Nurtural Bitless Bridle: How It Works

It's the very unique design! The Nurtural Bitless Bridle^TM is the only bitless bridle with a Circle-X^TM under the jaw, gripping on the noseband and reinstraps with enough adjustment to allow you to attach your reins almost exactly as you would with a bit. Using this bridle is intuitive to both horse and rider. Just ride, train or drive as if you have a bit ... without the fight!

More details on how to fit ...

See a detailed explanation of the impact of this design below.

(All these photos are thumbnails; you can click to enlarge them.)

When you pull on the left rein to ask your horse to turn left, instead of creating a “pull” on the bit at the left side of the mouth, the short reinstrap instantly pulls on the ring and the noseband, asking the horse to turn its nose toward the pull. The pull on the reinstrap travels to the Circle-X and to the continuation of the reinstrap as it crosses the fat part of the cheek on the opposite side of the horse's head, asking the horse to turn its entire head. The pull/turn is as small or large as you like.

The horse turns its head to the left in response to the pressure on the noseband, under the jaw, on its right cheek and, from an extreme tug, pressure will even be applied to the poll.

Just keep applying pulsing pressure until the horse turns as far as you like.

The horse soon learns that a gentle tug on a single rein means to turn in that direction.

When you stop pulling on the rein, the bridle releases to the comfortable position, signalling the horse to stop turning.

The Circle-X and the reinstraps remain positioned to respond to your next signal.

With loose reins, there is little-to-no pressure on the horse's head.

English trained horses that are used to being "on-the-bit" respond to the pressure of the noseband and, react essentially the same as they do with a bit ... without the fight. You can read more in the experiences of Cathy Inch and Leslie Smith-Dow,
Western trained horses are comfortable on a loose rein, and appear to learn to neck-rein quickly (at least my mare did! See customer comments)

To stop or slow your horse, simply pull on both reins as usual. This puts pressure on the textured noseband and solid crownpiece.

We suggest starting your horse in your new Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM in an enclosed area. First fit the bridle carefully, then show the horse how it works. To maximize performance, it is important that your Nurtural No-Bit BridleTM be fitted correctly for your horse.

As you can read on the "Why THIS Bridle is Better" page, there was far more love than science went into the original design. We just kept playing with the design, making improvements until our horses said it worked for them. Fortunately, we have clever horses and it works very well! Now we have the science behind it and the patent to prove it!

The photos opposite show some examples of the Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM in action.

Since we introduced this bridle to the public at the Royal Winter fair in Toronto in November 2005, hundreds of equestrian enthusiasts are nurturing their horses, and taking their relationships to new levels. We enjoy hearing your stories! Please drop us a line with your comments and stories!

Detailed explanation of the impact of this design:

Sept 20, 2006: We received a recent message asking:

I've been using one of "those other" bitless bridles and have had very good luck with it until I started riding in the hunt. The problem is that after being out for 2 or 3 hours during which I had to keep quite a strong contact with the reins to keep her from racing out of control, my mare ended up with a "dent" in her nose. It seemed to go away after a while, but I'm afraid with repeated use it could become a permanent deformation. I have seen a couple references to other users of this bridle placing fleece or some other "cushioning" around the noseband to help prevent this, but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

So, my question is, have you had any similar complaints/problems with your bridle? Is this something the differences in design with your bridle might prevent? Or might you have an idea as to why I am having this problem? As I've said, I have used the bridle for quite some time, so I'm pretty confident I am fitting it correctly, and the problem only appeared when I started doing long rides during which I have to keep a firm hold on the horse. Since even the most seasoned hunters tend to get very excited in the huntfield I suspect I will continue to have to keep strong contact with her on hunts, so I need to find a way to alleviate this problem without having to stick metal in her mouth.
Zoe's Reply:

Thank you so much for your very interesting message. I am delighted to see your determination to keep that hunk of steel out of the horse’s mouthy!

I believe you will have better luck with our bridle. I assume the dent comes from the almost constant pressure on the horse’s nose when you ask her to slow or stop – or hold from charging ahead. I cannot guarantee it, but I believe that several of the design differences between our bridle and the most common “other bitless bridle” will make it easier to control your horse.

The noseband of our bridle is lined with textured material similar to rubber-gripping. This stays in place better than a smooth noseband, and the texture noseband amplifies the pressure signal to the horse. The textured noseband is more annoying, so the horse should respond more sensitively to the pressure.

Our Circle-X that connects and positions the reinstraps under the horse’s jaw changes the mechanics of how our bridle works. Two things will help you slow or control your horse: (1) the reinstraps will always be in the correct position on the side of the horse’s face, and (2) when you pull back on both reins, the Circle-X applies pressure under the jaw.

The reinstraps of our bridle are designed so they can be shortened to let you attach your reins about 2-3 inches from the horse’s mouth. This mimics the action of a rein on the ring of a bit, for both you and the horse. It gets your signal to the horse more quickly and makes it easier to pull the horse’s nose down.

I believe that the design of the Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM will affect more and different pressure points. It will send more messages to your horse, and those messages will be more consistent.

I would be absolutely delighted if you would try it out and send comments and photos for our web site.

Best wishes,

Zoe Brooks
Designer of the Nurtural No-Bit Bridle

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Sample customer comments

"Wow! Your Nurtural bridle does not look that different from other bitless bridles, but my horse responds much better and I have great control. What makes it work?"

"I don't understand the dang thing, but my horse just loves it. Send me another one!"

See more customer comments

Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM

Cathy Inch of Foothills Farm schooling a 5 year old thoroughbred. Cathy says she sees no difference compared to a bit.

Leslie Smith-Dow of Horse Canada Magazine says she enjoys long gallops on Beamer, and can stop faster than with a bit.

Eric Guy (Zoe's son) rides Mina, a feisty Canadian mare who was the first horse we trained completely in the Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM. She has never seen a bit!

Reining champion, Dun-It-You-Won-It at the Royal Winter Fair 2005. Neither horse nor rider had tried the Nurtural No-Bit BRIDLE^TM before this show.

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Nurtural Horse - Nurturing Horses and Horse Lovers since 2005

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