Nurtural Bridle review from a member of the Canadian Gold Medal Junior Dressage Team

[Zoe from Nurtural Horse]

Nurtural Bridle review from a member of the Canadian Gold Medal
Junior Dressage Team

My name is Lindsay Seidel Wassenaar (2007 member of the Gold medal
Junior team) and you sent me a bitless bridle to try after we saw your
booth at the Royal Winter Fair in October.

First I would like to thank you for the opportunity to try the bridle,
and I am sorry I have not responded with my comments earlier. I rode
my FEI dressage horse in the bridle for several light schooling
sessions and found the bridle to provide a fairly good connection. The
contact I had in the Nurtural bridle felt very similar to the contact
I feel with a regular bridle. I did find it slightly more difficult to
complete little suppling exercises though, and I think this is just
because the horse is not as sensitive to the Nurtural bridle as he is
to the bit. On a regular bridle I can make quick and light changes in
flexion because of the direct contact with the bit, which is very
important in the higher levels of dressage. I feel though that the
Nurtural bridle does provide enough control to provide the rider with
the ability to make the horse round with a steady connection and is
easy enough to allow for the rider to change flexion, just not with he
precision and quickness of a regular bridle.

Therefore, I feel this bridle would be appropriate to ride in at the
lower levels of dressage, but may not provide the precision needed at
the higher levels. On the other hand, I do think this bridle is a
remarkable invention and that more trainers should use it when working
with students who are either beginners or do not have very good
control over their hand position. Consequently, I believe it is an
awesome bridle because it provides the rider with a worry free ride
since he/she knows they can't hurt the horse but pulling or leaning on
the reins and at the same time gives the rider control and a nice
feeling of connection with the horse, which I believe is essential to
riding.

I will continue to use the bridle, especially when hacking out and in
lighter schooling sessions. I will also try the bridle on a few of my
other horses to see their response. So once again, thank you for the
opportunity, and I will keep in touch.

Thank you,

Lindsay Seidel Wassenaar and Oslo

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(See this and more comments at http://www.nurturalhorse.com/Nurtural_Customer_Comments.htm)
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I hope years from now, people will look back at these early steps and
say "I can't believe that so many people actually used bits back
then!"

I ackowledge that bits will be around for a long time, until new
bitless designs can offer all the finess required by more advanced
riders (and more people open their minds to the possibiltiies!)
I hope that more and more horse lovers will join this revolution as
they see the benfits of going bitless ... and post their success
stories here!

Zoe