Id like to look at the Dr Cook and cross under/over bridles today.
The photo above is Polly in her first effective bitless bridle. It is a genuine Dr Cook bridle in black leather.
As you can see, it does look quite traditional, the noseband sits slightly lower than a cavesson, more like a dropped noseband. Instead of a throat lash there are 2 straps which cross under the head and go through the rings at the side of the nosepiece on the oposite side and attach to the reins. The basic idea being that when rein pressure is applied it is felt around the head and not just in one place. There are many other similar style bridles on the market now days. You can buy them in different colours of leather, webbing and beta biothane.
Lets look a little more at how it feels to the horse.
Lets say we put a little light pressure on the right rein. We would want to see that the horse will move the head to the right a little, they will mostly be moving away from the pressure and so the pressure will release, it would be much the same from the left. If both reins are used at the same time in this way the horse would need to bring their nose in to release the pressure themselves, however if what you are asking is achieved then you would be releasing yourself. You would also be applying a little nose pressure this way too.
Lets now look at the actual release. In theory the pressure would release immediately, however some people find with this type of bridle that this isnt actually happening. It can either take a little time or just doesnt fully release and the straps will still sit snuggly. I have found that some horses really dont mind this and that enough of a release is happening and maybe these horses like to feel the strap against them. Others however really dont like this, it could be that its just not comfortable, it isnt what they are used to and prefer less. It could also be touching parts that the horse doesnt like.
I went to see a lady and her horse who currently had a Micklem with bit and also a Dr Cook. She felt the Dr Cook wasnt really working but she really wanted to use a bitless so I went to see what we could do. The horse wasnt really responding to the Dr Cook so I clipped the reins onto the noseband rings instead to see what would happen, he was much happier and responded quite well. So sometimes they just dont like the long under straps. We went on to try the micklem bitless in a sidecue design which worked really well, she was very pleased and especially that she didnt have to buy a new bridle.
I have also found that if generally this style is ok that a bridle with glossy beta biothane straps will release better, they are slippier and so slide back again on release and you can have them made if you want to alter a bridle you already have. I will touch on the micklem multi bridle here, with this bridle you get a webbing strap to make a cross under, however when Ive seen it in use it doesnt seem to release much at all, something to think about if you have one. I have tried a budget webbing crossunder before which did release fairly well as the webbing was a bit shiny. A while after Polly was wearing her Dr Cook, I got her 2 bright pink glossy beta biothane straps to replace her leather ones, they did quite well and certainly i noticed that they released better. The photo at the bottom is with the beta straps (kindly modelled by Izzy).
I will add that if you were to pull hard on both reins with this type of bridle I think it would be very uncomfortable for the horse, I imagine much like putting their head in a vice! So gentle soft contact is always best. I also think that this would be very confusing for the horse.
Most people with ridden horses who ask me out for a bitless trial session are wanting a bridle that is useable more or less straight away so we work through to find the best for the horse. Most times we find one which works really well and both horse and rider are happy. Usually these horses have a fair amount of schooling under their girths and so its easy for them to adapt very quickly. If you are in any doubt then spend time from the ground first, gently use the reins like in riding so they can feel whats happening and wait til you get a good response before trying ridden. Most of the time in my sessions the best bridle has been found before the rider gets onboard, sometimes we need to tweak or try a different one though.
I have added a couple of links below, the first is the Dr Cook website with much information and the second give a good picture of what the bridle looks like as its a bit difficult to see when its on the horse from a photo.
If you have any questions, please ask, Im happy to help if I can.
Next time Im going to look at Hackamore bridles.
