ABOUT US

The Birth of the BETTER Nurtural Bitless Bridle

We call it BETTER because of How and why I developed the bridle

My dream of owning a horse started as early in my childhood as I can remember, and became reality over forty years later when my husband and I bought a 500 acre farm just west of Sudbury, Ontario in 1997. Like so many first time horse owners, we listened to everyone’s wise advice to get older horses and professional help … and then went out and bought beautiful young horses to grow up with and love.

Over the years, my husband, son and I became enthused with an assortment of natural training methods. Meanwhile, we had decided to begin raising Canadian horses. I was thrilled when Hazel, a big opinionated untrained six year old Canadian mare would join and follow me in the round pen. I could even ride her around our 500 acre farm with only a rope halter. We began to develop the loving trusting relationship from the little girl’s dream.

The next ‘logical’ step was to put her in a bit and bridle. When I tried that ‘one step forward’, we quickly took ‘two giant steps back’! The horse that was happy and working so beautifully with me was suddenly unhappy and working against me. So I took the bit out and began my quest for a bitless bridle.

The bitless bridles I found (I tried a couple designs) did not work as well as Hazel and I needed. She, and other horses, would not steer or stop well at all. So I changed the design, filed a patent application and, with my sister, created the company Nurtural Horse. (Did you know that a search of the US patent database will reveal 12 patents for bitless bridles?)

I loved the idea of riding bitless, but the designs I tried would not give me the control I needed for Hazel. She, and my mare Lady, and a couple other horses I tried, simply would not turn or stop well. But the idea was great ... if only the design was a little better.

So I researched all available designs on the internet, listened to the problems reported in the chat groups, and began to tweak and turn until I could hold Hazel back even if she really wanted to run off with her buddies. With a lot of help and input from my husband and son, the design received final testing and approval from our horses. (We then filed a patent, which is at examination and expected to be finalized by the end of 2006.)

When people at the 2005 Royal Winter Fair in Toronto asked us to show them the pressure points, all we could say was "It's designed out of love, not science.

Since then, we have learned a great deal about pressure points and the science behind the magic. All bridles work on pressure-and-release. The Nurtural Bitless Bridle™ works better!