Some Thoughts on Bridling

     As I have mentioned several times, Jellybean is due to start being bridled soon. As I was thinking about how to do this, I realized I had never thought about it. I watched a cool documentary while I was on vacation about Buck Brannaman, and decided first to check out his opinions. I found this step by step article he wrote, which I will summarize for you:

• Teach your horse to lower their head with slight pressure
• Teach your horse to open their mouth as if with a bit calmly
• Mimic the motion of the bridle over the ears and eyes with the halter
• Accustom the horse to the new position you will use for bridling.

     Another trainer whose methods I appreciate is John Lyons, as I worked with/for a friend who completed his program. I browsed some of his material I have lying around and found similar suggestions:

• Teach the horse to move away from pressure
• Teach the horse when he turns toward you he will lower his head
• Get you horse used to you playing with his teeth and tongue
• Do not take the bit in and out on a green horse

     I haven't completed many of the prerequisites to bridling with Jellybean, so looks like we will be working on more basics. I think our benchmarks/training program will look something like this:

• Learn how to lower head, then leave it where it needs to be
• Allow touching of tongue, lips, teeth without raising head
• Accept motion of bridling with halter
• Accept bit
• ???
• Profit!

     It looks like I have a lot of work to go! I think we will spice up training sessions with "pony rides"