Ishbak Shehadeh The horse healer - Gustavo Mirabal Castro

Ishbak Shehadeh The horse healer.

In the equine world there are many aspects to take into account when having horses. Since it entails a routine veterinary control, and in turn if it presents disruptive behaviors, it is necessary to look for an expert in the area of animal ethology for its corresponding therapeutic work. This is how we are going to deepen in relation to the trajectory of Ishbak Shehadeh.

General Bitless System Illustrations Summary 2016

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Ishbak Shehadeh, is a coach, an ethologist. This expert has devoted most of his time to the rehabilitation of these animals, which due to bad handling or traumas develop tricks and can not perform well in sports. From his experience in Chile, mainly with race thoroughbred horses and also with Chilean horses, he developed his own method that in the last two years took him to some of the main equestrian centers in the world, in countries like Kuwait and France.

Work with horses

Ishbak Shehadeh is professionally acquainted with equine behavior and the study of animal behavior. His system, which seeks communication with the animal, and which includes the use of riding without brake, replaces aggressive methods to achieve its ends.
He studied the classic training systems to make a turn, and make it easier for the horses, without pain and without punishment, so that this also not only benefits the horse, from the point of view of well-being, but also improves its performance and your competitiveness. “
Working with racehorses was their main school. That is why he was always aware of their behavior, in relation to the brake, which made him question the reason for its use. If it was necessary or not, and about the pain caused to the animal. All this was the starting point of his search.

Ishbak Shehadeh experiment in Patagonia

In June 2013 Ishbak Shehadeh went to Patagonia, to a secluded family camp in the Cordon del Caulle, where he lived for eight months with an uncle’s horses, and began his first pilot project that took approximately six months. He recorded all the behaviors that the animals had, and he tried 24 hours a day to get results. It is in that place where he was born in Bitless System method when he began to notice that some of these horses had problems due to the brake.

The solution seemed quite logical: find an alternative to mount them without brake. What happened was that he did not find any methodology to make the transition from brake to bitless (without brake). I was working with racing horses and I needed a safe and professional system, not a miraculous device. I did not find alternatives, I decided to create by myself.

The Bitless system

The Bitless Bridle: Part 1

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The Bitless System is a tool that can be used when necessary. Or when the person wants, interspersing their use with brake, hakamore or using directly without anything. A well-tamed horse and a rider with sufficient basic experience will be able to change the brake, for the hakamore and for the rope in the neck, and reverse, when necessary.

In effect, broadening the spectrum of possibilities. All this done with responsibility, a person without basic experience, and without a methodology, can cause damage using a brake. And even more using the bitless incorrectly. Not every horse is ready to start working without embouchure, and not every gentleman is able to ride without mouthpieces.