Bridle lameness (Zgellahmheit or ‘rein lameness’ in German) can be a mystifying phenomenon until correctly identified.

If your horse exhibits these traits during horseback riding instruction, he is trying to give you important information about how you use your reins, which only you can correct to make you both more comfortable.

What is Bridle Lameness?

A horse who is perfectly sound when grazing in the paddock or when put into a halter and exercised on a lunge line, who suddenly goes lame when put on the same lunge line wearing a bridle or when being ridden is referred to as “bridle lame”. This condition manifests itself by uneven head nodding, as if the horse had gone lame in one foreleg, and in very severe cases, the horse will appear to have suffered chronic back problems.