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Hi Barb and Michael,
I totally agree with both of you on the resistance pattern. I have been training my Arab filly with the Dr. Cook driving bridle also. Last winter, I hired someone who knew more about driving than I did to help me out. He was extremely resistant at first...citing carriage accidents etc. When I asked him if the carriage drivers had been using a bitless bridle, he said...NO.
Now although he saw how well my filly responds, he still persists in using a bit with his horses. That is fine for him. I know he feels a tug, but lives with a very strong willed horsewoman who WILL not move on in this sense. In fact, she was using my filly for natural horse"person"ship lessons, and told me my horse was dangerous (in ground play) and needed that I start putting a bit on her or else I would never be able to ride her safely.
To her surprise, which she never came to me and admitted, she pulled up one day to see me riding my filly at trot in a large outdoor ring, and there was my girl, head low, alert to my body language...no bit.
I am learning that going on message boards and stating our experiences can be a good thing. However, our intentions must be very clear for ourselves. If converting, or confronting is somewhere hiding behind our intention, resistane and closemindedness is all we encounter. I have found just putting it out there, will trigger discussion, and interested parties will come forward. My motto is as long as I don't provoke further resistance, by arguing my point, I have already offered lots. A calm, gentle approach seems to do wonders for finding that little crack in the already present resistance.
I am on another forum, where people cite runaway horses in riding, the danger of this, and even go so far as to mention people who drink and "yahoo" around on horses in halter to prove how dangerous a bitless bridle can be. NONE have ever seen, let alone tried a bitless. So all these fears they have about dangerous riding, comes from the way they actually ride their own horses: with a bit! Denial is a strong characteristic in the human psyche.
Keep on doing what you do, humbly, and at least you know your own horse(s) will be very happy partners. If you touch one more horse/human team while doing so, you are already contributing.
Tata
Migelle61 (Diane)
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