I would love to see this as a rule change. I don’t plan to show bitless but I really see no reason why a bit should be required. A horse can be in self-carriage and attentive to the rein and submissive to the bridle in a bitless arrangement. You’re looking for the same outline, the same cadence, the same harmony as before.
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I left a somewhat lengthy comment expressing my full support. Not sure where those comments go to die but at least I feel like I’m doing something. I know quite a few riders and horses who would love to see this rule change pass.
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I can’t seem to find a place to leave comments… Can someone advise me? I would love to leave one as well!!
I left a comment as well.
@YellowPonyEventer. You need to be logged in. Then there is a Comment button next to the View button.
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When I was a youngster reading Margaret Cabel Self and C.W. Anderson (which will date me)
I remember hearing about a dressage exhibition presented in which the rider guided her (or his) horse in all of the upper level exercises with only a silk thread. I never did learn whether or not this really happened or was some sort of legend, but regardless of whether anyone really did that successfully, the point being made is that when the training is correct and the riding skillful . . .what’s in the horse’s mouth is irrelevant… . . .
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I am pretty sure it was a real person, but I can’t remember for sure.
McTaggart decided to prove that one COULD control a horse with a silk thread and paper reins. He had a pair of reins made up of Kraft paper (paper for wrapping a package?) with the last six inches or so made with a silk thread.
John Richard Young ended up with these reins and talks about using them in his excellent book “Schooling for Young Riders.” His daughter used them occasionally on the pony stallion they were training and he writes about her using them!
I LOVED C.W. Anderson’s books, especially his wonderful drawings. I recently bought a copy of his “Heads Up, Heels Down” and he said that he decided not to write about the picky details of learning to ride because Kournakoff’s book did such an excellent job than he could not do better, just the last name and he did not give the title of the book.
I FINALLY found copies of Sergei Kournakoff’s “School of Riding” and C. W. Anderson was right, it is the best basic book I’ve read about how to teach a beginning rider how to actually ride properly. If I had run into this book 30 years earlier I would have become a MUCH better rider.
I also have found memories of reading Margaret Cabel Self’s books.
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I also loved those books. When I was learning to ride, I was fortunate that my riding instructor was someone who’d been taught by Margaret Cabel Self (and I don’t care if this dates me, lol).
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Awsome. I got most of those books out of the library - so don’t own them but I have very fond memories of “Heads Up Heels Down”. I never got to read Segei Kournakoff - is it still in print?
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It (“School for Riding” by Sergei Kournakoff) is not in print, but I just looked at Ebay and there are three for sale at around $20.00 US or so.
This book DESERVES to be reprinted!
Kournakoff set off to write a book to teach a father how to teach his son how to ride properly in the Forward Seat. Kournakoff is the father and the son is Kournakoff’s real life son.
This is the nearest thing to a multi-media book possible in the 1930s and 1940s. There are lots of photographs of lessons, Several films of his son making all the beginner mistakes are put on the bottom corner of pages–just flip through the pages to “watch” the film. He has stick figures to illustrate clearly the ideas in the photos. He even has short musical scores to mimic the sounds of the gaits.
He also writes the dialogue that the riding teacher has with his student, sometimes step by step.
I had been riding for around 40 years or so when I finally found this book. I found THREE riding techniques in this beginner’s book that corrected my seat enough so my riding teacher stopped yelling at me all the time. The only quibble I have with it is that Kournakoff introduces the sitting trot before he introduces the posting trot.
Kournakoff was a partner with Vladimir Littauer and Kader A. Guirey when they opened the
Boots and Saddles Riding School in NYC in 1927 (and back then they were charging $5.00 for a riding lesson). We all know about Littauer of course because he wrote several excellent books, but we do not know much about the other two men. Sally Swift refers to a lesson with Guirey in her book “Centered Riding”, otherwise I had never really heard about him.
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Has anyone heard any updates? Every time I look on the website and in the latest appendix I still don’t see any results on the vote.
Well I emailed USEF to ask and they said the rule change was not approved. Such a bummer 
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Frankly, I doubt you will ever see this rule change get approval. Your best hope is to start your own organization that allows bitless bridles. It can be done.
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How sad and disappointing. For some stupid reason I thought this might be the year.
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I doubt it will happen. One of the foundations of dressage, and a basic of competition as it exists today, is that the horse is “on the bit.” You can argue the validity of this and talk about self-carriage with bitless bridles until you’re blue in the face, but unless the dressage community as a whole is willing to throw out the concept of being on the bit, you’re hoping for something that is extremely unlikely to happen.
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Honestly I think it will happen one day, but probably not anytime soon sadly. Maybe I’ll revive this thread in 5 yrs and see if it’s allowed by then lol 
Not sure if this format will work for everyone, but I think I found a digitized copy in the public domain!
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Thank you for finding this for curious riders.
The only beef I have about this presentation is that it is impossible to get the “virtual” film by flicking through the bottom corners of the pages. It is a rather minor beef, the text and the rest of the book are wonderful.
I just wish I had found it in 1970 when I got my first horse. He would have thanked me for my better riding, and I would have ridden better because Kournakoff explains some things about the Forward Seat better than even Littauer, Santini, etc…
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Thank you VERY much for posting this!
