Just before the American revolution Patrick Henry (1736-1799) is credited with saying, “Give me liberty, or give me death.” However, it’s a little-known fact of history that it was actually Henry’s horse that said it first.
A friend sent me a link to a video clip of a horse and rider competing over jumps at a show with the horse being ridden without a bridle and only a neck strap substituting for reins. I was asked what I thought of the performance.
Overall, I thought it was a nice performance. The horse seemed to know its job with little indication it was dealing with much stress or anxiety. The horse maintained a nice even tempo around the course. The rider did a good job of guiding the horse around the course and staying out of the horse’s way. I only saw one spot where the horse had to be pushed when coming into a double fence.
I scanned the comments and overwhelmingly the rider and horse are praised for their performance. People are especially impressed that this was done without a bridle. For most people, it was a sign of the amazing relationship between the horse and rider. I agree. I expect they are great mates.
But how great and how do you know?
After seeing the video, my first thought was that I would like to see them compete over a similar course with the horse wearing a bridle. But I saw no comments asking this question. Why?
I want to know if the nice job they did in the video can be replicated when the horse is wearing a bit and reins. I want to know if the horse performs and feels differently with a bit than it does without a bit.
If the performance is the same or even better when the horse is wearing a bit, it confirms to me that this pair are on the right path. However, if there is more anxiety, resistance, etc when the horse is ridden in a bridle I question if serious holes are being left in the training and the relationship.
I love doing liberty work with horses. It’s so much fun. But its value to me and my horse is only to add and build on the good work already achieved when I use gear with a horse. If we ride our horse without a bit because the bit adds to our horse’s troubles, then riding bitless has limited value. We need to address the trouble caused by the bit if we want to eliminate the boundaries that a bit puts on the training and our relationship. We do our horse no favours by avoiding the trouble when we should be fixing the trouble.
If my horse goes much better without the restrictions of gear, then I have more work to do to help my overcome whatever problem head gear imposes. And if removing the gear caused more confusion and anxiety in my horse, then again I have more work to do to bring clarity to the liberty training.
Any time I find a trouble spot or a “no go” area of training, I have more work to do. I don’t care if the trouble spot is something I will never need or use and I can find a work-around to avoid it. If my horse can’t do it comfortably, I have more work to do. If my horse is not comfortable being mounted from the right, I will work on it. If it can’t walk my horse into a trailer backward, I will work on it. If my horse is freaked out by a skateboarder, I will work on it. Not because I need my horse to be okay about these things, but because they represent holes in the training and obstacles in our relationship. I may not have to work on those specific things today, but it is important that the holes in the training that cause the worry about those things are worked on every time we are together.
Liberty work is fun and beneficial when done well. I use to do a lot of it when I was younger and would ride my horses on trails with just a stirrup leather around their neck as reins. I urge everyone to play with it from time to time. But it is not a magic panacea or proof that everything is great between you and your horse. It is not always the hallmark that everything is great between a horse and rider.
