RE: [RC] need help - riding a trotting horse - Burnett, Elly
Title: RE: [RC] need help - riding a trotting horse
Mel-
Everyone else's advice is really good so far. I'm just going to add that I'd suggest to your trainer he/she starts working your horse in a bit now before you get your horse home. I got my four year old back from the trainer in February after she'd been exclusively riding him in a bosal. That was all fine, but like others have mentioned, I didn't feel comfortable only relying on bitless for all situations. My horse and I ended up having HUGE issues with the bit, that eventually lead to me in the ER and him for sale. I have no training experience, and so was not versed on how to properly get my youngster to accept and work with the bit (read: head-tossing, evasion, bolting). So, I learned my lesson, and will now DEMAND all youngsters sent to trainers spend a fair amount of time learning to deal with the bit. I do appreciate being able to ride bitless, but it's only going to make your horse more well-rounded if he can deal with being both bitted and bitless, and better a professional introduce the bit concept to a youngster than yourself!
