An Olympic eventer who had spent six years trying to get to the bottom of a quirky horse tried riding him without a bridle – and was “blown away” by the outcome.
Sharon Hunt told H&H she had tried a variety of tactics to ride showjumper Igor more happily in a contact, but had always struggled to get him to stretch and open up. Inspired by equestrians such as UK trainer Connie Colfox and the Netherlands’ Yvet Blokesch of Feather Light Horsemanship, she tried first riding bitless, then without a bridle at all.
“I’ve been amazed,” Sharon said. “[Yvet] can ride basically a grand prix dressage test without a bridle, and I think that’s incredible. I think this sort of natural horsemanship can have a bit of a stigma with some people, who think it’s ‘pony patting’, but it’s not. It’s so skilful, it’s incredible. I thought I’d give it a go, and was blown away by the difference it made to this horse.”
Sharon has had 13-year-old Igor for six years and although he has been very successful in the showjumping ring, he had never been easy to ride.
“I think the whole issue was with his pecs and neck; he’d be bracing, he’d run against the rein all the time, and it obviously wasn’t helping his pec problem, his thoracic sling issue,” she said. “So I thought I’d just sweep it all back and see what happens. I can trot him around now on such a nice, loose rein. I’ve worked for six years trying to get him stretched like that; I’ve been working with him for so long and have finally found the key; just take it all off.”
Sharon said she has been trying to change not only Igor’s physical posture and movement, which will allow him to build the right musculature to support a happier way of going, but his mindset – and it is working already.
“He could be sluggish because he struggled to get going, and open his shoulder, then obviously he wasn’t wanting to take me forward,” she said. “And all of that has started to change within a week.
“Since I took the bridle off, the last two or three days, I’ve just ridden him in a hackamore, and I get the same response; he’s stretching. It’s like it’s triggered something, and he’s really happy to stretch.
“I’ve never been able to canter him on a soft rein and him stretch – now he puts his head on the floor and canters around happily, I can do changes like that. I hope all this will give him a better muscle memory and posture and a much softer way of me riding him. I feel like he’s making the decisions, not me, and that’s the biggest thing, and he’s been going so beautifully, this is heaven.”
Sharon said that after all her years riding, “I feel I’ve finally worked it out!”
“I’m obsessed with horses’ longevity, making it easier for them, making them stronger and fitter,” she said. “Anything that can make it fluid, harmonious, with no tension has to mean that you build good muscles and the horse has longevity. It has to.
“I think if we could train people to understand about how to keep them going for the long term, and be able to use their bodies better, that would be great, wouldn’t it? Keep it uncomplicated.”
Natural progression
Sharon said she had never ridden bridleless before, but as she had always tried to ride with less rein and more leg and seat aids, it was a natural progression. And this ties in to the reason she stopped eventing, which was a great deal to do with the heartbreak of getting a horse to a good level and then it going lame.
“I’ve always enjoyed doing a few brilliantly; I just like all the detail,” she said. “I’ve learned how to massage and tape, I do loads of the physio myself. Anything that can create longevity and help keep them going, to be able to use their bodies in a better way, because once they start to compensate, forget it. It’ll come out at some point, whether it’s in your training or soundness. It starts with a bit of tension, or they’re a bit one-sided.
“We used to try to hold them together a bit more, and you just cannot do that. You can tell the riders who do it properly because their horses stay sound year in, year out; you can tell they’re trained correctly, they ride correctly, they’re obviously producing them correctly.
“I was spoiled with Tankers Town; I did run him carefully and looked after him but he was obviously particularly tough, and then trying to find that again has been so hard. I realise now what an exceptional horse he was in that respect and how tough he was. But that’s why I think I’m so determined to start off on the right basis, and at least give them half a chance, because it is so hard.”
Harmony
Sharon added that she, like most riders, had been brought up with the traditional way of training and managing horses.
“I’ve been on this journey because I’ve made all the different mistakes,” she said. “I’ve done it all, because we didn’t know how to do it differently, and the last few years, I’ve really enjoyed learning how to do it in a harmonious way. I haven’t been competing as much, and although that means I’ve had the time to do it, I think people think I’m just not competitive any more.
“That’s not it at all. I’m more competitive than I’ve ever been, it’s just that I want to do it right, and I want it to last, and I want to win. So I’m looking forward to the moment they can come out and get great scores, and show that all this work is worth it.
“I really enjoy riding Igor now, and I trust him so much. It’s funny, because I was riding around, I thought ‘This horse used to bolt with me’, and now he’s so relaxed, Mr. Zen. He’s perfect.”
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