It’s been over half a century since I tacked up and rode a horse – yeh, I know: a crime – but the memories linger. Watched a video demonstrating how to tack up (western tack) a horse. Nothing new at all to me, apart from new saddle pad tech, until the bridle was added. The person tacking up the horse rides bitless, which I’ve done with a hackamore, but not using one of the bitless bridles that have become more recently popular. Nope, just a thin rawhide “string” on top, which looks like it’d act sort of like a hackamore.
Intriguing. It’d be interesting to train a horse to respond well to that. I do like the looks of the cross-reined bitless bridles I’ve seen, though I’ve not used one, of course.
Hmmm. . . I probably need to get with a local stable that rents out for riding (well-known) trails through one of the conservation areas. Every step along the video, I could almost feel following along, but the aromas and textures, and other kinesthetic feedback were (naturally) missing, and I realized that I do miss that.