where to start?

mmm, not sure where to start really. It's been a busy few days, lots of time spent with equines (Lydia now has a lesson at the club on Friday evening and Saturday morning) and even more time with the brain in overload.
As I said previously I have been searching on the www to fuel my interest in bitless riding. As a result of this I have joined a French forum of bitless riders/trainers. So far so good, bear with me dear readers.
Having joined this happy band of bitless bods I was somewhat taken aback to find myself castigated for using a hackamore, oops!!  In the spirit of learning, I asked for advice, one of the forum members, Donald , was very kind to suggest I try working on the ground with a cordeo (rope around the neck) and so here are the 'photos and some brief vids (thanks very much to Lydia) they are not of great quality as they were taken on my camera.

OK, bear with me some more. It was amazing! We could actually achieve quite a lot and he was just very chilled and listening. It's quite weird because you can really do nothing with the cordeo, no directions, no halts, it's just like an umbilical attachment that holds you together. We walked, trotted, reined back, lateral work basics and it was so much fun.
Bolstered up by our fun session yesterday, today I decided to try riding in the cordeo. Again my daughter was on hand to capture our amateur attempts. I started out in-hand, just reinforcing the halt voice aids (mmm, well it's pretty important when you have no reins, lol)
Then I got on and we walked, halted, changed direction, reined back. OMG it was so revealing! It highlights all the holes in your training but at the same time is really uplifting and I just know that I couldn't have done this last year.
The bitless write up is therefore still in the planning stage, each part is there in my head but it's going to be quite a lot of work to commit it to words on the page. I can say I'm very happy to have 'stumbled' across the cordeo and although it won't be part of my daily routine, it will be a regular session to check our progress.

simplicity

Well I've just returned from the briefest visit to the UK; no time for visiting friends (flights didn't allow for it) and a 4.00am rise this morning to get the flight home. I feel like I'm holding my breath whilst I'm there, so much traffic and noise and too much choice of everything.....pubs, shops, hotels, magazines and anything else you can think of. I understand why lots of people who re-settled from the UK to France find it hard to adjust but I just find the quantity of everything rather baffling, lol, I guess I like things simple.
Talking of simplicity, I've been spending most of my time with Moo either walking out or in-hand/lunging in the school; working on the principle that he really needs to strengthen up before I advance the ridden work and I'm not sure my discipline skills are up to not trying too hard when on board ;-).
All of our in-hand work is done in a headcollar and lead or lunge, it's at least 6 years since I've lunged in anything else but the in-hand is a different story, I've used a bridle and worked off the bit always with this. I decided to ditch the bridle after working him in-hand in the hackamore worked so well.
OK that's the history, now to technique. Even when I plan for most of the work to be on the lunge I start with him in-hand. This is not only a barometer for me to see how he's moving but a nicely contained stretch and warm-up for him. To begin we just walk straight lines and corners, on and off the track. Then we start to bring the shoulder fore and add in a quarter turn on the forehand to change direction. Then maybe shoulder-in with some haunch and or shoulder yield. If we're lunging then we go onto transitions, spirals etc which I'll try and video as it will help me watch for any longer term improvement. If we are working in hand we may go forward to some reinback, trot, counter-shoulder fore/in and travers/half pass. The most amazing discovery for me has been the way I can influence him by the merest touch, for instance, if he brings around his head too much in the shoulder-in I can just use the tip of my fingers (at the side of his face) to realign it. If his neck looks 'held' somewhere I can use my fingers (or gently touch with the end of the whip) and he seems to react.
I used to truly believe that I couldn't work without a bit (sorry I know I labour on about this) not if I wanted to access all areas; now I wonder at what science (you KNOW I love science) I was relying on to support this? I know all about the recycling of energy from back to front and back again, I know about 'feeling' for resistances via the mouth but really and truly I wouldn't put a bit in my childs mouth (oh lord don't tempt me) to 'feel' anything and I KNOW horses ain't humans but......it's making me return to old values with new light on them. Any thoughts on this guys?

