Bitless Options: How to Settle the Fussy Mouth

You’ve seen it. Jingle, jangle…tongue out the side of the mouth, head shaking or bobbing. To me, the horse is uncomfortable. To others, they attribute it to the horse being bored. Watch the horse’s eyes, are they soft and relaxed? Watch the tension in the face. Then consider how the horse looks and acts when there is no bit in his/her mouth.

I googled this. I am sad to say that every result returned on the first page universally offered to suggest a different bit to stop this problem. Not one offered bitless options. What is up with that?

Is Fussy Mouth Really Worth Worrying About?

In researching, I find that the ‘authorities’ do have evidence that the fussy mouth is related to back issues and the tongue being misplaced adds tension to the neck and restricts the airways. So start there if you are working out the fussy mouth or the tongue with a life of its own!

We’d like to suggest a plausible solution: get the bit out of the mouth altogether! PROBLEM SOLVED.

Explore Bitless Options – of course we hope you will choose the Nurtural but it has to be the bridle that makes sense to you!

Seriously, taking the bit out of the mouth removes an obstacle to YOU having a closer bond with your horse. Taking the bit out of the mouth removes the opportunity for your hands to create havoc in the mouth. Going bitless will help you gain the partnership of your dreams (and in the process, you become the equestrian you’ve always believed you could be).

It takes the horse less time to transition to bitless than it does us humans!
We forget, we zone out and we revert to habits we’d rather not have, we have muscle memory to contend with. So be aware that going bitless is more of a training issue for you than it is for your horse, even if your horse is hot or bossy or just plain unmotivated. Most horses, given the chance to correlate between bitted and bitless options, will do better bitless.

It takes courage to exercise your bitless options, especially in some very traditional disciplines. You will get some side looks and you will encounter downright hostile opinions. Realize that if someone is hostile towards your bridle choice – it’s probably their own conscience nudging them to look into this ‘bitless’ kind of life!

**Please note: We DO NOT believe going bitless or changing a piece of tack is going to magically erase problems. We DO believe that when you do go bitless, you have opened the door to a new relationship – a new way of communicating with your horse.

At Circle-X Bitless Bridles, we can be reached by phone, text, Facebook, email, Skype, Zoom, Facetime and some other messengers too! We want to help you remember, zone in and never go back to the way things used to be, we can show you how to create a new muscle memory. Adjusting your Nurtural to the best possible fit is crucial and we can help.

You can shop for the Nurtural online here
You can also check our dealer directory for a location near you