----- Original Message -----

From: Dori Melendez

To: bitlessbridle@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 12:33 PM

Subject: RE: [bitlessbridle] Hello All

The term “not finished” means that she probably doesn’t have a lot of experience under saddle.  I’ve found that inexperienced horse + inexperienced rider = disaster.  If you have some experience and the horse is fairly calm then you might be OK.  Honestly, you can’t go wrong with at least trying it out because they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee and they will send you your money back.  Just make sure the first time you try it on her you are in an arena or round pen where the horse can’t any real speed up on you.  I tried the Dr.Cook’s Bitless Bridle with my young horse and he did great with it.  The first thing he wanted to do was push his nose out and throw his head up.  A gentle sawing back and forth on the reins got his head back where it belongs.  While cantering he got a little excited and again, I used the sawing back and forth motion to get his attention (this time with authority – not so gentle) and he did very well.  I did end up sending the bridle back but not because I didn’t like it…because my horse is very hyper and I just had to use more muscle than I wanted to control him.

Good luck.

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From: bitlessbridle@yahoogroups.com [mailto:bitlessbridle@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Susan
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:28 AM
To: bitlessbridle@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [bitlessbridle] Hello All

Hello, I just found this group and was hoping I might find some advice
here.
I recently bought a 10 year old registered Appaloosa mare because her
owners were having difficulty feeding her properly. I was told by the
most recent owner that she had ridden her and the horse prefers a
hackamore bit. I contacted the person who owned her until last fall and
she told me that as of last fall she was not "finished" before she sold
her(I wasn't sure exactly what that meant). I have ridden some, but
have not had a lot of experience with caring for horses and was
wondering if the Dr. Cook's bitless bridle would be something she might
adapt to easily?It sounds much kinder to me, but since I am not a
highly experienced rider I wasn't sure if I should try one. She seems
to be a calm natured horse. She doesn't seem to get upset too easily,
maybe just a little timid (she was very reluctant to load in the
trailer,took a long time).
Thanks for any advice you can offer me,
Susan

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