The Bit Is Not The Enemy of the Horse
The bit gets blamed for what hands have done — so the bit comes off. The horse grows quieter under us. And in that quiet, something is being lost that no one names.
Article Summary
You have heard the bit blamed. Perhaps you have moved away from it yourself, in good faith, because you care about your horse and you saw what hands could do. Or perhaps you still use one and quietly wonder whether you should. Either way, the bitless work is held up as gentler, kinder, more evolved — and the horse, under it, is less troubled. So we call that closeness. We call it refinement. But there is a small ache underneath, something that used to be available between you and the horse and is not anymore. This piece asks the question no one in the debate has wanted to: when we put the bit away to keep the horse safe from us, what did we put away with it? And what, really, did we trade?
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This article is exclusively part of Kjrsos Magazine Volume 16.
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