Welcome to the Why Not BIT-FREE campaign section of the site.
This website should help navigate you around the campaign for why not BIT-FREE. It will offer you support, advice on ethical training and the functions of modern BIT-FREE Bridles how you can help us too. It will help network riders, owners, vets, equine professionals and trainer’s who believe in fairness and non-discrimination for all BIT-FREE riders around the world.
On the “Bitless Ambassadors” page, you can find people internationally who are going bitless with their horses and competing whilst maintaining the highest standards of care based on the ethology of a horse.
World Bitless Association Launch
The importance of CHOICE for a modern non-leverage, bit-free bridle, will help to help improve horse welfare.
Why would we want to include competitive riding when that could be anathema to many?
Why we want to reach out to bitted equestrians and the Regulators
Over the years there have been many efforts to improve horse welfare, including calls to ban damaging practices in equestrian horse sport/competitive training and riding. They include STOP Rollkur/Hyperflexion, Ban tight nosebands, Ban whips, allow CHOICE for bit-free.
Unfortunately abhorrent practices are evidenced all the time, horses taking beatings for non-performance, being tortured in restrictive tack, aggressive and high pressure abuse of the bit, to force compliance and submission to the hand. The widespread use of pain and violence in the guise of ‘horse training’ is unacceptable to the vast majority of Equestrians, and of course to the Public. Exposure by the mainstream media and social media of the global cruelty to horses at the hands of riders/trainers creates flurries of widespread condemnation, occasionally prompting sponsors to drop riders, or riders to be banned. Sadly, as we all know the retribution never seems to last, or be an effective deterrent, institutionalised cruelty and abuse meted out to horses carries on regardless.
The risk to the social license to operate (SLO) for horse sports, a consent that is granted by the public, (think how quickly circuses lost their SLO when cruelty was exposed in the training of performance animals) is at high risk of being lost, unless we as individuals, supported by the regulators heed the science, and make changes to improve good horse welfare.
The use of the Precautionary Principle must always be applied when the welfare from the perspective of the horse is compromised, challenged in the welfare literature
The World Bitless Association was founded to bring together a global force to raise welfare standards based on our scientifically based fundamental beliefs that every horse should live a life worth living and that their needs should be met according to The Five Domains of Horse Assessment. That every horse should be cared for, and trained, under the principles of LIMA or simply force free, fear free, pain free.
Many of us have experienced a learning curve with horses, passing through different stages of enlightenment. Some are at the peak, where people may feel they have achieved a perfect situation with their horses, some may have strong feelings that horses should not be expected to do anything at all, that the individual horse does not explicitly agree to. Others believe that the horse should be offered as much choice over their daily life, to meet the unique ethological needs of all horses, especially when we are not with them.
Here at World Bitless Association, we respect that people will be at different stages in “enlightenment” and each of us needs to travel on our own particular learning curve, wherever it may ultimately lead us. We are all therefore Bit-FREE Ambassadors evidencing the possibilities and achievements of bit-free horses in all spheres of equitation. Opening the lines of communication to wherever people are on their horsemanship journeys. Realistic aims, realistic aspirations.
We do not want horses to be marginalised, excluded, redundant. We do want horses to be better cared for, better understood and respected for the beautiful, gentle, sentient creatures they are. To achieve that, we need to make available to everyone,through inspiration, education, and inclusion. If you have joined us: Welcome, we look forward to continuing our learning curves, together.