Anyone can ride bridleless, is the promise of a rider and trainer who has competed in dressage without a bridle – and aims to train and compete at grand prix level in the same manner.
Mia Rodley, of The Heart of Horsemanship, gave a presentation at the London International Horse Show on bridleless riding and how to get started. Her dream, she said, is to “see the equestrian world become more and more horse-centred”, and she stressed that this is something everyone can do, and that it benefits competition riders as much as leisure partnerships.
“It is possible,” she said. “It’s possible for you and your horse at any age, any horse, any rider. You can do it and, most importantly, have fun.”
Mia and her team specialise in groundwork, liberty and in-hand work, as well as starting young horses and rehabilitation for those with behavioural issues. She teaches lessons, clinics and courses and offers online training.
“I love enabling others to live their dreams with their own horses,” she said. “And my dream is to see the equestrian world become more and more horse-centred; really thinking ‘What does the horse want out of this?’ as well as ‘What do we want out of this?’ My personal goal is one day to compete at grand prix without a bridle, and trained without a bridle, not just schooling my horse to that level and then taking it off.”
“Bridleless riding is for recreational riders as well as high-level competition riders,” Mia said. “And the benefits are that it improves the horse’s connection to the rider’s aids, it highlights holes in their training and it teaches riders to have an independent seat and better balance, because we’re not relying on the reins for our balance. It improves the relationship and partnership between horse and rider, and it’s positive and progressive in this day and age of horsemanship.”
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Partnerships
But the process is not just about taking the bridle off, Mia explained – it is all about developing the partnership, communication and understanding between horse and rider.
“Ultimately, it comes down to connection, harmony and synchronicity, and that’s what horses seek, naturally anyway,” she said. “Luckily for us, they’re herd animals and we are too. Both of us are social creatures, and we all have the desire to connect, to play. So everything we do with horses, we’re trying to tap into connection, harmony and synchronicity, in particular.”
Mia cited US rider Brendan Wise, who has competed up to 1.30m bridleless, and UK international showjumper Serena Kullich, who competes up to 1.40m and “jumps huge fences without a bridle”.
She said that bridleless riding involves the rider’s body language: “Do in your body what you want the horse to do in theirs, horses follow the weight of your seatbones and the guidance of your shoulders, and you’ve got to teach your horse to move away from the steady pressure of your legs.”
The neck rope is key; bridleless riding is not about “neck-reining the horse around with a rope at its throat”, the neck rope sits at the base of the neck, where the musculature means it will have no negative effects, and used for “shaping and framing”.
A stick is carried, but “should never, ever be used for punishment”.
“Pressure from a stick is information, never punishment,” Mia said. “We can use sticks to help push the turns, to push our horses; our horses will always rather be pushed than pulled. If you have reins, you’re pulling on your horse, and we love to pull because we’re derived from apes. We’re designed to pull and grab and never let go so we have to learn to let go and push.
“I can use my stick to turn my horse, either way, I can teach them to bend down to a stop.
“If the horse thinks the stick means go faster, you need to go right back and reteach them that that is not what sticks are. They could mean turn, stop. They could mean go sideways, or bring your haunches towards me, push your haunches away. Bring your nose this way, turn that way. It is a tool, never a weapon.”
Voice aids
Voice use is key, Mia added; horses can easily learn voice cues, and she always teaches a whistling “emergency stop”. She uses her voice to praise the horse while asking him to keep doing what he’s doing, and audibly exhales for a downward transition, which also helps relax her body, and so also the horse’s.
“The benefit to biomechanics with bridleless riding is that we can teach them to fall in love with being in a good posture,” she said. “Tension in their body makes horses feel tense, anxious and bracing; braced in their neck, or not really wanting to do what we want to do, and it all just feels awful. A lot of the time the horse is bracing against the bit with the reins, and we don’t have that. A lot of the time, horses naturally start to stretch when there is no bridle, and helping them find relaxation, mentally, emotionally and physically, helps them let go of tension in their body. And when you have relaxation, you have rhythm and vice versa.”
Mia said the next steps are always to practise with a bridle on.
“Make sure you can walk, trot, canter and stop and turn before you take your bridle off; that’s where it can get dangerous, when you and your horse are learning but once you both know what to do, everything’s a lot easier.
“Separate, isolate and recombine, break everything down into little steps, and it will all compound later. The process does not look like the product, and always put the relationship and connection first.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
