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Re: Running martingale



>>Ray o'Donohue rno2m@virginia.edu
   What is the effect of the running martingale when added to an ordinary
snaffle,(as compared to the snaffle alone)? Any effect on breaking at the
poll? My guy prefers to break at the withers-it gives him so much more say
in what he does and where he goes.<<

Having been through the running martingale routine with my last mare & learning, the hard way that once you use it you will have to go through a long retraining to ever stop using it... My trainer had me do something with my new mare Lola, that I thought was crazy... We made a bungee cord martingale that hooks to each side of her bit. This contraption makes her work against *herself* & corrects her much more quickly than my hands can (try as I might to have the softest hands possible!) I used it for about a month until the muscles in her neck strengthened, then I quit as she had learned my cue to lower her head. However, a month without it & I decided to try it for another month, she's got a naturally very high head (her Saddlebred 1/2) & uses that plus a fast trot to try to evade my seat. She's a piece of cake with it on, but I really dislike extra contraptions like that in the long run.

My trainer says it's the only thing she's ever found that doesn't require retraining when you quit using it, & once they've developed the correct muscling to come through completely from the back to the front, you won't need it anymore. E-mail me if you'd like a better description of how we made it. 

Common problem!

Bany

PS. On the first mare I had good luck just switching to a broken kimberwicke using the lower holes for the reins & teaching her the John Lyons one-rein cue to give. The new mare thought the kimberwicke was WAY too much bit - she likes a plain eggbutt snaffle.  



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