Horse hardware

While at the Moonrock Horse Trials in Worland, Wyo., last weekend, I watched a woman leading a large Frisan gelding, but doing so in a strange manner.
She was bent over like a crippled woman, and kept holding her hand out in front of the big black gelding, and he kept his head down near her.
Being the curious sort, I went up and asked her what the heck she was doing. And being the outgoing sort, she quickly told me.
She said it was a technique she had learned from a Russian dressage trainer who could get a horse to piaffe (trot in place, for you non-dressage types, like me) without a bit in his mouth.
She said it was similar to some of the methods used by the Pirellis in their training. It teaches a horse to round its back without using harsh bits, draw reins or other hardware.
This hit me just at the right time, because just a few days earlier, while getting ready for Moonrock, my horse was sticking his nose in the air and being anything but round. A friend whom I've been training with immediately grabbed her draw reins and pressured me into to putting them on, saying "I know we can fix him with these."

Instead, it just made Bud angrier and I had more of a fight on my hands. And I say she pressured me because a former trainer of mine, who has since moved away (but may be reading this) always argued against trying to fix those kinds of problems with hardware. He said if you couldn't fix it with legs, seat and light hands, you probably shouldn't be on that horse.

At any rate, the Frisan woman agreed to show me more later that evening, but our cross-country competition that day went long and we didn't get the time. And I didn't get her name or address. But I would like to learn more about the Russian trainer and his techniques.

Anyone have a clue who I'm talking about from this rambling description and an idea where I might find more information?

Next, I hope to blog a little about historical hardware.