I've ridden horses in bits and bitless bridles over the years, and I feel the horse will let you know what works best.

To enable this choice to be clear, I think you've got to try both. And as a horse has a long life and if another person owned Sky they would most likely ride her in a bit, so I feel it's my responsibility to teach her how to work with one.

I got a bit fitted and we practised her accepting the bridle and the bit over a few weeks, just for about 15-20 minutes on the way home on our in hand walks. However,  she remained pretty mouthy with it and I wasn't 100% about whether I'd been recommended the right one. Sometimes, you just have to trust your instinct regardless what a bit fitter says.

So, I left it and continued to ride her in her halter with 2 reins, then decided to try her in a loaned bosal and mecate (that fits her well) -a bitless option. The idea was to introduce a bit later on in her education when her mouth and teeth had all settled down, and her responses without a bit were light. I really like the bosal. It translates from the halter and groundwork we've done, and she is getting quite light on it, so this feels like a great place to develop more feel. I really want the rein aids to be secondary to seat cues, and if we can get lightness down the rein without a bit, I say that's a great place to start.

So 6 months later, after another dentist appointment, more time in ridden education, and greater mental and physical maturity, and I felt it was time to re-try bitting. I had a highly qualified bit and bridle fitter come and do a thorough assessment, was MUCH clearer about what my expectations were, and was really happy with her assessment and recommendations. We tried out the bit on her newly fitted bridle, and I'm hoping she will be 'bilingual' and go happily bitless and bitted.

The bridle fit was also very important to me, as the facial nerves are so superficial. In assessing the shape of her face, ears and mouth, the fitter took time to try a variety of headpieces, cheek pieces etc to ensure the ears were properly accomodated for, poll pressure was relieved, the angle to the bit was correct, and I opted out of a noseband, to keep it as simple as possible. Sky needed a combination of full sized pieces and cob sized pieces, so off the peg bridles clearly might not be right for every horse's unique bone structure and head conformation. We've added our paracord reins/mecate and slobber straps to aid with the pre-cue and lightness of response to the rein aids, and are ready to go with her bilingual education. 

I began exposing her to short sessions in the bit over the following month, and she started expressing her distate by dropping her head, rooting, shaking her head and losing forward motion, despite really loose reins. I asked the bit fitter to come and do a re-check. She watched me ride in the bosal where Sky was forward, light and moving happily, then we experimented with her recommended hanging cheek bit (which relieves poll pressure) and several others in her kit bag that gave a variety of tongue or bar relief to just see if anything seemed to be more tolerable for her. I rode her in each bit and we saw no improvement. So, we concluded that she isn't crazy about any style of bit, but the hanging cheek was the best for her anatomically, so it's something I will continue to introduce gradually to her, but she and I both prefer the bosal. There's no rush for her to develop her skills as a bitted horse, so we'll take our time and aim to keep her happy. She's working so well in the bosal, I hate to derail that at the moment!