I'm probably getting quite boring

Do I care? If I'm being boring it's because I'm all excited, LOL. Another good ridden session today; good trot work and even a little canter to check the brakes. Moo is just like a *proper* horse now but with *beans* which is just perfect because I LIKE forward in a horse. We had some good transitions and lateral work and I probably had a big grin on my face the whole time. To think I nearly didn't ride as it was so hot this afternoon but I'm glad I did; I needed to for his feet rehab anyway so I'm feeling doubly happy. It is so nice not to have a head and neck acting like a snake on speed.
I do feel I can go back to my *turning* ramblings now, it all makes so much sense when you're bitless.....ummm, some clarity I hope. I still have a huge mountain to climb with regard to where all this might fit in with my belief system, oh dear I'm sure I'm too old to be starting back at the beginning again.
Here, for Kate particularly, is the type of hackamore I'm using, I forgot to take 'pics today but mine is way higher on the nose than this and I wouldn't ever advocate using one this low.

bitless musings

Kate and Di are interested in why bitless might be better for Moo; me too!! I know that I may have mentioned some of this before but just to paint the full picture....
When I first bought Moo he was a brilliantly straight horse, so damned straight that he couldn't turn or indeed work on a mega large circle. I'm a sucker for a pretty pony and I guess I felt I could work some sort of miracle and so ,being nicely bred; I just took the risk. He had a very sore mouth when I saw him, corners of his lips red and raw. Please don't get me wrong, the lady selling him had suffered a personal crisis and was unable to spend the time she had envisaged with him, she wasn't an awful owner..far from it. I think the sore mouth was the result of an attempt at sorting out his steering in order to impress buyers.
OK fast forward a year and we're in France, new business and Moo here too (by the seat of his pants I may add) I sorted out some of the most basic problems in the UK before leaving (like how to turn) and now on French turf we got stuck in to some more serious work. At this point I decided to try him bitless to see if it cured his almost unbearable habit of head banging. A few months and he was doing OK so I put him back in the bit. Then he had two years off whilst we sold up, moved and settled in.
So now we come to the start of this blog and he started work in the snaffle. He is lots better than he ever was before, much happier and pleased to be working (I think) but still the head is unsettled. So we're back bitless and I have no idea where it will lead, I just know he feels better. In the past it's been in my thoughts that without a bit in the mouth I will not have that *finesse* and that ability to access the *soul* (or indeed the hind leg) of the horse. Now I think that could be bollocks but I'm not sure, watch this space.

Oh and boots Di, well he's measured and now I will wait a couple of weeks and re-measure and then hopefully get a boot that fits. It maybe that Claire brings them if the timing fits. I would say though that his feet look so much better already.

more progress

I was very pleased with Moo this morning, rode in the hackamore again but first we played in-hand.
Just because I had to know, LOL, I tried flexions minus the bit. Quite unsurprisingly the bit chewing isn't going to happen but I did try the sideways flexions and he happily enjoyed the stretch and did the down and out afterwards. I figure this is actually going to be a useful tool to get over the point of how the inside rein works, i.e. as I close my fingers he takes his head to the inside and if asked will then take that stretch down and out; we'll have to see.
He gives an even better rein back in-hand without the bit and his giravolta/leg yield was good too. Tried shoulder-in and the counter exercise, both went well but the travers was the best I've ever had in-hand, in fact the best I've ever had from him full stop!! So I hopped on (almost literally as my back is a little restricting right now, bummer) and rode the travers, pretty good but not quite as good as the in-hand.
On the whole a good session, I think my reactions are improving and my hands are behaving a little better. Moo is so much steadier even in the trot and I can't wait for the next session each time. We had a little play with some square work on the grass afterwards because we can't hack at the moment.
His footiness is a little better and his feet look so much better, not great having to cancel my farrier; in spite of the fact that farriers don't understand all the issues of barefoot, he is a really professional guy who was never late or missed a rendez-vous. Oh well I had to do the best for my horses.

ouch

Not me but Moralejo. As I had surmised he has sore feet, thin soles and no heels and so he is bruising easily. The good news is that my fab new trimmer (thanks Jane) can sort it with time. Bad news for Moo is that he should exercise as much as possible in the sand but no hacking until I sort out some front boots (oh help this is new territory and very bad news for my pocket).

Worked him today in the hackamore, haven't done this for some time and he felt really good...makes me aware of my hands as they are somewhat obselete in a bitless. The difference now is that he is so aware of my body turning aids that he does work pretty much *off* my hands. I need to video because it feels good but maybe it isn't. As always the *doubt* creeps in, LOL.