 

So I am not going bitless with Junior because I have something against bits. In the past I have used several different types of bits. I think excellent horsemen can actually use the differences in bits, of which some are large differences and some just subtle. I ain't one of them.  Years ago I gave up using a correction bit on a horse when I figured it out that I didn't know what I was trying to correct in the first place.

Bits, even spade bit and sliding gag bits, are not by themselves dangerous. Same as a gun,...just a tool. But any bit in the hands of someone who just doesn't know how to use it or is heavy handed, it can hurt a horse and probably ruin him to a bit, or at least have that horse expecting the worst from people when a piece of metal is shoved into his mouth.

Some people believe, me among them, that horses can get stale riding them in the same bit, so the occassional switch to a hackamore or a different bit can be a good thing, as long as you are fair and judicious in using it.  

If your horse is soft in the bit or rig you ride him in and he does what you ask him to, without bracing or head tossing, then there is nothing to say you ever have to ride him in anything different. Some people can get by in a snaffle bit all their life. Throw in a good hackamore with that and I'm one of those people.