Bit and Bridle Fit Consultant James Cooling

20/04/2025

24/12/2024

Merry Christmas to all my clients.. have a restful week... looking forward to the New Year..

25/11/2024

Welcome to my Page... a brief summary of my background and approach to life and horses...

Dr James Cooling is an independent Bit and Bridle Consultant based in Yorkshire and co Director and Founder of the Association of Professional Bit and Bridle Fitters.

He is also a practising NHS doctor for over 20 years initially training as a psychiatrist before completing post graduate training as a GP in 2008. For over 10 years he has carried out voluntary work as RNLI Local Medical Advisor. He holds a BSc Philosophy of Medicine and is a qualified Personal Trainer specialising in Rider Fitness.

James has ridden and owned horses for over 40 years and currently focuses on classical dressage with his own horses.

Whilst working as a junior doctor he completed BHS training to Stage 3 and then underwent further training courses with Kelly Marks and Intelligent Horsemanship and is now a Recommended Trainer with Intelligent Horsemanship.

He has undergone CPD training in saddle fitting and horse/rider biomechanics.

He completed LANTRA Lorinary Training and developed and provided extensive practical training for multiple bit and bridle fitters in the UK, Ireland and Germany with Horse Bit Fit between 2016-2021 as well as hosting and delivering annual CPD training weekends.

James used his background in science and medicine to develop a Gold Standard ethical welfare based approach to bit and bridle fitting which focuses on a whole horse and rider assessment in 2016.

This has previously been taught and examined by James as part of a LANTRA Accredited Qualification in Bit and Bridle Fitting.

James works with a wide range of horses and riders from leisure horses to international competition horses across all disciplines. Each individual horse and rider combination is approached with the same level of care and comprehensive assessment process.

A large amount of work comes from referral via other equine professionals vets, dentists, physiotherapists and coaches.

James has delivered regular educational events for various organisations including Bishop Burton College, the Institute of Veterinary and Animal Physiotherapists, Horses Inside Out, BHS, Intelligent Horsemanship, Dressage Ireland, Bransby Horse Welfare, BAEDT annual conference and multiple webinairs.

James has published and contributed to several magazine articles for "Your Horse" ask the Expert, Intelligent Horsemanship Magazine, British Dressage and "Horses and People" Magazine Australia.

10/11/2024

Great feedback from clients this week from ponies to 1.30m SJ.. and a lovely day working with BYEH and 3* eventers...
..had an outing to Vale View today. There was a massive difference, thank you. He's a lot more confident, moving forward and more even round his turns. Even the course builder commented on him. He came 3rd in his first class and won the 1.30. Many thanks....
....I just wanted to send my thanks to James. I took his advice and bought a new bridle, bit and reins yesterday. Neddie has been ridden twice and has completely stopped headshaking and chewing his bit. He's looser and obviously happier, which was so important to me. Our instructors said he's like a different pony, and I think they've also learned something new. We got some great feedback and interesting insights from the consultation, and I'm thrilled with the outcome.....

19/10/2024

Really important read regarding recent noseband "research "

08/10/2024

Had a great time at Lincs Horse Live demo

14/05/2024

Looking forward to speaking here on Saturday 😊

🌟 Introducing the guest speakers of the BAEDT Congress 2024! 🌟

4 day countdown 🤩

Next up we have Dr James Cooling.

Dr James Cooling is an independent bit and bridle fitter based in Yorkshire and a Director of the Association of Professional Bit and Bridle Fitters. He is also an NHS doctor and a qualified Personal Trainer. In the past James has completed his BHS Stage 3 and is a Recommended Trainer with Intelligent Horsemanship.

James used his background in Medicine to develop a Gold Standard ethical science based approach to bit and bridle fitting which focuses on a whole horse and rider assessment in 2016.
This has been taught and examined by James as part of a LANTRA Accredited Qualification.

James works with a wide range of horses and riders from leisure horses to international competition horses across all disciplines. A large amount of work comes from referral via other equine professionals.
James has delivered educational events for various organisations including Equine colleges, the Institute of Veterinary and Animal Physiotherapists, Horses Inside Out, BHS, Intelligent Horsemanship, Dressage Ireland and Bransby Welfare. James has also published several magazine articles.

03/01/2024

It's Time for Nominations..!. A new category this year for Bit and Bridle Fitters.. ! Thanks for your ongoing support.. https://www.equestrianbusinessawards.co.uk/nominate?fbclid=IwAR3cu1QYTVxhFffhQS6jh9ULf-_8Ca6wzWlazjGOBbPpfTD4kQIK2ps7gYg

Nominate your chosen equestrian professional, business or charity who has gone above and beyond. Self-nominations are also accepted.

26/09/2023

Brilliant! ..when I saw Mr Brown for a bit and bridle consultation I also identified his existing saddle fit needed addressing... fantastic to see what can be achieved in a short time when everyone works together ... even with an older horse.

