Well, that’s the perfect illustration…you find what works for you, your mount, and what you are trying to accomplish. Obviously, my set up won’t work for someone doing high level dressage - and probably her set up won’t work for what I do either. I hope you find the perfect arrangement for this horse, and have a blast with him!
Y’know, it’s a funny thing. While I was riding him I thought about the first colt I sat on, my first summer as a working student in 1973. He’d been backed but didn’t know squat yet, and my orders were to take him out in the small pen and teach him how to steer. Which was about as exciting as watching cement set, as it should be, because at 13 years old I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and had about as much between my ears as that colt!
Now, I’m 52, veteran (survivor?) of close to 40 years of trying virtually every English discipline at one time or another, not excepting sidesaddle, Western, driving & gaited, with the result I now have this damned Greek chorus of trainers, experts, clinicians and gurus in my head, all asking me in 3-part harmony if I’m doing it right.
Don’t you just HATE that? 
The Solution!
Tried a couple of variants of snaffle bit headgear and neither one was working for us; didn’t like the level of communication, and he let me know it wasn’t working. Went back to the drawing board and came up with the following:
Hung a bridoon carrier on the Dr. Cook Bitless Bridle with a large-ring snaffle bit with a lightweight rein on it. Adjusted the Dr. Cook such that the noseband was 2 holes higher and 2 holes looser than the usual fit, so more like a standard English bridle. Ran the 2 “rein” straps on the bitless through the snaffle rings, which gives you a mild “signal” through the bit but no hard pull when riding on the “bitless” rein only. This horse being used to the “bitless” signal, no confusion and adding the bit aid so gently introduces mouth pressure and correct response gradually.
Rode him out on the trail for an hour yesterday, and he was so good that the 2nd hour on the way home I said, “OK, let’s go for Lesson #2: Collection.” Took a very light traction on the direct-bit rein and asked him to come together and track up behind. Head dropped, came over his topline, and all of a sudden he was giving me the biggest, most brilliant and athletic Flat Walk yet in complete relaxation! He seems to actually enjoy the bit communication and is certainly enjoying no longer wearing in effect a “crank” noseband crushing his face bones. The combination feels to me like the choices I would have with a dressage horse in full bridle but trail-horse friendly.
(Don’t tell Dr. Cook, but this combination ROCKS!!!) 
