Moss Rock Endurance Bitless Bridles
I initially was looking at bitless bridles for two reasons. One: I have a lot of beginner students who are still developing independent seats and do not always have the best hands to begin with. Two: I wanted another thing to try on Sunny because she seemed to not like the Dr. Cooks cross-under style bridle that Marty had purchased for her and Cinnamon and Marty didn't really want to use the bosal because she can never figure out what to do with the leading rein on the Macate.
I have since realized that Sunny's issue doesn't really stem from her headgear, but from a general lack of work, but the first one still rings true. Sunny's thing came to surface while I was working her in the sidepull I had acquired from Moss Rock Endurance and she was being irritable and finally threw a buck and I growled at her and made her continue to work and she had a complete attitude shift when she realized that being opinionated didn't get her out of work. I have since been working her in the Dr. Cook's with no issue outside of her not wanting to take any input from me about how she should be doing the things I ask her to do.
Anyway! Back to the original point. I initially ordered two bridles from Moss Rock Endurance. They were the sidepull and the Evolution Bitless bridle. What really drew me in was how she did the reins on her two models of cross-under bitless bridles (also called cross-over).
Panda is very photogenic and is modeling the Evolution. Moss Rock had the Evolution and also the Freedom bridles. The differences between the two include the browband being connected straight to the ring on the Freedom along with the lack of connection between the throatlatch and noseband. It still has a ring on the noseband so you can hook a lead to it, but I imagine it doesn't function as much like a halter as the Evolution does.
The Evolution was only $5 more than the Freedom and since I preferred the lower angle on the cheek straps allowed by the longer crown piece and the better halter/bridle combination I went for it.
She makes them out of Beta, which is essentially a rubbery plastic coated nylon. The stitching seems good and sturdy and while it isn't extra padded or doubled back in areas as some variants are, but that is probably where some of the savings comes in too as the cost includes the reins where pretty much every other crossunder bridle does not.
Those who are familiar with the original Dr. Cooks bitless bridle as well as the Nutural and other spin-offs know about the rein rings. The jaw straps typically buckle to the headstall and terminate in a ring that your normal reins attach to. I have found this design to feel a bit clunky in the hand, especially if the cross under straps were longer and you had the weight of the ring plus the rein buckle (snaps or whatever else) further away from the horse's face. As mentioned earlier the thing that stuck out to me with Moss Rock's design was how the rein attaches. The ring that the cheek, crown, and throatlatch attach to also provides the attachment point for the reins. You have one piece that goes through the nose ring, under the jaw, and snaps on to the crown/temple ring. She does use a thinner strap (I think 1/2") under the jaw and stitches in to a thicker piece (close to 3/4" I think) that goes to the hands, but there is minimal weight added and the feel is seamless. Because of this attachment you can disconnect the reins and have a complete look without dangly cheek straps that have nowhere to go.
As you can see that with Kitt here as she wears her new one without the reins attached. It is also worth noting that it is set up to potentially take a bit as well if you want so it is a sort of combination bitless/regular/sidepull/halter bridle.
I have really liked how the horses have gone in them thusfar. Kitt is much more forgiving of student mistakes in the bitless over her usual bitted bridle. Charm-N has been funny with it. The last two lessons she started out in her normal bitted bridle and as the student struggled with her halt I was curious and swapped her out and presto! Insta-halt!
Charm-N is happy bitless.
I have played with the sidepull a little bit, mostly on Sunny and a little on Charm-N. Charm-N worked pretty much as well in the sidepull and it also allowed me to digure out Sunny wasn't having issues with things on her face, just work ethic in general.
Charm-N sporting the sidepull above.
I was so happy with the way Charm-N and Kitt worked specifically that I went ahead and ordered two more. The purple one for Kitt and a blue one sized for Kash and Chewy (the first one was sized for Kitt, Ruby and Charm-N). So Kitt has her own, Charm-N and Ruby get to share as Chewy and Kash will. Chewy goes well in it, though she can get stuck in her backing cues. I haven't had the chance to try Kash in it yet, but I am curious to see how it affects his response to the rein aids.
The one downside was the wait time. She makes them all herself and had hand surgery in October or November and it has affected her rate of work. Even then it was just over a month turnaround and this second round ahe actually refunded the shipping costs, which was awesome of her.
She does do custom orders at no additional cost, even for big draft heads you just can't return them. The last two I ordered I had her put conways on the end of the reins so I can play with different snap options. I am not 100% sold on scissor snaps so it will be some experimentation on my part.
