I'm not crazy about the way they have the cheekpieces on the closer horse. The straps are really poking him on both sides :/ They need to either trim them, or wire tie them flat.

I'm not a fan of bits. I have a Dr.Cook's bitless bridle, that I have been using for years. It has never let me down. If I ever decide to start driving my mini, I will get a mini driving bitless bridle for her.

Yeah. A fair number of people say that. A properly fitted mild bit is perfectly reasonable, and probably safer. But it's your life :)

You might get away with it on a mini, because you can jump off, run ahead, grab and flip it on its back... lol.

Honestly I've found that I have just as much control in my bitless, and have far less resistance during correction while using it. One thing really stood out to me while I was watching the draft show. All of the horses were restless, shaking their heads, flapping their lips, and constant licking. You can't honestly tell me that all of the draft teams had improperly adjusted bridles. Horses worked in a bitless stand quietly, walk on without head shaking, and stop without picking their heads up. I wish I had a draft team to enter into the show, and a skilled driver to work them. I would put bitless bridles on them and show everyone how much better the horses work. I was helping a lady train her 3 year old mountain horse, and he was an absolute dream, but in the bit he was nervous, lacked steering, didn't want to walk on, and eventually reared up on me out of frustration. I put the bitless bridle on him, and you would swear he was a fully trained horse. We made his for sale video on day one. and when he sold we told them to try a bitless. I hope they took the advice. I'm always surprised by how strongly people seem to oppose going bitless, but have never actually tried one. Mostly it's a fear of not having control, but I've found that the bitless gives me more control, since I can pull on the reigns harder without causing the horse pain. Not all horses work well in a bitless, but I have found that to be a very small number, and often times it's the rider, and not the bridle causing the issues.

You need to go to an American Driving Society show, where people actually know how to drive :)

As much as I love my hitch friends... *sigh*

Next show I go to will be the Horse World Expo, in Harrisburg.