17/09/2023

I'm back!... and so is Janice my very helpful admin from her summer holiday.

12/09/2023

Hello everyone, I appear to have been hacked so can’t currently pick up or reply to messages on Facebook or my personal messenger. Just trying to sort it all out 🙄 thanks

30/07/2023

Blog post... why does my horse not respond to a snaffle in the same way as a Pelham or curb bit?. ...

This is a response I wrote on a closed group that I thought I would share here as an example of things I take into consideration during a consultation process...

"... There are multiple potential causes of you and your horses difficulty here. .. I work as a bitting consultant and on a typical consultstion I am assessing > 600 things when I see a horse and rider with a problem to help resolve things.

A few other pointers in no particular order which need to be considered for you to make progress together with your horse.

Your horses oral and skeletal anatomy

Foot balance and saddle fit- which often changes with a change of bit.

Bridle fit .. as the bit and bridle work together as a complete unit.. and not all bits and bridles work well together.. a leverage bit may be changing the angle of pressure from the headpiece.. towards ear cartilage etc

Mouthpiece design in relation to your horses oral anatomy..

Position of the mouth piece relative to the position of the oral structures of your horse.. ie. Not interfering with premolars, canines, palate, tounge, torus lingua, lips, bars, or limiting swallowing.

Ring action of said choosen Mouthpiece. loose/fixed/baucher.

Your horse does not understand how to respond in a relaxed manner with a snaffle. .. you have changed the pressure points and what you rein aids feels like to your horse ... now your horse does not understand what you are asking it. .. go back to in hand work and schooling in walk

The leavarge/ curb effect..or removal of it.. is showing areas of literal weakness in your horses training, self carriage, or muscle development that are now evident

The leverage of the Pelham shank is masking the strength of your usual rein aids... the physics means a lever increases pressure at the horses end of the rein... it makes it easier/less effort for the rider to apply pressure... so what feels light at your end is not the same feeling the horse is receiving. ... a snaffle gives you a direct correlation of pressure..ie. will show up problem areas much more readily assuming you are not masking anything with restrictive nosebands.

Your use and timing of the aids in relation to the horses biomechanic. ..if used with correct timing you do not and should not need physical strength... but changing the bit does always change the horses balance ... so you need to accomadate to this and take several steps back if you experience your horse as "strong".. its either physically uncomfortable or anxious and you have triggered it's natural flight reaction..or you are feeling a change in balance..its on the forehand.

Most snaffles work on a degree of tongue pressure...regardless of how your rein aid is applied due to their engineering and general lack of space in the horses oral caviry to accommodate a foreign object... the only conformable structure is the tongue ...(your current bit gives some tounge relief so engaging jaw pressure in mouth on bars and chin from curb and approx 10% poll pressure assuming your curb is correctly adjusted) ...

Make sure your reins are physically long enough for your horse to fully relax its neck/back between working.

the tongue is a muscle which connects via the hyoid apparatus to the ventral chain of muscles and fascia and down to the hind toe on autopsy. .. hence you can literally engage or disengage the hind depending on what your horse is doing with its tongue in relation to pressure on it... there are also deep reflexes ( in muscles) that may be triggering an involuntary reaction in your horses tongue depending on where the bit is applying pressure on your rein contact... which in most cases will be different to where you think the bit is positioned as the majority of bits have the potential to rotate and translate on rein contact potentially up to an inch depending on their design and the horses oral structures/lips ...

Bitless is not necessarily kinder/better and lots of bitless bridles have been shown to exert excessive ( tourniquet level) pressure on the jaw and nose.

If using one remove your noseband completly as this enables your horse to talk to you immediately regarding the bit and reduces pressure across the head piece/ poll and removes the potential for jaw pressure from the equation ( which you are currently mainly working with)

Bitting is not straight forward due to the vast differences in bit designs available now which can be subtle but make significant difference to an individual horse and should not be a trial and error process (as is traditional) as you can cause alot of problems everytime you make an error.

Your horse always has the right answer as to what they are comfotable with wearing in their mouth and on their head... if they are comfortable they will relax and respond accordingly in their biomechanic..

You can not and should not "force relaxation".. you say with leverage he is relaxing his poll.. it is likely then that this is not voluntary on your horses part as shown when you do not get the same response when leverage is removed... hence you need to rethink your horses level of relaxation in his current work. Equally the jaw (in people) has a reflex that can be elicited by tapping on the chin.. which is a similar effect to a curb potentially... reflexes by definition do not go via the higher cerebral cortex processing mechanisms ( mostly they are spinal) and therefore another reason your horse may not have learnt/understood how to relax his jaw voluntarily... hence a snaffle does not appear to be working for him

if the horse has a soft mobile jaw/poll, relaxed tounge enables the ventral chain of muscle to engage and the top line to lengthen and the horse will consequently naturally go forward to the bit with the poll at the highest point..."