She was also great to communicate with when I had questions. Her flexibility also makes Moss Rock's products stand out as she offers hardware, strap thickness, rein length and even the rein rings if you want them.
So the short summary is: Good quality for the price, excellent customer service, and I would highly recommend Moss Rock Endurance and its products.
I have since realized that Sunny's issue doesn't really stem from her headgear, but from a general lack of work, but the first one still rings true. Sunny's thing came to surface while I was working her in the sidepull I had acquired from Moss Rock Endurance and she was being irritable and finally threw a buck and I growled at her and made her continue to work and she had a complete attitude shift when she realized that being opinionated didn't get her out of work. I have since been working her in the Dr. Cook's with no issue outside of her not wanting to take any input from me about how she should be doing the things I ask her to do.
Anyway! Back to the original point. I initially ordered two bridles from Moss Rock Endurance. They were the sidepull and the Evolution Bitless bridle. What really drew me in was how she did the reins on her two models of cross-under bitless bridles (also called cross-over).
Panda is very photogenic and is modeling the Evolution. Moss Rock had the Evolution and also the Freedom bridles. The differences between the two include the browband being connected straight to the ring on the Freedom along with the lack of connection between the throatlatch and noseband. It still has a ring on the noseband so you can hook a lead to it, but I imagine it doesn't function as much like a halter as the Evolution does.
The Evolution was only $5 more than the Freedom and since I preferred the lower angle on the cheek straps allowed by the longer crown piece and the better halter/bridle combination I went for it.
She makes them out of Beta, which is essentially a rubbery plastic coated nylon. The stitching seems good and sturdy and while it isn't extra padded or doubled back in areas as some variants are, but that is probably where some of the savings comes in too as the cost includes the reins where pretty much every other crossunder bridle does not.
Those who are familiar with the original Dr. Cooks bitless bridle as well as the Nutural and other spin-offs know about the rein rings. The jaw straps typically buckle to the headstall and terminate in a ring that your normal reins attach to. I have found this design to feel a bit clunky in the hand, especially if the cross under straps were longer and you had the weight of the ring plus the rein buckle (snaps or whatever else) further away from the horse's face. As mentioned earlier the thing that stuck out to me with Moss Rock's design was how the rein attaches. The ring that the cheek, crown, and throatlatch attach to also provides the attachment point for the reins. You have one piece that goes through the nose ring, under the jaw, and snaps on to the crown/temple ring. She does use a thinner strap (I think 1/2") under the jaw and stitches in to a thicker piece (close to 3/4" I think) that goes to the hands, but there is minimal weight added and the feel is seamless. Because of this attachment you can disconnect the reins and have a complete look without dangly cheek straps that have nowhere to go.
As you can see that with Kitt here as she wears her new one without the reins attached. It is also worth noting that it is set up to potentially take a bit as well if you want so it is a sort of combination bitless/regular/sidepull/halter bridle.
I have really liked how the horses have gone in them thusfar. Kitt is much more forgiving of student mistakes in the bitless over her usual bitted bridle. Charm-N has been funny with it. The last two lessons she started out in her normal bitted bridle and as the student struggled with her halt I was curious and swapped her out and presto! Insta-halt!
Charm-N is happy bitless.
I have played with the sidepull a little bit, mostly on Sunny and a little on Charm-N. Charm-N worked pretty much as well in the sidepull and it also allowed me to digure out Sunny wasn't having issues with things on her face, just work ethic in general.
Charm-N sporting the sidepull above.
I was so happy with the way Charm-N and Kitt worked specifically that I went ahead and ordered two more. The purple one for Kitt and a blue one sized for Kash and Chewy (the first one was sized for Kitt, Ruby and Charm-N). So Kitt has her own, Charm-N and Ruby get to share as Chewy and Kash will. Chewy goes well in it, though she can get stuck in her backing cues. I haven't had the chance to try Kash in it yet, but I am curious to see how it affects his response to the rein aids.
The one downside was the wait time. She makes them all herself and had hand surgery in October or November and it has affected her rate of work. Even then it was just over a month turnaround and this second round ahe actually refunded the shipping costs, which was awesome of her.
She does do custom orders at no additional cost, even for big draft heads you just can't return them. The last two I ordered I had her put conways on the end of the reins so I can play with different snap options. I am not 100% sold on scissor snaps so it will be some experimentation on my part.
She was also great to communicate with when I had questions. Her flexibility also makes Moss Rock's products stand out as she offers hardware, strap thickness, rein length and even the rein rings if you want them.
So the short summary is: Good quality for the price, excellent customer service, and I would highly recommend Moss Rock Endurance and its products.