PRESS RELEASE - Date: 26th October 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Landmark advance in racehorse welfare
From: Robert Cook FRCVS, PhD, Professor of Surgery Emeritus,
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, Chairman, BitlessBridle Inc.,
At a harness horse meeting of the Nordic group earlier this week in Helsinki, Finland, all four Nordic countries, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway approved the ‘Harness Horse Bitless Bridle with bit bypass straps’ for racing.
The approval follows two years of collaboration between Dr. Cook and a harness horse trainer in Sweden, Kerstin Kemlén. The first harness horse to race in the
Dr. Cook BitlessBridle™ with bit bypass straps placed second at Bollnas Racetrack in Sweden on 11th September, 2011.
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AMERIKANSK PRESS RELEASE 2011-09-19
Harness Horse goes bitless!
The first harness horse to race in Dr. Cook’s BitlessBridle with bit bypass straps placed second at Bollnas Racetrack in Sweden on 11th September, 2011. Fritiof Piraten, a 3-year-old colt, was trained by Susanne Richter for owner, Stall Bjornberget and driven by Kajsa Frick. After trailing the field, the horse produced an astonishing burst of speed in the last 400 meters. He finished in 1 minute 14.7 seconds to win prize money of 50,000 SEK (about 7,700 USD).
Here is a link to the race http://atgplay.se/. In the upper right hand corner is a box marked SOK. Type V75-2 in the box and hit enter. Then click inside the square box on the left. Fritiof Piraten is the number 10 horse with a red sulky. The driver wears blue and white colors and the bridle’s crown piece is white.
In standard equipment, this horse is a hard puller and frequently bleeds from the mouth during work. Because of a couple of false starts in a race three weeks previously, the horse had incurred a lacerated tongue that prevented further training in a standard bridle. At this stage, Susanne Richter was introduced to the Harness Horse BitlessBridle by fellow trainer, Kerstin Kemlén, a recently appointed Bitless Bridle Associate Clinician for BitlessBridle Inc. USA.
Kemlén has taken a special interest in harness horse problems and solutions for 40 years. For the last two years, she has worked with Dr. Cook to develop a crossunder bitless bridle for the harness horse and test the bit bypass straps. During 2010, she trained several horses in the Harness Horse BitlessBridle at Boden racetrack. She is currently translating Dr. Cook’s 2003 book, “Metal in the Mouth” into Swedish. .
For more information or to purchase a bridle contact
Dr. Robert Cook
Phone: (443) 282 0472
Email: drcook@bitlessbridle.com - Website: www.bitlessbridle.com
or
Kerstin Kemlén
Rabacken 70, Boden, Norrbotten S-96193, Sweden
Phone: 070-254-3261
Email: kerstin.kemlen@telia.com Website: www.kerstinkemlen.se